Pair: Private G. E. Dobinson, 11th (Lonsdale) Battalion, Border Regiment 1914-15 Star...

Pair: Private G. E. Dobinson, 11th (Lonsdale) Battalion, Border Regiment

1914-15 Star (17575 Pte. G. E. Dobinson. Bord. R.); British War Medal 1914-20 (17575 Pte. G. E. Dobinson. Bord. R.) good very fine (2) £70-£90

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George Ernest Dobinson was born at Great Orton, Carlisle, on 5 November 1892, the second son of farm labourer William Dobinson of Cumnersdale, Cumberland. Educated at Westward School in Cumberland until 26 October 1906, he is recorded in 1911 as a farm labourer residing with his parents at Allen Cottage in Caldbach (Caldbeck). 

Listed as serving with "C" Company in the 11th Battalion Nominal Roll of November 1915, Dobinson landed in France on 24 December 1915 and likely joined the Battalion at camp at Bouzincourt, close to the town of Albert in the Somme department. Crossed by an intricate lattice of trench systems dug into the chalky, muddy landscape, this wasteland of discomfort with names such as 'Crucifix Corner' and 'Oban Avenue' soon became home to the men. Colin Bardgett, author of The Lonsdale Battalion, 1914-1918, adds: 'They learned that a pick and shovel was just as important as a Lee-Enfield rifle, and it was better to shoot fast than accurately... They learned that trench clubs and mills bombs were more use than ceremonial swords and bayonets.’

The First Day of the Battle of the Somme
The experiences and sacrifices of the 11th Battalion, Border Regiment, on 1 July 1916, are described by many historians as typifying the slaughter on the Somme. Detailed to emerge from the front line trenches and advance across No Man's Land in the Leipzig Salient, it wasn't long before carefully aimed enfilade fire from the German-held Nordwerk began to mow down the infantry in scores:

'At 8am exactly Colonel Machell gave the order from the edge of Authuille Wood to move out. The Lonsdales wished each other good luck and shook hands, then they started their advance, some cheering and singing as if at a football match. They moved in blob formation, little groups of men being slightly to the rear of the one in front and slightly to the flank, this being considered the best formation under shell fire. As soon as the Lonsdales came into the open the deadly enfilade machine gun fire ripped through their ranks. The Germans found their mark; a hail of bullets cut furrows in the earth as the machine gunners found their range. The Lonsdales were being strewn all over the ground (ibid).' 

Of the 28 officers and 800 men who took part in the attack, 25 officers and 490 men were killed or wounded that day. According to the Lonsdale Battalion Casualty List, "C" Company lost 22 killed and 106 wounded; a few survivors managed to reach the 17th Highlanders who succeeded in capturing the Leipzig Redoubt - perhaps the greatest success for 32nd Division that day - but contemporary accounts later described the majority of the men as being 'cut down like grass'. It would be another three months before the original objective of Mouquet Farm was finally captured on 26 September 1916, with further daily losses of life.

The UK, World War I Service Medal and Award Roll, 1914-20, later confirms the transfer of Dobinson and a number of 11th Battalion survivors to the Machine Gun Corps, the re-allocation of consecutive service numbers indicating at the same time and likely upon the reduction of the Battalion to cadre strength in May 1918. As one of the 'originals', Dobinson numbered among a select few who had survived the Somme and the steady rates of attrition during Operations on the Ancre and the German retreat to the Hindenburg line in 1917. Recorded in 1921 as a horseman and a resident of Hesket-in-the-Forest, Penrith, Dobinson died at the Cumberland Infirmary on 2 December 1953, his last address recorded as 18 Short-Street, Carlisle.