14 December

Lonsdale Battalion events that took place on 14 December.
For events that took place elsewhere, see our sister project The Great War On This Day

1914 (Monday)

Two men are recruited at Penrith,^[1] one of which is farm servant, Thomas Nichol (17374).
Letter to Lt-Col. Machell: "Daily News Army and Navy Xmas Pudding Fund....at the request of Lord Lonsdale we....forward 10 cases each containing ten 8lb tins and one containing five 8lb tins of Xmas Puddings....on the basis of half-a-pound of pudding per man, this consignment will provide for 1680 men in all." ^[2]

Right half of Battalion returns to Bouzincourt from the trenches near Albert.^[3]
Officers and NCO’s of left half of Battalion are attached for instruction in the trenches (garrison duty).^[a]^[b]
Thomas James Nicholson (15328) is injured. He dies of wounds three days later on 17 December.
Lt-Col. P.W. Machell: "They are in very good form, and prepared to look smiling under all possible circumstances. I had a talk yesterday on the futility of grousing and the necessity of making the best instead of the worst of everything. Sandbags much wanted. I have been in the trenches a lot to-day, and see how useful a private supply would be. Difficulty in keeping the walls standing, owing to the quantity of water, and there is nothing like sandbags."

Battalion situated at Berteaucourt involved in bombing and Lewis guns instruction.
Companies parade for physical drill under Company arrangements.

↑ In much the same vein as 13 December where four platoons garrisoned the F1 sub-sector; four garrisoned the F2 sub-sector.
↑ An additional remark attached to this event in the War Diary for December 1915 states: "One other rank wounded, and died." This could possibly be Thomas James Nicholson (15328), who was injured on the same day.

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 (14 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.