Until August 20 officers and men remained within easy reach of their Headquarters. The Division was then moved into camps in the neighbourhoods of Bolton, Bury and Rochdale, and anxiously it awaited the summons. Another fortnight passed, and the rumour that Egypt was to be the destination began to gain ground. Rumour was, however, at this time a discredited jade, fit subject for scorn, for was she not responsible for the passage through England and Scotland of myriads of Russian soldiers, the ice and snow of Archangel still clinging to their boots and beards, who had been seen by thousands of British optimists at every railway junction in the land? But in the training camps of East Lancashire she was restored to public favour when a telegram, dated September 5, was received by the Divisional Commander from Lord Kitchener— “Inform the Division from me that I hope that they will push on hard with their training in Egypt, as, before they are ready, there will be plenty of troops from India to garrison Egypt, and I hope they will be one of the first of the Territorial Forces to join our Army on the Continent. All will depend on their fitness for service against the enemy in the Field.—KITCHENER.” General Douglas spoke for every man in the Division when he replied: “All ranks much gratified to receive your message. They are animated with keen desire to fit themselves to join our forces on the Continent.” On the 9th September the Division entrained for Southampton, about forty trains being required to convey men, horses, guns, and all the material of war; and on the 10th 15,500 Lancashire men, with about a thousand officers and men of the Hertfordshire and City of Westminster Yeomanry, embarked upon the great adventure, the first Territorial Division to volunteer for foreign service, and the first to leave England’s shores. It was a record of which the Lancashire men were justly proud, and which secured to them from the start the prestige and _esprit de corps_ that are usually the outcome of long and honourable tradition. The details that were not going out with the Division became the nucleus of the Second Line, which sent drafts to the First Line until about the end of August 1915, when the Second Line East Lancashire (66th) Division was formed. After that date the drafts came from the Third Line units. The Duke of Lancaster’s Own Yeomanry had been accepted for voluntary service overseas, and it had been hoped that the whole regiment would accompany the Division, but finally only “A” Squadron, was ordered to embark. [Sidenote: _Departure for Egypt_]