Welcome to the '8th East Lancs' website.

 

 

The 8th (Service) Battalion, East Lancashire Regiment was, in some ways, an unremarkable unit of the British Expeditionary Force.

 

Soldiers from the regiment came from all over Lancashire - sizeable contingents enlisting in Blackburn, Burnley, Preston, Bolton, Nelson, Accrington, Bacup and Rawtenstall.  Large contingents came from Liverpool and Manchester, while significant numbers of men came from other northern counties.

This site serves to explain about the 8th East Lancs and act as a contact point with those who would like to know more about the unit, be they relatives of soldiers, those interested in Lancashire history or in the Great War in general.

 

News 

 

An interesting development last year via this e-mail from Australia: 

 

 

Lieutenant Macqueen photographed at Foncquevllers in 1915.  Photo courtesy of Mr Tom Yuille and IWM London.

 

Gday Stephen.
 
Just a quick one , I have an old cigarette case that I picked up at a car boot sale for 50p 17 years ago on my way from Dorset to London Airport.I then flew home to Perth West Australia. I collect silver and odd bits of stuff.
 
Inscribed inside the plated cigarette case is " Lieut T.M.MacQueen 8th East Lancs"
 
Any ideas on it;s age and was he famous in the regiment?
 
Sorry it's taken so long to get in touch with anyone.I trust it wasn;t stolen from the relatives house the night before the car boot sale!
 
Kind regards Miles Goldingham.
 
After corresponding, Miles kindly sent me the cigarette case which I shall put in a case along with a picture and donate to the QLR Museum in Preston. Lieutenant Thomas Macqueen was killed at Pozieres on 15th July 1916 in the attack that changed the battalion. Click here to see Macqueen's CWGC page:
 
 
 
 
 

For more information I can be contacted at:

 

dstephenbarker@hotmail.com

 

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© Stephen Barker 2010-2014.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'Lancashire's Forgotten Heroes'

      

 by Stephen Barker &       Christopher Boardman.

 

Published on November 1st 2008 by The History Press.

 

Click here to buy

a copy on Amazon.

or

I have signed copies to sell at £20 including p&p. Order now: dstephenbarker@hotmail.com

 

 

  • Unpublished trench photos.
  • Unique mapping. 
  • Original, unused sources. 
  • Interpretation of battles.
  • Comprehensive narrative.
  • Pen portraits and images of individual soldiers.
  • Foreward by Dr Bill Mitchinson of Birmingham University, Great War Studies Department.

         _______________________

 

  • Find out about the origins of the men who made up the battalion in its early days.
  • Follow the lives of some of the men who served in the unit.
  • Discover why the battalion went to France ahead of schedule in 1915.
  • Learn about the real reason for the failure of the attack on Pozieres in July 1916.
  • Read about the loss of ten officers to 'friendly-fire' on the Redan Ridge.
  • Follow the men through their attack in the snow, alongside tanks and cavalry at Monchy-le-Preux, Arras in 1917.
  • Find out about the battalion's role at Passchendaele.

 

  8th East Lancs

Dedicated to the men of the 8th (Service) Battalion,

East Lancashire Regiment in the Great War.

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