20 November

Lonsdale Battalion events that took place on 20 November.
For events that took place elsewhere, see 20 November on The Great War wiki.

1915 (Sunday)

From His Majesty the King: “... on the eve of your departure for Active Service I send you my heartfelt good wishes. It is a bitter disappointment to me, owing to an unfortunate accident, I am unable to see the Division on Parade before it leaves England, but I can assure you that my thoughts are with you all. Your period of training has been long and arduous, but the time has now come for you to prove on the Field of Battle the results of your instruction. From the good accounts I have received of the Division, I am confident that the high traditions of the British Army are safe in your hands, and that with your comrades now in the Field you will maintain the unceasing efforts necessary to bring this War to a victorious ending.^[1]

Battalion is situated at 'Road Camp' involved in training.
Charles Edward Spackman (9522) of the 1st Border Regiment is awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions on this day: “
For most conspicuous bravery when in action. The leading company was checked by heavy fire of a machine gun mounted in a position which covered the approaches. The ground was absolutely devoid of cover of any description. Sergeant Spackman realising the situation, and seeing it was impossible for troops to advance, went through the fire to attack the gun. Working forward gradually, he succeeded in killing all but one of the gun crew. He then rushed the gun and captured it singlehanded, thereby enabling the company to advance. The behaviour of the Non-Commissioned Officer was gallant in the extreme and he set a fine example of courage and devotion to his men.” ^[2]

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 (20 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.