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William Rainsforth
Army Machine Gun Section 5th Lincolnshire Regiment
William RAINSFORTH is the 1st man 2nd row from the back - to the left in the Machine Gun Section of the 5th Lincolnshire Foreign Service Territorial Regiment - 13th October 1915 - before the battle to take Hohenzollern Redoubt.
This is also a poem (attached) that was published at the time in the local Gainsbrough newspaper in which William "Twinny" Rainsforth is mentioned.
Boys of the Old Brigade
The boys I’m going to write about,
Though not up to perfection,
I’m simply paying a tribute
To the veterans of our section.
Comprised of men from Gainsborough,
And also from Grimsby.
Some of the very finest men
That you could wish to see.
A year and half in different parts
They’ve stood the mud and the stench.
And though they’ve been through trying times,
They’ve never lost a trench.
There’s Twinny Rainsforth, Tommy Dann,
And also Billy Gunthorpe.
Three of the very best we’ve got,
Although one comes from Scunthorpe.
There’s Sergeant Duncan, Sergeant Holmes,
The Senior N.C.O’s.
You’ll always find them thereabouts
To guard against the foes.
And then we’ve two full corporals
Walt Jenkinson is one,
And then comes young Bert Holliday,
In French he’s simply bon.
There’s still a lot of splendid boys,
Too numerous to mention,
And I can tell you all of them.
Deserves an army pension.
At ___________ when they first went in
To do their little bit,
Up to their waist in water,
They were never known to quit.
They stuck it there for three long months.
Then someone an order sent
Saying we want these men at ___________,
To hold the salient.
Oh what a change from __________ boys,
Was _______ salient.
But they stuck like glue for fourteen weeks,
Before relief was sent.
And then came _________ offensive.
To that district they were trailed.
And they tried their hardest to succeed,
Where other men had failed.
They made a brilliant charge and though
So many were knocked out,
At last they gained a footing,
In Hohenzollern Redoubt.
At last the _________ came to relieve
And looked on them with pride,
For they knew without us telling them,
How many poor lads died.
Excepting once at ______________
And once at _______________
They were given, I am pleased to say,
The rest they’ve earned so well.
Early in the present year
They received a big surprise
They were booked to go to _____________-
That’s good, the boys all cried.So oe’r the sea we went these good men,
Where many dangers lurk.
To take part in a new campaign.
And crush the mighty Turk.I’ll say no more of these good boys,
But before they had the chance,
To have a go at the Sultan’s troops,
They were hurried back to France.They once ran Territorial’s down,
But by the God Almighty,
A different tale you’ll hear them tell,
When we’ve won and got to Blighty.By Private Charles Tear, 138th Brigade, M.G.C.
