On the 28th October, as many Units as possible of the 1st Army were inspected by H.M.  The King.  Our Brigade formed a composite Battalion commanded by Col.  Jones, and, with the rest of the Division, and representatives of other Divisions, was drawn up along the Hesdigneul-Labuissiere Road.  His Majesty rode past us from Labuissiere and, after taking the salute, came down the hill again in his car with the Prince of Wales.  He acknowledged our cheers with a smile, and it was not until afterwards that we learnt of his accident soon after passing us, and knew the pain he was suffering during his drive back, pain which he had so admirably concealed.

After the inspection we sent a large party, six officers and 230 N.C.O.’s and men, to Sailly Labourse, to carry gas cylinders and other material to trenches, but except for this we were spared all fatigues during our period of rest.  A week later we marched through Bethune and Robecq to Calonne sur la Lys, a little village outside Merville, where we remained another week before going to the line.  Lieut.  Allen rejoined us and became Adjutant; Lieut.  Hills, after a few days with “A” Company, went to Brigade Headquarters as a Staff Learner.  At the same time, Major Toller returned to the Battalion as 2nd in Command.  After commanding the 4th Battalion until a new Colonel arrived for them, he had been posted to the 5th Lincolnshires, and for a time it looked as though he would be permanently given command.  However, bad luck pursued him, and, as two new Colonels arrived for that Battalion the same day, he again lost his Command.  Considering that he had commanded us for three months during the summer with great success, and was easily senior Major in the Brigade, it was exceptionally bad luck that he had to wait another eight months before finally getting his Battalion.

On the 10th November, we were told that we should once more take over a part of the line, and the following morning we marched to Lacouture and went into billets for one night.  “B” Co. (Beasley) went on at once and spent the night in support positions near the Rue du Bois between Festubert and Neuve Chapelle.  The rest of us moved up the next day and took over our new line from the Sherwood Foresters the same night.  Battalion Headquarters lived in a little cottage, “No. 1” Albert Road, two Companies occupied a large farm house in the same neighbourhood fitted up as a rest house, one Company lived in a series of curiously named keeps—­“Haystack,” “Z Orchard,” “Path,” and “Dead Cow,” and one Company only was in the front line.

The Brigade now held the line from “Kinkroo,” a corruption of La Quinque Rue, crossing to the “Boar’s Head,” and of this we held the stretch opposite the two farms in No Man’s Land, Fme du Bois and Fme Cour d’Avoue.  The latter, surrounded by a moat, had an evil reputation, and was said to have been the death-trap of many patrols, which had gone there and never been seen since.  The trenches