to bring down 200 men to Plymouth. It was my first independent job. I reported to the
barracks at Preston to take command of the draft. They were accompanied by a
company sergeant major and a sergeant. We entrained the men at Preston Station. I
travelled 1
st
class on an officer’s warrant and I invited the CSM to accompany me in
my carriage, as I was anxious to keep in touch with what was going on. I cannot
remember how many times the train stopped, but I do remember that on arrival we
had a roll call of the men and we had lost a number of them. I was absolutely
horrified, but Col. Lloyd-Carson was very decent about it and I do not remember any
repercussions.
Early in 1915 my company went into camp near Plympton, where we were very
happy. I was lucky with my NCOs, who prevented me from making the obvious
mistakes. We left Plymouth with a draft of the Loyal North Lancashires for some
unknown reason. Captain Richardson of the East Lancashires was in command. We
had a great send off from Plymouth. Both my parents came down from Lancashire to
say goodbye to me. My two children still possess copies of the snapshot of me, taken
by Mrs Orr-Paterson, as I stood on the platform just about to entrain.
I left for France on 12
th
April 1915 from Southampton. The average life of an infantry
officer in the trenches was then about a month. I was very severely wounded on 9
th
May 1915 and never went into action again, so I maintained the average. As I write
this now I am reading a letter dated 11
th
April, which I sent off to my parents from the
South Western Hotel in Southampton.
I remember gazing over the stern of our steamer at the fading lights of Southampton
and wondering whether I should ever see England again. The sea was rough and the
passage uncomfortable, with the decks littered with officers and men, but our escort
of destroyers held my interest and I managed to land at Le Havre in reasonable
shape. We spent a night at the rest camp, and next morning Captain Richardson and a
few of us started our journey to the Front Line. I cannot remember anyone except
Captain Richardson. The journey was slow, but Captain Richardson was a friendly
and kind companion.
The 2
nd
Battalion was holding a section of the line north of Fromelles and was under
the command of Major Maclear. It had received severe casualties at the recent battle
of Neuve Chapelle. I was posted to “B” Company under the command of Lieutenant
Daw, a splendid company officer. Another good fellow in “B” Company was
Lieutenant Henderson, and I made friends with 2
nd
Lieutenant Bligh, whose Field
Service Pocket Book I still possess for some unexplained reason. Captain Arnott, the
adjutant, took me to lunch with the commanding officer, and it was an awkward meal
for me. Major Maclear asked what training I had had, and I told him Sandhurst and
the 3
rd
Battalion. He turned to his adjutant with the comment, “Why can’t they send
us someone useful from the HAC or Artists Rifles?” Of course the poor man wanted
some mature officers, who had already experienced active service, instead of an
absolutely green boy of just 18 years of age. Still, he didn’t think much about my
feelings and I felt very discouraged.
The next incident I remember was the inspection of the battalion by the C-in-C Field
Marshall Sir John French. We then went into billets near Sailly, where the
forthcoming offensive was explained to the senior officers. The main objective was