7th Battalion War Diary, July 1915

7th Border Regiment War Diary Transcriptions (1915-1918) The National Archives WO/95/2008
	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1914
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1916	✔
1917

This is the first month of the 7th Border Regiment's war diary. It was written on graph paper in note form instead of the standard issue C.2118 Army Form; starting from the 12th July (the initial period of embarkation to France) for a period of one month through to the 18th August, the start of which can be seen by clicking on the above link. Each of the pages are numbered on the top right hand corner from 1 to 5 and each entry is signed, although it is unclear by whom.

The adjutant at the time was Captain C.G. Page but the signature does not seem to match this.

The information in this month's diary is brief and to the point.

Place	Date	Hour	Summary of Events
	July 12th 1915		Captains J.H. GROGAN, J.W. TAILFORT, Lieut. D.F.K. WEBSTER & 2nd Lieut. W.J. McKEAND & 108 other ranks left WINCHESTER en route for HAVRE. The above were transport and detailed.
	July 14th 1915		The Bn 26 Officers & 1 attached & 824 other ranks left WINCHESTER about 3pm en route for BOULOGNE. The Bn travelled by train and then boat in 2 parties under the C.O. and 2nd in Command respectively. A nominal roll of all officers & the number of other ranks is attached [illegible] Appendix I.
	July 15th 1915		OSTRAHOYE RESTCAMP (IN BOULOGNE) reached about 1am. Bn accommodated in tents.
	July 16th 1915		Entrained and PONT DE BRIQUES at 2pm for St. OMER. Arrived St. OMER 5pm and marched to billets about 5 miles [? - west]. Arrived billets 7pm. “C” Coy LEULINE, “A” Coy LEULINGHEM, “B” Coy ETREHEM, “D” Coy AUDENTHUN.
	July 17th		Billets as above.
	July 18th		Marched at 7.30am and arrived WALLON CAPPEL 4.30pm. Marching bad. Boots issued only 10 days before leaving WINCHESTER hurt men’s feet on the [illegible]. 34 men fell out. Distance 14 miles.
	July 19th		Marched at 8.30am for EECKE, 10 miles. Marching again bad, same reason as yesterday. It has been the same throughout the Brigade.
	July 20th		In billets EECKE.
	July 21st		In billets EECKE. O.C. Coys went forward for 24 hours instruction in trenches in Ypres Salient.
	July 22nd to July 24th		In billets EECKE nothing of any special note.
	July 25th		Marched from EECKE at 8pm and arrived billets RENINGHELST 1.30am.
	July 26th		In billets as above.
	July 27th		“D” Coy under Major Irwin & ½ the Machine Guns [illegible] went into trenches at SANCTUARY WOOD for instruction.
	July 28th to 31st		Battalion remained in billets at RENINGHELST, nothing special to report.

Appendix I

The following is a table of all the officers who set off from Winchester for France by "train and then boat in 2 parties under the C.O. and 2nd in Command". The diary shown above states that two separate parties left England for France, the first being on the 12th and the second on the 14th July 1915 en route to Harve and Boulogne respectively. Along with these officers were a combined total of 932 other ranks.

Below is a full listing of the officers that travelled in the two parties.

Officer Nominal Roll, 7th Battalion Border Regiment, July 1915
Lieutenant-Colonel R.L. Norrington
Major W.R. Foran	Major R.S. Irwin
Captain C.G. Page (Adjutant)	Captain J.H. Grogan
Captain J.H. Bowe	Captain L.A. Newton
Captain A.P. Nasmith	Captain J.W. Tailforth
Captain W.F. Richardson	Captain T.L. Crosse
Lieutenant M. MacDonald	Lieutenant J.A. Stirling
Lieutenant D.J.G. Dixon	Lieutenant A. Gordon
Lieutenant R.M.B. Welsh	Lieutenant H.C. MacMichael
Lieutenant F.R.K. Morgan	Lieutenant D.F.R. Webster (machine-gun officer)
Second-Lieutenant A.G. Rigby (signalling officer)	Second-Lieutenant W.I. McKeand (transport officer)
Second-Lieutenant L.Birch	Second-Lieutenant C.H.M. Whiteside
Second-Lieutenant J.C. White	Second-Lieutenant J.M. Lee
Second-Lieutenant J.P. Edgar	Second-Lieutenant T.D. Noble
Second-Lieutenant T.S. Swan
Hon. Lieutenant S. Ashby (quartermaster)	Captain Q.V.B. Wallace (R.A.M.C.)
Rev. L.G. Mannering (chaplain)

References / notes

• National Archives Catalogue Reference: WO/95/2008
• The transcription above is available under the National Archives Open Government Licence for public sector information.