BOB WEST in Chilton has been following our journey of the 18th Durham Light Infantry closely because his great-uncle, Lance Corporal George Appleby, would have been undergoing something very similar in the 19th Battalion.

He, though, didn’t live to see the Battle of the Somme as he died of his wounds on May 13, 1916, at Merville in northern France, about 20 miles south-west of Ypres.

The 25-year-old left his wife, Isabella, and his parents, John and Mary, in Easington Lane.

“Some years ago, I and my grandson visited the DLI Museum and found George's campaign medals had been donated to it, presumably by a relative,” says Bob. “I emailed the museum in the hope of contacting that branch of the family, but data protection prevented them from helping. Would it be possible to have a mention in Memories in the hope of contacting the medal donor’s family?”

Of course it is – Bob is on 01388-720938 if you are connected to his family.

The 19th was interesting as it was formed on January 13, 1915, as a “bantam battalion”. When war broke out in August 1914, you had to be 5ft 3ins (160cm) to join up – the average height then was about 5ft 6ins.

This meant that thousands of smaller men, despite being fit, were ineligible. It may have been that this was felt most keenly in a place like the Durham coalfield where the genepool produced small men who could squeeze through the most narrow underground seams.

It is said that one unnamed 5ft 2in Durham miner was so determined to join up that he walked from recruiting office to recruiting office, only to be turned away each time. But the time he reached Birkenhead on Merseyside, he was so angry that he threatened to fight anyone who said the missing inch really mattered.

The local MP, the ironically-named Alfred Bigland, took up his plight and soon the War Office had given permission for a battalion of able-bodied men of 5ft and over to be formed – nicknamed “bantams” after a small, aggressive hen.