19 November

Lonsdale Battalion events that took place on 19 November.
For events that took place elsewhere, see 19 November on The Great War wiki.

1914 (Thursday)

Lt-Col. Machell to Lord Lonsdale: "the blankets have not actually arrived^[a], but I have a notice today that a large quantity was despatched yesterday, so I expect we shall have them very soon. All going well – I had a special little parade at noon today....which went off well."^[1]

"It is possible that Battalions disembarking at Boulogne may remain in the Rest Camp for any period up to 24 hours. Battalions leaving Boulogne take the unconsumed portion of the current day’s ration with them. The following day’s ration is loaded in bulk on the train from Havre with the Transport portion."^[2]

Battalion is situated at 'Wagon Road' in same position as yesterday. No other action is taken by the enemy except for heavy shrapnel and a high explosive barrage causing several casualties.
During and after the attack, when the men were holding onto ground taken, the enemy used surprise tactics. Whilst coming out unarmed with their hands up, Lonsdale men leave the safety of the trenches to capture enemy prisoners. In doing so the 'surrendering' enemy drops suddenly and Lonsdale men are shot by concealed gunmen further on.
A little after noon the Battalion is relieved by the 2nd Inniskilling Fusiliers.
James Maclagan (17577) of B Company dies of wounds at a casualty clearing station.

↑ From Machell's despatch on 17 November asking for "six hundred blankets required to give each man three owing [to the] severe cold."

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 (19 November), 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 Please do not publish these events without prior permission from the Lowther Estate.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.