2 February

Lonsdale Battalion events that took place on 2 February.

1915

• Letter from Marie Fox of Carlisle: “I beg to offer you my services as French Teacher to your men ... I could arrange to come during the day. Having coached many officers & men for the Army it would give me great pleasure to continue my work.”
• Discharge on medical grounds: H.C. Wortley (17394) - A Company; G.B. Robinson (15468) - C Company.
• Enlistments to E Company: W.G. Harding (17565), G. Studholme (17566), R.W. Wilkinson (17567), J. Smith (17568), J. Sinclair (17569), Ernest Graham (17570), G.C. Hopkins (17571).
• Appointment and attachment: John Armstrong (17352) of D Company is appointed Lance Corporal in A Company, responsible for Battalion Transport.

1916

• In reserve at Aveluy providing fatigue duties for the Royal Engineers.
• Tribute letter written by Lt-Col. P. W Machell to Mrs McQuire, son of Private McQuire, on 25 January:

“Dear Madam, I write from the trenches to beg you to accept the assurance of my deepest sympathy in your sorrow. Your son was greatly liked, and his death is regretted by the whole Battalion. He was not willing to accept promotion, but he was a natural leader always cheerful, and carrying others with him in his desire to do his best all the time, and he did lead, without perhaps knowing it himself. I hope it may be some little consolation to know how much we all valued your boy, and how deeply his death is felt by us all.”

• Letter written by Rev. Basil Aston to Mrs. McKenzie, wife of Private J. McKenzie, who was wounded at the time Private McQuire was killed:

“Dear Mrs. McKenzie, Your husband is, I am thankful to say, a little better today, and not quite as bad as we feared, though quite bad enough. His right arm is badly smashed at the wrist, and an operation was performed this morning. I fear he can never have the full use of his right arm again; but I hope now the arm can be saved. He has a bad wound on the leg, also. On the whole, considering his injuries, he has had a good day, and has felt relieved since the operation. He sends his best love to you and the children. I will write again. With all sympathy, yours very sincerely.”

1917

• Battalion situated in the line. Two patrols are sent out and discover active enemy. The Commanding Officer visits the posts.

1918

• Lonsdales are relieved during the night by the 1st Dorsets; relief is complete by 11.30pm.
• Battalion moves to Boezinge - Bosinge Camp - involved in general cleaning up and parade for foot treatment.

References / notes

Material from Timeline/Chronology of the Lonsdale Battalion (September 1914 - May 1915) are sourced from the DLONS/L/13/13 Lowther Estate Archives. Entries from this timeline are reproduced here with kind permission of Jim Lowther and are not available under the license of this site. Please do not publish these extracts on other publicly visible media without prior permission from the copyright holder.