David was a Lance Corportal with the Lancashire Fusiliers, 20th Battalion, service nunber 40920.
He dies of his wounds while on active service on 5th February 1918. His service number was
formerly 271975. The 20th Battalilon was raised in Salford in 1915 by Mr Montague Barlow MP,
and the Salford Brigade Committee as a Bantam Battalion. They moved in July 1915 to Conway
and in August 1915 to Cholderton. Then in August 1915 they came under orders of the 104th
Brigade 35th Division. In late 1915 orders were received to kit for a move to Egypt but this was
soon rescinded. They landed in Le Harve on 30th January 1916. They were called “Bantams” as
they were manned by troops who were under the normal regulation height of 5 ft 3 inches.
Having landed in Le Harve 30th January 1916, the units were concentrated east of St. Omer. The
Division then remained on the Western Front for the remainder of the war and took part in the
following engagements:- 1916 The Battle of Bazentine Ridge on the Somme, The fighting for
Arrow Head Copse and Maltz Horn Farm on the Somme, The Fighting for Falfement Farm on the
Somme.
On 8th December the Divisonal Commander, Major General H.J.S. Landon, submitted a report
complaining the replacement drafts he had received were not of the same tough physical standard as
the original bantams but were underdeveloped, unfit men from the towns. A medical inspection was
duly carried out and 1439 men were rejected from the ranks. A second inspection was carried out
and another batch were removed, bringing the total to 2784. These men, were, in the main,
transfered to the Labour Corps. Their places were quickly filled by men from disbanded yeomanry
regiments, who had to be quickly trained to infantry methods.
In 1917, the Battalion was involved in fighting at: The pursuit of the German retreat to the
Hindenburg Line. The fighting in Houthulst Forest on the Somme. The second Battle of
Passchendaele on the Somme (1918). The First Battle of Bapaume, a phase of the First Battle of the
Somme (1918). The Battle of Ypres. The Battle of Courtrai. The Battle of Tieghem.