Infantry Brigade.

August 1914 to March 1915.

In accordance with the order received at Belfast at 5.30 P.M. on the
4th, the 15th Brigade started mobilizing on the 5th August 1914, and
by the 10th was complete in all respects. We were practically ready by
the 9th, but a machine-gun or two and some harness were a bit late
arriving from Dublin--not our fault. Everything had already been
rehearsed at mobilization inspections, held as usual in the early
summer, and all went like clock-work. On the 8th we got our final
orders to embark on the 14th, and on the 11th the embarkation orders
arrived in detail.

Brigade Headquarters consisted of myself, Captain Weatherby (Oxford
L.I.) as Brigade Major, Captain Moulton-Barrett (Dorsets), Staff
Captain, Captain Roe (Dorsets), Brigade Machine-Gun Officer,
Lieutenant Cadell, R.E., Signalling Officer, and Lieutenant Beilby,
Brigade Veterinary Officer. Military Police, A.S.C. drivers, postmen,
and all sorts of odds and ends arrived from apparently nowhere in
particular, and fitted together with extraordinary little effort. The
battalions grew to unheard-of sizes, and by the time that all was
complete the Brigade numbered 127 officers, 3958 men, 258 horses, and
74 vehicles.

_Aug. 14th._

The Cheshires[1] and Bedfords[2] arrived by train in the early morning
of the 14th from 'Derry and Mullingar and went straight on board their
ships--Brigade Headquarters, Dorsets,[3] and half the Norfolks[4]
being in one, Cheshires and the other half of the Norfolks in another,
and the Bedfords in a third.

[Footnote 1: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. D. C. Boger).]

[Footnote 2: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. C. R. Griffith, D.S.O.).]

[Footnote 3: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. L. J. Bols, D.S.O.).]

[Footnote 4: 1st Batt. (Lieut.-Col. C. R. Ballard).]

Great waving of handkerchiefs and cheering as we warped slowly out of
Belfast docks at 3 P.M. and moved slowly down the channel.

_Aug. 16th._

The weather was beautifully fine on the passage, and on the 16th we
all arrived at our destination.

The Bedfords had arrived on the previous tide to ourselves, and were
already fast alongside the quay. Orders were received from the
Disembarking Officer, and we disembarked and formed up independently
and marched off to Rest Camp No. 8, six miles off on the hills above
Havre.

It had been pouring heavily on shore for two days, though it was quite
fine when we landed; so the gr