Private John Weatherstone, 1/5th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry and Royal Defence Corps; wounded at Second Ypres, eight days after arriving in France

Private John Weatherstone,  1/5th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry and Royal Defence Corps; wounded at Second Ypres, eight days after arriving in France.

John Weatherstone was born in 1889. I  believe him to be the same as the "John Weatherston" who in 1911 was employed as a servant (presumably an apprentice blacksmith or similar) to a blacksmith in Horncliffe in the Parish of Wooler in Northumberland. At the outbreak of war he was resident at 14 Waverley Terrace, Darlington.  Amidst extensive efforts by the territorial battalions of the Durham Light Infantry to recruit for war service, he attested his willingness to serve for 4 years on 14 September 1914, at Darlington, as a Private. 5' 10" tall with a 38" chest, he was medically examined and declared fit to serve in the Durham Light Infantry and given the service number 2719. He signed the Imperial Service Obligation (Army Form E624) the same day, thus volunteering to serve overseas, and was posted to the Durham Light Infantry reserve, 5th Battalion. The 5th Battalion was a Territorial formation headquartered at the Drill Hall, Stockton, but three of the battalion's eight companies (D, E and H) were headquartered in Darlington, at the Drill Hall there. 

Pte Weatherstone was then posted for General Service on 28 November; in practical terms this probably indicates that he was posted to the first line Battalion of the 5th, 1/5 DLI (then based at Newcastle), on this date - rather than remaining with the Reserve battalion, then the 2/5th.

He entered the France and Flanders theatre with the 1st/5th Durham Light Infantry on 18 April 1915, landing at Boulogne as part of 150th Brigade, 50th (Northumbrian) Division. The 50th Division was the fourth Territorial Division declared fit for overseas service and on disembarkation concentrated around Steenvorde in Belgium.  Lieutenant-Colonel Gilbert Spence of Preston Park, Stockton was the officer commanding the battalion. 

This was about the time of the fierce fighting at Second Ypres, and the First-line Territorial Battalions of the DLI were split up and rushed into the line at Ypres to support the hard-pressed British front.   

["On 24th April at 1.00 am the battalion was assembled to move into action. They moved to take up positions on both banks of the Yser canal. From here the men moved to Potijze and in the early daylight they passed refugees and the gassed and wounded soldiers from the Front who warned them of their impending death. Ypres was to their right flank and visibly in flames. In occupying a line of reserve trenches at Potijze the first casualties were recorded..." ]

Pte Weatherstone was injured (Gun Shot Wounds to foot and back) on 26 April 1915, most probably whilst in the line at Fortuin during the Battle of St Julien, just outside Ypres, a brutal combat in which the six DLI Territorial Battalions lost 62 officers dead, wounded, invalided or missing, whilst the five battalions excluding the 1/6th suffered nearly 1,400 other ranks casualties. Pte Weatherstone was serving with C Company of 1/5 DLI at the time. 

After his wounding he was passed back through the casualty evacuation chain until he was admitted to No.2 General Hospital, Quai D'Éscale, Havre on 29 April. Shortly afterwards he was invalided home via the Hospital Ship Carisbrooke Castle on 3 May, arriving home on 4/5 May 1915.  

After what was presumably an extended period of treatment, on 27 November 1915 he was transferred to 34 (Northern) Command Depot, Ripon, which would later become a unit for the rehabilitative training of soldiers too fit for convalescent camp but not yet fit enough to be returned to unit. Following this, on 11 May 1916, he was transferred from the convalescent establishment and added to the permanent staff.  In early 1917 he was renumbered, as part of the wider renumbering of the Territorial Force, being given the new service number  271987. Whilst there he married Daisy Clarice Bint (born 1890 in Henley, Oxfordshire) on 6 June 1917. 

On 30 June 1917 he was transferred to the Labour Corps and, probably about that time, transferred to 473rd HS (Home Service) Employment Company, which had been formed at Ripon. It is possible that this was simply a continuation of his existing duties under another "badge", as the circa 275-man Home Service Employment Companies consisted of medically downgraded personnel in recognised trades and provided batmen, clerks, sanitary men, cooks, laundrymen, storemen, tradesmen such as butchers and tailors, and other essential staff members for hospitals, barracks and command depots like those at Ripon.

Later, possibly around 29 June 1918, he was transferred to the Royal Defence Corps, service number 78135, and posted to 166th Protection Company, also part of Northern Command.  The RDC was created in April 1916 to guard strategic areas such as ports, munitions factories and Prisoner of War camps. It was princpally composed of older men and those who were less fit (including those, such as Pte Weatherstone, impaired by or recovering from war injuries). Between January and the end of June 1918 the Company, under the command of Captain Edward Paxton, was on guard duties at  Brocton POW camp,  Cannock Chase, the Royal Defence Corps Depot being at 24 Sun Street, London EC2. There were two camps at Brocton, the facility later being extended to include two “transit” camps nearby for those being sent to neutral Netherlands and a 1,250 bed hospital. It seems likely that Pte Weatherstone was posted to the Company to coincide with its next posting after Brocton. (Possibly to Revesby outside Lincoln, a work camp, to which one of his fellow soldiers was posted in 19th October 1918). At some point during this service he was promoted to Lance Corporal. 

He was demobilised from No.1 Dispersal Centre on 20 March 1919 after having given four years and 188 days' service. He was discharged on demobilisation as being surplus to military requirements having suffered impairment since entering into the service (Para. 363 (xvia) of King's Regulations). His medical grade was given as B.II (Free from serious organic diseases, able to stand service on lines of communication in France, or in garrisons in the tropics: Able to walk 5 miles, see and hear sufficiently for ordinary purposes). He had a clean conduct sheet and his character on demobilisation was described as Very Good. His address on demobilisation was his mother's, Mrs R Patterson, Rose Cottage, East Learmouth/Branxton, Cornhill-on-Tweed. As well as a pension of 40/- a week (plus 10/- a week for his wife), he received a War Gratuity of £35 in 1921, in consideration of a Gun Shot Wound right ankle, attributable to service. In January 1922 he was writing from his new address of Burn Cottage to the War Office to enquire to whom he should apply for his medals. He received his medals on 11 March 1922 and died at home on 9 [August?] 1924 (or 1923?), the War Office being notified of his death by his Half-Brother, Arnold Patterson on 15th August. His cause of death is hard to ascertain as the record is almost illegible but it appears to have been heart-related. He is presumably the same man as the "John Weatherston" who is recorded on the Civil List of death registrations for September 1924 in the registration district of Wooler, containing the parish of Branxton, also in Northumberland.