The 5th Earl of Lonsdale (known as the Yellow Earl) was only the second or third person in the country to be given permission by the War Office to raise a battalion of pals following the outbreak of the First World War. The fascinating accounts taken from the archives of the Lowther family, chronicle the establishment of, and recruitment for, the Lonsdale Battalion (11th Service Battalion) of the Border Regiment, together with extracts from the Battalion's official war diaries held at The National Archives.  Further work on D company, recruited from West Cumberland, has examined a variety of sources. The battalion would ultimately sail for France in November 1915.