26th january 1916
during the evening of the 26th,C.coy were relieved by A.coy under the command of major howe,No2 platoon was ordered to take over the reserve dugouts in B3 sub sector.sgt carroll and his men occupied one of the dugouts and settled down for the night,at 6am in the morning cpl brookes roused the men,at 8am part of the roof collapsed burying sgt carroll and ptes woodfin and johnson,a fatigue party were quickly organised and began to dig out the three buried men,sgt carroll and pte johnson were extracted,but pte woodfin was still trapped,word was sent to capt stocks RAMC,pte woodfin was partly uncovered and capt stocks moved forward to check for signs of life,he was pronounced dead,suffocated by the pressure on his chest,a stretcher was brought forward and took him away.
major howe stated that nothing was mentioned about the unsafe condition of the dugout when he relieved C.coy
pte 11715 harry woodfin,56 shaftsbury rd,swinton
L/sgt 11502 alfred carroll,32 ann st,cheetham
pte 11585 william johnson
capt arthur vernon stocks,"sonning"leicester rd,hale
major enos vernon howe,"enoclew"humblestone,grimsby
cpl 11491 w.brookes
