4 January

Lonsdale Battalion events that took place on 4 January.
For events that took place elsewhere, see 4 January on The Great War wiki.

1915 (Monday)

Five men enlist to E Company.
Letter to Lt-Col. Machell: “probably the rifles which you will eventually get are probably not yet made,....suggested that you should number your equipment now and when get the rifles number them accordingly. I fancy the numbering is an entirely regtal affair and rifles not issued with numbers on them but done on arrival with the rgt. It’s rather putting the cart before the horse to number the equipment first, but in these strenuous times there seems nothing else to be done.^[1]
"A short lecture will be given by Brigadier General Count Gleichen,^[a] KCVO, CB, CMG, DSO....who has been at the front from the commencement of the War, and is in England on short leave." ^[2]
"The following have been added to the list of articles to be provided for men of locally raised units who were enlisted before the 15 November: 1 pair woollen gloves, 1 cap comforter, 1 holdall per man. To cover the cost of these articles, the sum of 2/9 per man, may be drawn." ^[2]
Estimate from Joseph Bell, joiner of Stanwix: "gunracks for huts, they will cost about £2 17s 6d each per hut." ^[3]
Private T.E. Spark (16380), of A Company no. 12 Section, receives comic post card poking fun at the Kaiser.^[4]

Puchevillers: Brigade Field Day.
Lonsdales carry out practice 'Stunt' advancing through Puchevillers attacking a supposed position.

Tournehem: during the morning the men are involved in battalion and specialist training, and recreation during the afternoon.

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 (4 January), 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.