Skip to navigation | Skip to content | Skip to footer

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: 0

27th March 1915 - Sir Edward Elgar contributes letter from Nelson in aid of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John.

Rolling casualty count: 954

1st Batt: Very quiet day, trenches in very good condition. Communication trenches improved. Draft of 4 officers and 150 OR joined battalion;

2nd Batt: A good deal of shelling during the day. Great activity at night and many violent bursts of rifle fire. Enemy’s communications heavily fired on during the night at long range by machine gun near HQ;

3rd Batt: In trenches E. of Ellzenwalle;

The 7th and 8th (Reserve) Battalions have now left Northampton for their new war station on the East Coast;

Miss Southall and a party of teachers from St. Mark’s Sunday School gave the soldiers at Norton Barracks a capital evening in the YMCA hut, under the presidency of Canon Tupper, a full room including patients from the Depot hospital. The programme comprised a selection of plays and between the plays Canon Tupper contributed some songs, which were loudly encored. At the close the men gave vent to their thanks in hearty cheers for the performances, and retired to the barrack rooms in good spirit;

Sir Edward Elgar has contributed an interesting autograph letter from Nelson to the sale which Messrs’ Christie will open in April in aid of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John. The letter, “To Hercules Ross, Esq.,” which is certified by the British Museum authorities to be a genuine example of Nelson’s handwriting before he lost his right arm, is as follows: - “Port Royal, Sept. 1, 1870. Dear Sir, - I have just received the Admiral’s reply to my request to be sent home. It is granted. The report of the surgeon was sufficient and but confirmed his opinion. I will ride over to-morrow and have a chat. Now assured I return to England, hope revives within me. I shall recover, and my dream of glory be fulfilled. Nelson will yet be an Admiral. It is the climate that has destroyed my health and crushed my spirit. Home and dear friends will restore me. – Yours sincerely, Horatio Nelson;”

Recruiting: Blacksmiths are urgently required for service in the Royal Engineers, for the duration of war. Men desiring to enlist as Blacksmiths in the Royal Engineers are put through a Test at their trade, which is less difficult that the Test for Shoeing Smiths. They might, for example, be required to cut off a length from half-inch sound bar iron, bend into ring of 5inches diameter, and weld complete. For Terms of Pay and Service apply to the nearest Recruiting Officer.

Information researched by Sue Redding

Enter your text...