Preston Pals Remembered | Lancashire Infantry Museum

This Day In History

1719 The Grenadier company of Wills' Regiment (later 1st East Lancashires), part of an expedition sent to capture the French-held Fort Annapolis, Nova Scotia, provide cover for the landing of the Marines. The French are allowing Annapolis to be used as a base for privateers attacking British settlements in New England.

1915 Battle of Loos. The final British offensive of 1915 begins. 1st Loyal North Lancashires make a gallant but unsuccessful assault in the face of uncut German wire, machine guns and gas. When, after a second attempt, the survivors rally in the trenches, only 3 officers and 159 other ranks remain on their feet, 16 officers and 489 men having fallen. It is in the aftermath of this attack that Private Henry Kenny earns the Victoria Cross. Also on this day 2nd South Lancashires make a brave but costly attack on the Bellewarde Ridge, but lose heavily to the lethal combination of machine guns and barbed wire.

1915 Private Henry Kenny, 1st Loyals, wins the VC near Loos, France, by going into No Man's Land on six separate occasions, and under heavy fire each time, to bring in wounded men

Preston Pals Remembered

Published 24/07/2012 | By RogerG

some years ago a letter in the Lancashire Evening Post asked why there was no memorial to the Preston Pals. It sparked local businessman Andrew Mather into action and on 22 July 2012, exactly 96 years less one day after D Company (the Preston Pals), 7th Loyals, suffered grievously in their first action at Bazentin-le-Petit, a memorial to their memory was unveiled on the platform at Preston Station from which they departed to war. The Museum provided enthusiastic support to the project, especially via our late, much-lamented Friend Joe Hodgson, without whose encyclopaedic knowledge the Memorial would never have come to fruition.

The Memorial

Preston businessman Andrew Mather, the driving force behind the creation of the memorial, outlines the history of the project.

Colonel Steve Davies, Deputy Colonel (Lancashire) of the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, and Lord Shuttleworth, Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, examine the memorial after the unveiling.

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