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141 Days: The Battle of the Somme On the outbreak of the First World War, in August 1914 the 1st
Battalion of the King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment was based in Dover.
They were quickly mobilised and arrived in France on 23rd August, and
the battalion was nearly wiped out in a Battle at Le Cateau, during the
‘Retreat from Mons,’ on 26th August. This was the worst day of the war
for the 1st Battalion. The 2nd Battalion was in India and was recalled
home. It spent most of 1915 on the Western Front, until they were moved
to Salonika for the campaign against Bulgaria.
As a result of Lord Kitchener, the Secretary of State for War’s public appeal for new recruits, the King’s Own gained four new battalions, the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th. The 6th Battalion was sent to Gallipoli in 1915 and, by 1916, was in Mesopotamia (Iraq). The 7th, 8th and 9th Battalions all arrived on the Western Front in 1915 but, within a few weeks, the 9th Battalion had been moved to Salonika.
Thus 1916 saw the 1st, 1st/4th, 1st/5th, 7th and 8th Battalions of the King’s Own all serving in France and Belgium. The 11th (Bantam) Battalion - which accepted men under the usual height and chest measurements - arrived in France, in June 1916, to relieve other units required at the Battle of the Somme. Back home in Britain, the 3rd and 10th Battalions continued to train men
and provide drafts of men to those battalions on active service. Supported by the Sir John Fisher Foundation and the Army Museums Ogilby Trust © Images are copyright, Trustees of the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum. Only a proportion of our collections are on display at anyone time. Certain items are on loan for display in other institutions. An appointment is required to consult any of our collections which are held in store. |
© 2016 Trustees of the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum