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Key dates over March 1915

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

Lives lost on this day: 9

29th March 1915 - Worcestershire has more units on foreign service than any other provincial county

Rolling casualty count: 958

1st Batt: Very quiet day. Relieved by the 4th Cameroons about 8pm;

2nd Batt: Heavily shelled morning, afternoon and evening. Medical Officer Lt A.M. Smith severely wounded. Dressing station and ‘B’ Coys HQ damaged, also the road leading to the village. Lt. R.V.L. Johnston joined Battalion and was posted to ‘D’ Company. Kept up constant machine gun fire from two positions in rear of our lines on to the German works and communications trenches from about 9:30pm till 1 am accompanied also by bursts of Infantry fire;

3rd Batt: Relieved by R. Irish Rifles and marched to billets. HQ and ‘A’ & ‘D’ Cos La Clytte, ‘B’ & ‘C’ Coys Dickebusch;

Worcestershire is the only county outside the London area which has four regular Battalions. Not even the hugely populated and boastful counties of York and Lancaster provide four regular Battalions; and, now the Worcestershire 4th Battalion has left England, we are in the proud position of having more units on foreign service than any other provincial county (says “Crowquill” in “Berrow’s Worcester Journal.”) The destination of the 4th Battalion (which came home from Malta) is still secret, as it is also that of the various units of our Territorial Force. All we know is that the 4th have left England, and that the Yeomanry, the Artillery, and the 7th and 8th Battalions are “under general orders” to leave “for the Continent.” When these last-named units have gone, the county will be represented in the fighting ranks by six Infantry Battalions, one Brigade of Artillery, and one cavalry unit – the Worcestershire Queen’s Own, Hussars. After all of these have gone, there will still be left at home, ready for the eventualities of the future, the five Battalions of Kitchener’s Army, raised since the war – the 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th Worcestershires – the Reserve units of the Territorials (which are the duplicates of the original units), and also the 5th and 6th (Special Service) Battalions, from which the wastages in the firing line at the front are made good;

A cheque for £25, the proceeds of the whist drive held by the Worcester and District Butchers’ Association, in aid of the Battenhall Mount Hospital, has been forwarded to the Mayor;

It is understood that under the will of the late Mrs. C.J. Sale, the Art Gallery of the Victoria Institute, Worcester, will receive three of the twelve pictures which formed her own private collection. This bequest is in addition to what they will receive under the late Mr. Sale’s will, and we are pleased to hear that the Trustees of the British Museum, in the exercise of their option, will probably allow the local gallery to receive a more considerable portion of that collection than might have been expected.

Information researched by Sue Redding

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