Claro Times - 31st December 1915

News has come to hand this week of several Knaresborough men of the 5th West Yorkshire having been "gassed" in the recent German gas attack on the British. None, however, have been fatally poisoned by the horrible device, though one case, that of Sergeant R Holmes, almost ended fatally.

Mrs Holmes. Bondend, Knaresborough, received news from the matron of a St John Ambulance Brigade Hospital in France, informing her that her husband, A/Sergeant Major Holmes, 5th West Yorkshire, was very dangerously ill, having been brought to that hospital suffering from gas poisoning. The letter added that though Sergeant Holmes had been unconscious, he was suffering no pain. A later message gave the welcome news that her husband was much better. In a letter from Sergeant Holmes himself, Mrs Holmes was informed that he was much better, and was expecting to be moved to a hospital in England.