Grimsby Chums

The Grimsby Chums was a British First World War Pals battalion of Kitchener's Army raised in and around the town of Grimsby in Lincolnshire. When the battalion was taken over by the British Army it was officially named the 10th Battalion, The Lincolnshire Regiment. It was the only 'pals battalion' to be called 'chums'.

When the call came from Lord Kitchener for volunteers, the headmaster of Wintringham Grammar School in Grimsby decided to raise a 250-strong company of former pupils which would be offered to one of the local Territorial battalions. When other Grimsby men expressed a wish to join, the process was handed over to the town council which set about recruiting sufficient men to form an entire battalion. Men were accepted from neighbouring towns such as Boston, Louth and Scunthorpe. In order to complete the battalion, a group was sent from Wakefield in Yorkshire.

The Grimsby Chums joined the 101st Brigade of the British 34th Division where they were joined by the two battalions of the Edinburgh City Pals. The division moved to France in January 1916 and first saw action in the Battle of the Somme. On 1 July 1916, the first day on the Somme, the Grimsby Chums were in the first wave attacking the fortified village of La Boisselle, just south of the Albert-Bapaume road. To aid their attack, a massive mine, known as the Lochnagar mine, was detonated beneath the German trenches at 7.28 am, two minutes before Zero hour. At 7.30 am, the Grimsby Chums rushed forward...
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