THE WAR HISTORY OF
THE 1st/4th BATTALION
THE LOYAL NORTH
LANCASHIRE REGIMENT
THE COLOURS
THE
WAR HISTORY
OF THE
1st/4th Battalion The Loyal North
Lancashire Regiment,
now The Loyal Regiment
(North Lancashire).
1914–1918
“The Lancashire foot were as stout men as were in the world andas brave plunderers as ever went to a field....
“It was to admiration to see what a spirit of courage andresolution there was amongst us, and how God hid us from the fearsand dangers we were exposed to.”
Captain Hodgson, writing in 1648, on the Battle of Preston.
[COPYRIGHT]
1921
Printed by Geo. Toulmin & Sons, Ltd., Guardian Works, Preston.
Published by the Battalion History Committee.
Photo: A. Winter, Preston.
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL RALPH HINDLE, D.S.O.
He commanded the Battalion from February, 1915, till wounded in actionat Festubert, and again from August, 1915, till killed in action atVaucellette Farm, on 30th November, 1917.
“What do these fellows mean by saying, ‘I’ve done mybit’? What is their ‘bit’? I don’t consider I’ve done mineyet.”—Lieutenant-Colonel Hindle in 1917.
Dedication.
To
The Main Body of our Comrades,
who have gone forward in triumph to
the Unknown Land,
We,
The Rear Party,
left behind to clean up and hand over,
Dedicate this book.
PREFACE
The purpose of this book is to supply to the people of Preston anddistrict, for the first time, a complete and authentic record of theadventures of their original local Territorial Infantry Battalionduring the Great War, such a record being a chapter of local historywhich must sooner or later be written; to put into the hands of therelatives and friends of those who have gloriously fallen the storyof the unit with which they served faithful unto death, with itsaccompanying tribute from their surviving comrades; to supply to thelatter ... maimed or whole a book which they may hand down to posterityto speak of their service; and last, but not least, to speak to thosewho shall succeed to our traditions, of Comradeship, Cheerfulness,Endurance, Devotion to Duty, and all the virtues which go to make up“the Spirit of the Regiment.”
The d