30 September

September
Lonsdale Battalion events that took place on 30 September.
For events that took place elsewhere, see our sister project The Great War On This Day

1914 (Wednesday)

Thanks to the Executive Committee and other patriotic gentlemen at Kendal, Carlisle & Workington we have been able to start long before our central camp could be ready. One thing we will not do & that is ask a man to come to us before we are ready to make him comfortable.
When a man joins the Lonsdale Battalion he is taking a wise step. Lord Lonsdale, whose name we are proud to bear, has lent us marquees, stoves, cookers, & is helping us in every way. We are a battalion of "Pals", men from different localities in the two Counties soldiering together in sections, platoons and companies. – Officers, Non-commissioned officers & men, we are all soldiers; badges and stripes do not imply social superiority, but merely indicate our jobs. We are all rungs upon the same ladder. Officers are no good without the rank and file, and the rank and file are no good without the officers.
If I am the Commanding Officer, it is not because I am a better man than anyone else, but because I have been a soldier, & know what I have got to do. True discipline is based on the genuine cooperation of all ranks, and we have all of us joined with the one idea. We are out for King & Country and each has got to do his best.
There will have to be a lot of drill at first, because drill means system, & we cannot do without it, but drill is not the end, it is only the beginning. On top of drill will come the big thing, the development of the soldier’s sense of duty, the soldier spirit. Once we have got this, everything comes easy, hardship & danger, it is all Duty, and we will do our duty for all we are worth.
As we have written on our posters, the men of Westmorland & Cumberland will enlist together & fight together, & I look with confidence to the Lonsdale Battalion becoming one of the finest fighting regiments in the British Army. [2]

1916 (Saturday)

  • Lonsdales have baths in Bethune during the morning.
  • The Commanding Officer visits the billets also during the morning.

1917 (Sunday)


References

  1. Record No. DLONS/L/13/13/279
  2. Record No. DLONS/L/13/13/42
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