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Lonsdale Battalion events that took place on 11 December.
For events that took place elsewhere, see our sister project The Great War On This Day
1914 (Friday)
- Battalion Orders: "Authority having been received for the Lonsdale Battalion to recruit a 5th and later on a 6th (Depot) Company....and arrangements having been made for the provision of the necessary number of billets in the vicinity of the Camp, recruiting is re-opened from this date. Mr. Plender has kindly consented to resume charge of the Recruiting Office at 7 Devonshire Street, Carlisle....A notification is being sent to the principal recruiting officers in the two counties, and it is hoped that the N.C. Officers and men will themselves bring in recruits for our depot, as they did for the Battalion....the function of the depot Companies will be to provide successive drafts of Lonsdale men for the Lonsdale Battalion at the Front." [1]
- Press release: "The War Office having authorised the formation of a 5th (Depot) Company, with a strength of 250 men and an establishment of Officers ..., and a 6th Depot Company later, arrangements have been pushed forward for the accommodation of men in billets in the immediate vicinity of Blackhall Camp, where the new Companies will be trained. (read more) [2]
- Letter from Lt-Col. Machell to Lieut. Rivington: "We have got to raise a 5th Company (Depot) & later a 6th. I have arranged to re-open a recruiting office in Carlisle....The Depot Companies will be 'composite' but the men from various 'localities' placed in sections together – their function will be to feed the service Battalion, & men will be posted to A B C & D according to where they come from. I am telling the men to get to work, & am putting a thing in the various newspapers – I don’t believe in more meetings but let the men get to work. Only let them bring real stout fellows, we only want really good ones. If you collect any before you come here on 29th better take them on as a separate squad to C Coy & turn them over to the 5th (Depot) Coy as soon as you arrive. The Depot men will all be in lodgings 2/-a day, like at Kendal, and have got over 300 places ready for immediate occupation....Will you before coming here to a certain amount every day of Company Drill, taking every para in turn, so that the Section Commander may get used to handling their sections. It is excellent practice for the young NCO’s, who may know the drill, but get petrified when a long word of command is shot out - you will soon be as good as anyone else. I want soon to get on to Company Training." [3]
- Lt-Col. Machell’s letter to Recruiting Officers: "Recruiting for the Lonsdale Battalion is re-opened from this date. I hope that the popularity of the Lonsdale Battalion will not have suffered since the 13 November, when it became necessary to stop recruiting, and that it will be possible to select men of good physique and high character to fill the ranks of our Depot Companies, whose function will be to provide a constant supply of Lonsdale men for the Service Battalion when it goes to France." [4]
1915 (Saturday)
1916 (Monday)
- Battalion situated at Berteaucourt, parading for baths.
1917 (Tuesday)
- Battalion situated at Dambre Camp involved in training.
References
Sources: Various sources contemporary to the war have been used to compile the Lonsdale Battalion on this day... (hover to read more)
Various sources contemporary to the war have been used to compile The Lonsdale Battalion On This Day. The majority of the events shown on this day (11 December), including any supplementary notes, enlistments and statistical data etc., have been primarily sourced from the Lonsdale Battalion War Diary (November 1915 to June 1918), Record of the XIth (Service) Battalion (Lonsdale) and abridged material from Timeline and Chronology of the Lonsdale Battalion (September 1914 - May 1915), which are sourced from the original DLONS/L/13/13 Lowther Estate Archives. Events from that chronology are reproduced here with kind permission of Jim Lowther (2016). They are identified and referenced separately by their unique DLONS numbers. Please do not publish these events without prior permission from the Lowther Estate. All casualty names, numbers, ranks, date of deaths and places of burial/commemoration have been sourced from Soldiers Died in the Great War 1914-19, Volume 39, The Border Regiment and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database respectively.