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Other dates

Lonsdale Battalion events that took place on 5 February.
For events that took place elsewhere, see our sister project The Great War On This Day

1915 (Friday)

Events preceding the Lonsdales' arrival in France

• "The Officer commanding E Company will arrange to borrow rifles, for the instruction of his men, on Saturdays, in Rifle Exercise & Aiming Drill."
• W. Peden (13758) and A. Mattinson (13853) of D Company and J.P. Castlehow (13362) of A Company are discharged on medical grounds.
• J. Edmondson (13858) is forfeited pay due to absence.
• Promotions to Sergeant: J.C. Wyles (13339), E. Nixon (13393) and J Green (15500) of A Company.
• Promotions to Lance Sergeant: S.T. Bryan (13294), John Cornelius McDivitt (13249) and W. Beattie (13274) of A Company.

1916 (Saturday)

• The Lonsdales relieve the 17th Highland Light Infantry in the F1 sector near Aveluy. Two men are wounded during relief.
• A draft of 20 other ranks join the Battalion.
• Private A. H. Harvey writes a letter to his parents: "they have returned to the trenches for seven days after a week’s rest, and hopes they will have better luck this time....The Derby Scheme is not going so well, I think. It seems the young men of England are not coming forward as they ought to do. If they have to be brought – well all I can say is they are pack of cowards and can’t realise that we are still up against it. The longer they linger, the longer the war will last. Now, then, you lad at Workington; don’t spoil the record of the old town! All the D Company of the Lonsdales would like you to come forward before March 1st, without a Conscription mark on you. You can put this in the 'Star' if you like, just to liven things up a bit. Best of luck to all."

1917 (Monday)

• Battalion is situated at Lytham Camp near Beaussart. Time spent on practice drill for forthcoming attack. Commanding Officer supervises practice making necessary alterations.

1918 (Tuesday)

• Battalion is situated in the front line where the sector is quiet.
• Wiring is carried out by night; very difficult owing to evening being so dark. Patrolling also very difficult on account of darkness and bad condition of ground.

Notes

References

Acknowledgements

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 (5 February), 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.