County: West Yorkshire
Issued on: Return
Date of presentation: May/June 1901
Number issued: 4
Silver medals, to:
5909 Sapper Joseph HUSTWICK
ADDINGHAM VOLUNTEERS FOR SOUTH AFRICA.
ENTHUSIASTIC "SEND-OFF".
A memorable gathering took place in the National School on Monday evening, when four of the Addingham detachment of the W.R. Yorks. Engineer Volunteers received a hearty and enthusiastic "send-off" prior to their departure for South Africa. Their names are Mr W. Thompson (lieutenant, who will take command of the Leeds contingent), and Messrs Jos. HUSTWICK, Harry LEACH, and Frank HOLMES. There was a crowded audience, and the utmost enthusiasm was displayed throughout. Mr J.G. Oddy, J.P., presided, and amongst those present were Rev J.W. and Mrs Hall, Messrs W. Watson, John England, Jas. Emmott, W. Kidd, &c. The entrance of the four men in whose honour the meeting had been arranged was the signal for prolonged cheering, the audience joining lustily in singing "Soldiers of the Queen".
In opening the proceedings, the Chairman said they were met together under very interesting circumstances, such a meeting never having been held in Addingham before. They had in Lieutenant Thompson a gentleman who had taken a great interest in the Volunteer movement, and he thought there were very few villages of equal size that had raised such a fine corps as they had at Addingham. We were now passing through some very trying and interesting times. He (the chairman) had lived through one serious war, the Crimean, and he knew to his sorrow what war meant then. Fortunately the present war had not touched us in that way yet. Some of them no doubt felt very much discouraged, but we ought to remember that we were going through a crisis which no other nation had gone through before. In the hope of avoiding war we neglected to make the necessary preparations, and we had to fight a nation as well up in the art of war as ourselves, who had also got the great advantage of having possessed themselves of all the best strategical positions in the country. Some would place the blame in one quarter, and some in another, but he thought we should not be too severe in our criticisms either of the Government or the generals in the field, believing that we had conquered before, and we should conquer again (cheers). We were the only nation in the world that enjoyed perfect freedom — freedom that led us into licence sometimes — and whatever might be the result he believed we had right on our side (cheers). — Mr Oddy then presented each of the three men with a purse containing £2 6s in money, a pocket-book, and a pair of stockings, the money having been collected in the village by Mr Hall.
Rev J.W. Hall next addressed the meeting. He said that everybody seemed to be of opinion that something should be done to show that Addingham was as loyal as their neighbours. He thought that by their enthusiasm that night the result had fully justified the undertaking. In all his experience he had never had a more pleasant task, although undertaken in a very hurried manner. He had collected in all £7 10s 6d, every tradesman in the village having contributed something, and Mr Oddy and Mrs Cunliffe Lister had contributed generously. He hoped the money would be wisely spent by those who had received it. He then presented on behalf of a few friends, a sterling silver cigarette case and match box to Lieutenant Thompson as a small token of their good will towards him.
SEND-OFF TO ADDINGHAM VOLUNTEERS.
THE RETURNING VOLUNTEERS.
TORCHLIGHT PROCESSION AT ILKLEY.
A very hearty reception was given by the inhabitants of Addingham last night to Lieutenant THOMPSON and the three Addington Volunteers who formed members of the contingent. Addingham, though a small village, has supplied eight soldiers to the South African forces, two of them being Regulars, of whom one fought at Colenso, and the other took part in the relief of Mafeking, and there were two Addingham men in the contingent who went out to South Africa only a few weeks ago. The village may be considered, therefore, to have done its share. Preparations had been made for the reception of Lieutenant THOMPSON and Sappers HUSTWICK, LEECH, and HOLMES with due honours on their arrival, which was expected today. They were, indeed, to have been carried shoulder-high through the village. But on the receipt yesterday morning of a telegram announcing the arrival of the Templemore at Southampton, with the men on board, the members of the Addingham Company of the 2nd West York Volunteer Royal Engineers turned out, and the greater proportion of the men proceeded during the afternoon to Leeds to take part in the formal reception of the active-service contingent there. Meanwhile the village was decorated in haste, and considerable crowds watched the arrival of every train. Late in the evening it became known that the proceedings at Leeds would delay the Addingham party beyond the time of the last train to Addingham Station, and arrangements were made for them to be driven from Ilkley. A couple of hundred of the inhabitants of the village travelled to Ilkley to welcome their fellow-villagers and to take part in the home-coming procession.
At Ilkley the party were due at five minutes to ten, but the train was twenty minutes late, and a salvo of good fog-signals was wasted on the wrong train. But the men eventually appeared, looking in splendid condition, their faces as brown as their khaki uniforms. A huge crowd had assembled outside the station, and Lieutenant THOMPSON and the men were greeted with much cheering. The three sappers, with some friends, mounted a break; Lieutenant THOMPSON, with a party of relatives, entered a carriage, and a procession was formed, headed by the Ilkley District Council Band, and the local Volunteers with lighted torches, and marched through Ilkley. At Middleton Villas the band were provided with conveyances, and the procession made its way to Addingham, where the reception of the men was of the heartiest.
THE RETURN OF THE ADDINGHAM VOLUNTEERS.
