31 May

Lonsdale Battalion events that took place on 31 May.
For events that took place elsewhere, see 31 May on The Great War wiki.

1916 (Wednesday)

Battalion situated in Bouzincourt engaged in working parties.
Fallen Officers – The Times List of Casualties is published: “We have received news of the death of the following officer, in addition to those whose names have been published in the official lists: Lieutenant Gerald Spring-Rice, Border Regiment, was killed on 27 May,^[a] in his 52nd year. He was the third son of the Hon. C.W.T. Spring-Rice, and brother of Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, British Ambassador in Washington, and cousin of Lord Monteagle. He joined the Border Regiment last year as a transport officer after a period of valuable service as Director for Cumberland of the Voluntary Aid Detachments. He married in 1905, Mary Isabella, younger daughter of Mr. John Bush, of Beauthorn, Penrith. Mrs. Spring-Rice, who, with two sons, survives him, is nursing in Penrith Military Hospital. Interestingly, 'I vow to thee my country' was written by Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, supposedly with Gerald in mind.^[1]
Deaths: John Barwise Osborn (19691)

↑ Although the The Times newspaper casualty list published Gerald Spring-Rice's death as 27 May, the Lonsdale Battalion war diary, Record of the Lonsdale Battalion document and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission all put his date of death at 26 May.

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 Please do not publish these events without prior permission from the Lowther Estate.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