Tag Archives: Lespesses

17 March 1917; Saturday

Up at 7 o’clock. Cleaned up and cleared up billet. Marched off about 10 o’clock and arrived at Bouzingham1 at about 2 o’clock. Received parcel from home.

12 kilos.

Fell in for guard at 6 o’clock and decided I to be 2nd. Todd of B section went first and left Hughes last. Went on guard at 10 o’clock. Sat on the front of an ambulance waggon most of the time.


  1. Bouzingham: possibly Boëseghem (B), 12km N. of Lespesses (A) and 4km NE. of Aire-sur-la-Lys (C), on the D157 to Hazebrouck; Michelin square G4. 

16 March 1917; Friday

[This entry written on page for 15 March, “15” altered to “16”.]

Up at 6.30. Fell in at 9.15. Marched off with the band. Had good march and arrived at Lespesses1 about noon. Walked into St Hilaire at night2 with Bernard Stanton and spent a few minutes in a canteen. Returned home about 8 o’clock. Finished reading They & I by Jerome3. Billeted in an outhouse near a barn.

10 kilos.


  1. Lespesses (B): 10km N. of Pernes (A) and 4km W. of Lillers; Michelin square G4. 

  2. St Hilaire: St-Hilaire-Cottes (C), 1km NW. of Lespesses; also Michelin square G4. 

  3. They and I by Jerome K. Jerome, most famous for Three Men in a Boat, is apparently one of his lesser known works. It is a first person narrative concerning the remodelling of a house, and the interactions of the narrator with his children during this process. See also They and I and Arthur Linfoot’s library