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Duncan is listed as dying of his wounds on 16 Dec 1916. We are not sure when Duncan was wounded. A newspaper obituary states that he was wounded by shrapnel and died on a Base Hospital. He was buried in the cemetery at Warloy-Baillon which was also the base for Field Ambulances put it place a few months earlier for the Battle of the Somme.
We have transcribed a newspaper obituary and the Battalion war diary for the period 1 Dec 1916 to 15 Dec 1916 below.
Dec 1st to 6th
Hepauville - 1 Dec 1916: Brigade attack practise. 4 other ranks went on leave
Martinsart - 2 Dec 1916: Battalion moved into support area Martinsart. Left at 9.30 - arrived 1.30. 180 men supplied for working parties. Major Welsh left the Battalion.
Martinsart - 3 Dec 1916: Church parade. 2nd Lt. Hudson & 10 OR went on leave
Martinsart - 4 Dec 1916: Working party of 400 OR supplied. Draft 23 OR arrived
Martinsart - 5 Dec 1916: Working party of 140 OR supplied. Baths for remainder
Martinsart - 6 Dec 1916: Working party of 400 OR supplied. Lt. Col J.F. Clyne if 3rd Bn R Warwicks arrived to take over Command of the Battalion. 1 OR wounded whilst on working party by a bomb.
Dec 7th to 9th
Martinsart - 7 Dec 1916: Working party of 400 OR supplied. 1 Officer, 2 NCO's to RE Course. CO, Adjutant & Sniping Officer reconnoitered to Mouquet Farm & Bn HQ's in the line.
Martinsart - 8 Dec 1916: Working party of 400 OR supplied. Inspection of transport by O.C. Divisional Train. Major James returned to his unit. O.C. Coys spent the night in the line attached to 2/7 Worcesters. 4 OR's went on leave. Lt Chadwick assumed duties as temp Bgde T.O.
Martinsart - 9 Dec 1916: Working party of 25 OR. 1 Company baths, Commanding Officer inspected Coys in Huts.
Dec 10th to 12th
Mouquet Farm Sector - 10 Dec 1916: Battn relieved 7th Worcesters in the line, relief completed 10.45pm
Mouquet Farm Sector - 11 Dec 1916: Rained most of the day, mud in the trenches awful. 1 Officer and 10 OR Leave
Mouquet Farm Sector - 12 Dec 1916: Snowed in the night. Enemy chiefly shells Ravine & Regina Trench. Reserve Coy (C Coy) took over a platoon front of the 5th Warwicks in Hessian trench to the E of Sixteeth Street owing to the relieving platoon losing its way, the relieving party which started 10pm did not reach the post till 3am. A mixed post was established during the night by our Right Coy (A Coy) with the 51st Div on the W of Miraumont Road.
Dec 13th to 16th
Mouquet Farm Sector - 13 Dec 1916: Usual shelling - wet. It has been found very difficult to get enough water and hot food to the front line, owing to the state of the going.
Mouquet Farm Sector - 14 Dec 1916: Usual shelling - fine day
Mouquet Farm Sector - 15 Dec 1916: Battalion was relieved in the line by 2/8 Warwicks & proceeded to Wellington Huts. Relief completed from Tullochs Corner at 5.30pm, an hour & half late & was complete by 3.6am [16th]. All the battalion reported in Huts by 6am. The men of the front line Coys were in a very exhausted condition. Casuaties 1 killed (transport) and 9 wounded including 2 on special duties. C [Coy] still in support line as permanent working party.
Mouquet Farm Sector - 16 Dec 1916: 4 OR went on leave.
Obituary 1
BERKSWELL - MEMORIAL SERVICE - On Saturday, December 30th, a service was held in Berkswell Church to the memory of Q.M.S. Duncan Nicholl, who died of wounds in France on December 16th. The service was attended by a large number of friends, as Mr. Nichol had spent most of his life at Berkswell and was well known and highly esteemed by all old inhabitants.
Educated at King Henry VIII School, Coventry, he entered the London City and Midland Bank at the age of 16. In 1906 he passed examinations which qualified him as an Associate of the Institute of Bankers, and at the outbreak of war he was on the staff at New Street, Birmingham, acting chiefly as relief manager at locl branches.
In September 1914 he enlisted in the Royal Warwickshire Regiment and rose step by step to the rank of Warrant Officer, going to France last May as Quartermaster Sergeant.
Letters have been received from a comrade and from the Sister-in-Charge of the hospital where he died, speaking of the high esteem and respect in which he was held by everyman in his company and his last resting place in a quiet cemetery only a few miles from where he fell.
Kenilworth Advertiser - Saturday 7th January 1917
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