VETERANS OF SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO

It's In The Shoebox

2012-02-08T07:54:00.000-08:00

It's amazing what you can find when you open the old shoebox rather than throwing it out. In one I found a cloth map of France, Germany, and Poland. It seems to be made of linen or cotton. My guess would be linen. I do not know how Dad got the map or even if he used it. From the condition of the map I doubt if it was used. But it was carefully folded and put into a shoebox for storage. Parts of the map are shown below.

Front of map showing Northern France

Also the front.

Back of map showing Germany and Poland.

Researching The Oxford Rifles

2012-01-08T17:05:00.000-08:00

Occasionally I receive requests for information such as the one below. I thought that I would outline how I would go about researching a military ancestor, or for that matter a military unit. I am a historian with a strong interest in genealogy, not the other way around, so my methods might well be a little different that that used by others.

“As I have been researching my great grandfather Vernon Graham I came across your site. He was in the Oxford Rifles abt 1865-66 and I think must have been part of the Fenian Raids. Could you please direct me as to where I would go to get records.? He is also listed as to being in the Woodstock Volunteer Rifles under Col Light. Your help would be much appreciated”

Oxford County volunteer militias date back to 1798. The Oxford Rifles were organized on 14 August 1863 by amalgamating the existing independent militia companies. The regiment did serve in the Niagara during the Fenian Raids, but arrived too late to participate in the Battle of Ridgeway.

I suspect from the little information I have that Vernon Graham was from Woodstock (I have been proven wrong before; however, most of the companies of any militia regiment are based on other towns or villages in the county). The first place that I would go to is the 1861 Canada Census to verify that Woodstock was indeed his home city. Here Ancestry.com is useful if you have access to the Library edition as it is free to use. If not the local library should have microfilm copies of the Canada Census’s.

The next step is to find copies of the pay books of the Oxford Rifles. For this period there is no equivalent of the World War One battalion diaries. Here a visit to the Woodstock City Museum might well pay off. They should have a copy of “Pay list of Oxford Rifles Militia 1865-1868: & record of officers 1907-1927”, Ontario Genealogical Society, Oxford County Branch, 1980. If you have no luck here then Library and Archives Canada have microfilmed “Nominal Rolls and paylists for the Volunteer Militia-22nd. Regiment, Oxford rifles”, Microfilm reel T-16577. I have not yet seen this microfilm so I can not attest as to what information is there. In any paylists the most you can expect is a list of names with pay and signatures. However, those who were involved in the Fenian Raids will be listed in a separate paylist. If you find his name and signature you can positively say that he was there.

Library and Archives Canada’s online medal registry rolls is a hit and miss affair for this period. The Fenian Raid medal was issued over 30 years after the event, and only sent if the veteran requested it. But you might get lucky !

Local newspapers are not online; however, most (if they survived) are on microfilm. The University of Western Ontario holds a wonderful collection of microfilmed newspapers. I have found that local libraries tend to have copies of the microfilms of their own local papers in house. The wonderful thing about the papers of that era is their rather gossipy way of listing every soldier who participated in any event in their community.

There have been some previous writing on the Oxford Rifles. Philip MacQuarrie, “For God and home: a history of the Oxford Rifles 1798-1954”, Woodstock Museum 1998. Herbert Miles, “A story of the Oxford Rifles, 1798-1954”, Oxford Museum 1974.One would assume that these booklets are in the Oxford Museum.

Some Christmas Posts From The Great War

2011-12-18T19:59:00.000-08:00

Library and Archives Canada. A Christmas Card from the 4th. Division. The battles listed would put it in 1918 although Library and Archives Canada put it at 1917-1918.

Library and Archives Canada. This dates to 1926 but who can resist this recipe. This should do wonders for your cholesterol count. I wonder what the Temperance people thought of it? .

Library and Archives Canada. A Red Cross holiday card. Since Library and Archives Canada put it at 1914 to 1918 I assume that it was used every year (no proof of course). Of course, it could also mean that the good people at the Archives haven't a clue.

There are many more examples at both the Ontario Archives, and Library and Archives Canada. More than I could possibly put into a blog post.

Library and Archives Canada - New Records Online

2011-12-13T10:20:00.000-08:00

Library and Archives Canada have put two new sets of records online for the First World War. These are “Commonwealth War Graves Registers, First World War”, and “Circumstances Of Death Registers, First World War”.

These are not databases so it is not possible to do a key word search. You need to use these links as you would use an actual microform reader. Supposedly this is to give us the experience of actually being in a reading room. Really !

If you are looking for a specific name there is a help page. Still it’s a hard slog. Reminds me of graduate school.

7th. Fusiliers

2011-11-25T19:27:00.000-08:00

The 7th. Fusiliers went through several name changes such as the 7th. Fusiliers, 7th. Fusiliers, Light Infantry, 7th. Fusiliers, City of London Regiment. Regardless, that regiment was London's militia infantry regiment. "The London Advertiser" in 1914 published what for me was an interesting series of photos of the regiment leaving for wars..

Members of the regiment just prior to their leaving for the Northwest in 1885. "The London Advertiser", August 22, 1914.

Volunteers from the regiment, and the Elgins, boarding trains on their way to South Africa in 1900. "The London Advertiser". August 22, 1914.

The send off for volunteers from the regiment, and the Elgins, who are off to Valcartier to train for the First Division. No more than six of these men would return in 1919 on their own feet. "The London Advertiser", August 22. 1914.

Veteran's Day 2011

2011-11-11T12:27:00.000-08:00

There had to be a couple thousand people in Victoria Park this morning to watch the Veteran's Day parade and ceremonies on a very cold morning. I got what pictures I could through the crowd. More photos are on my blog The Forest City.

Royal Canadian Ledger Sheets (1910-1941

2011-11-04T13:16:00.000-07:00

Library and Archives Canada has released some records for 16,788 individuals who enlisted in the Canadian Navy between 1910 to 1941. The information is a best brief. Not all of the records are included. If you are lucky you will find the following:

Library and Archives Canada

Further information about the files can be found at the following link.

2011-10-21T13:08:00.000-07:00

I received an email a couple of weeks ago asking for information on the following photo.

"I am writing to you to see if you can point me in the right direction of how to identify the men in the attached photo. I believe one of them is my great-grandfather and wish to confirm this information. The surname would be either Fee, Gray, Burley or Dunk. I do not have any information on the other two gentlemen. The back of the photo indicates it is a post card, made in Canada and has no writing on it".

This a problem that I run into all the time. These postcard photos are quite common. I expect just as in the case of my own collection nothing is written of the reverse because it is assumed that the people who received the postcard knew who was in the photos. Luckilly for me I still have some 90 year olds around who can put names to the individuals in my collection.

Other than that I can not help very much.

200th. Anniversary of the War Of 1812

2011-10-21T12:58:00.000-07:00

The Prime Minister hob nobbing with re-enactors in Niagara Falls.

2012 is not here yet; but the old clichés are. The two hundred anniversary of the War of 1812 is getting off with a literary, and political battle. Christopher Moore has some interesting views on this topic. I wonder how much relevant research will be done ?

The Federal Government has pigeon holed somewhere between 10 and 13 million dollars which will be spent on various activities celebrating the war. James Munroe, the federal heritage minister has been quoted as saying that he expects:

“ all Canadians to understand the war’s importance. Canadian identity was largely shaped by the War of 1812,” says Moore. “It was a fight for Canada and the beginning of our independence.”
“This war leads directly to Confederation in 1867,” Moore explains, ascribing the most basic characteristics of Canada—a constitutional monarchy, the preservation of a French-speaking Quebec, an accommodating native policy and our healthy economic and political relationship with the Americans—to the successful defence of Canada’s borders. “We were invaded and we repulsed that invasion. Because of the War of 1812 we grew up to be uniquely Canadian.”

Well that is stretching it a bit in my estimation. There needs to be a lot of convincing before I accept the notion that the War of 1812 had anything to do with the development of Canada. The exception in my mind was that the end of the war saw everything - with the exception of the Indian lands- remaining as it was before the war.

I expect that we will be seeing a lot of military re-enactors marching around in red coats carrying reproduction Brown Bess’s.

Local Men In Canadian Mounted Rifles January 1900

2011-09-25T11:22:00.000-07:00

“The London Advertiser” January 4, 1900 reported on the departure of A Squadron of the Mounted Rifles that left as part of the Second Contingent on it’s way to South Africa. In the service files you will notice that they are listed as being in the Royal Canadian Dragoons. I have tried to check out as many of the names that were listed as part of A Squadron as I could. I have added the full Christian names(rather than initials that the Advertiser used) in the list. As far as I can tell they all survived. For many of the soldiers I have landed you on the services files. Some have more than one page so scroll onward !

Major Arthur H. King of the 1st. Hussars appointed Lieutenant of A Squadron.
His medal register is online at Library and Archives Canada only.

Alfred Ernest Ardiel, London

John Charles Sydney Marsh, London

Richard Henry Reynolds, London

Martin Janes, London

Hugh Horner, London

James Elliot Fraser, London

Michael O’Connell, London

George Richardson, London

J.A. Murnoe, London
It might be Munroe; however, no Murnoe in the archives matches a Londoner.

J. Richardson, London
Another puzzler. There is a J. Richardson; however, he is listed as being with the Royal Canadian Regiment although he seems to be from Ilderton.

Walter Wright, London

Frederick Miles, London

Charles Edward Shaw, London

Sperry Cline, Orwell

David Lockhead, Wingham
Another name which does not come up in the archives.

William Melvon Glover, Chatham

H.B. Allan, Windsor
The Advertiser listed H. B.; but his name was Edward Blake Allan. Be careful with the papers as these kind of mistakes are commonplace.

Frank Cornelius Peck, Chatham

J.C. Hemstreet, Windsor
The only man with this name was with the Royal Canadian Regiment. Is it the same man ? The rest of the files are useless.

Daniel Joseph Crone, Sarnia

Sergt. Campbell. Sault Ste. Marie
I am sticking my neck out here and saying that this could be George Campbell.Nothing about Sault Ste. Marie in these papers but there is a reference to the 22nd. Battalion which were also called the Oxford Rifles. The neat thing with these papers is that they are hand written.

William Tilley, Kingsville

Mortimer Symon Wigle, Kingsville

Lambert Rudolph Wigle, Kingsville

Angus Alanson Mcdonald, Kingsville

William Richard Maycock, Leamington

G. H. Tripp, Kingsville
There is an Edward Herbert Tripp that fit’s the dates, and was a member of the 1st. Hussars.

George Arundel Forbes, Kingsville

Ambrose Stover, St. Thomas
Nothing in the archives.

Walter H. Berry, St. Thomas
The archives have him in the Royal Canadian Regiment; however his files have him with the second contingent.

A 1940 Interview With George William Poldon

2011-09-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

“The London Free Press”, March 2, 1940 interview of George William Poldon (1) who the interviewer claimed was the last surviving veteran of the Oxford Rifles during the Fenian Raids. As far as I know he may well have been the last surviving veteran of the Fenian Raids left in Ontario by 1940.

“I joined the 22nd. Battalion as a lad of 18,” he recalled with a reminiscent smile. Capt. J.W. Nesbitt’s Rifle Company No.6, of which I was a member, was really formed in the fall of 1865, but the men did not obtain their uniforms and equipment until May 24, the following year.

The call came on June 1 and we were rushed to Woodstock in whatever vehicles were available and then loaded on a train of box cars. We were just tumbled in like sheep,” Mr. Poldon laughed. We were taken as far as Paris and spent the night there.”

The next lap of the journey was in Port Colbourne, where the men remained overnight. Accommodations were poor, many of the soldiers lacking overcoats and blankets, and the food being far from appetising, he related.

“By the time we reached the battlefield, the Fenians had fled and taken shelter on a scow anchored out on the river, off Fort Erie. The boys would have liked to indulge in a little rifle practice in their direction but that was forbidden, continued the veteran with amusement.”

“Within a few days, the battalion went to London and after two weeks there we came back to Norwich and received a royal welcome, he said.”

_____________________________________

(1) George William Poldon born 11 February, 1848 in the village of Norwich, Oxford County, Upper Canada, and died sometime after January, 1940. He married Isabella Haight ( 1854 - 6 January, 1891) on the 12 October, 1881.(2)

(2) Ancestry.com Ontario Marriages, 1801-1828.

Lt. Colonel William George Barker VC

2011-09-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

From the "Toronto Star" 20 September, 2011

William George Barker (3 Nov. 1894- 12 March 1930) was not from Southwestern Ontario; however, there will be an unveiling of a memorial to Canada’s most decorated World War One veteran at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto on Thursday. For 81 years Colonel Barker has been largely forgotten as most of the attention has been given to Billy Bishop.

Library and Archives Canada

Lt. Colonel Barker was decorated 12 times, and was credited for over 50 airplanes shot down (probably this is low).

Victoria Cross
Distinguished Service Order (twice)
Military Cross (three times)
Mentioned in Despatches (three times)
Medaglia d’argento al valor militare (Italy — twice)
Croix de guerre (France)

During the week of 8 January 1999, the Canadian Federal Government designated William George Barker as a person of national historic significance.

Honouring Our Canadian Military

2011-08-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

An article written by Allen English in the “Globe and Mail” who teaches military history at Queen’s University. Unfortunately, looking at other articles in the “Globe and Mail“: and other newspapers, politicians and some of the chattering class (who have an abysmal knowledge of Canada’s military history) will put their own slant on the government initiative.

British Military and Naval Records

2011-07-15T18:31:00.000-07:00

Library and Archives Canada has
released new digitized reels: “British Military and Naval Records (RG 8, C Series): 1757-1906“.These digitized microforms are available on the browse by title page Please note that this is not a database, therefore the images are not searchable by keyword.

A topic-specific "Help" page is also available for every series of microform records that has been digitized, providing the background and content of the series, as well as its arrangement and organization. To make sense of all of these files I can see where one needs to carefully go through the PDF file which link is above to at least narrow one’s research a little. Then it’s a matter of scrolling through the pages in the same way as going through microfilm at the library.

It seems that Library and Archives is going the way of digitalizing microform pages. I wonder - Is this the cheaper way to go?

This And That

2011-07-11T10:19:00.000-07:00

November 10-12 the University of Western Ontario is hosting a conference entitled “ The Great War: From Memory To History”. I could not as of yet find out anything about the cost. The tentative program is here.

A look at the place of Canadian history in the classroom. Mind you I prefer reading a good rant - like Jack Granatstein in his 1999 book “Who Killed Canadian History ?”. One comment is that it is boring studying decision largely made by upper class Englishmen. Maybe so but it seems to me that pre-1850 decisions seem to be largely made by even more boring middle class Scotsmen.

Audrey Collins in her blog “The Family Recorder” has posted the information that a run of the British Army Officer’s list from 1754 to 1879 is now made available for a free download on the Digital Microfilm section of Documents online.
There will be some officers listed who served at the barracks in London, Ontario, and sometimes stayed in London after their service.

For the geeks out there. A history image app for the iphone !

You’re A Canadian If ?

2011-07-03T07:28:00.000-07:00

1. You look at beer not as alcohol or a drug - it’s a food group.

2. You put vinegar on your French fries or anything else that resembles potato. Which includes pretty much everything.

3. Ketchup goes with anything - and in a dozen sparkling colours and tastes. It’s especially tasty with vinegar.

4. You have a Prime Minister who is a secretive control freak, and you call him a dictator. Move over North Korea !

5. Your country hosts a G-20 summit meeting where no one is killed or injured in the ruckus that we call a riot. A year later you are hauling the police on the carpet for a terrible misuse of power.

6. You complain about the heat during our two months of summer, and feel very hard done by when the first snow flurries hit.

7. You view hockey as a religious experience, and damn those Americans for stealing your game.

8. Prayer in public is viewed as a no no, and prayer in private is none of your business - thank you very much.

9. You walk away from the hospital not having to pay a damn thing - Yeah !

10. You are very polite always saying - Yes Sir - to that idiot border guard, and then swear a blue streak usually behind his back - Eh !.

Happy Canada Day !

A Great War Veteran Identified

2011-06-29T16:16:00.000-07:00

This story from “The Hamilton Spectator” is about the identification of a veteran of the Great War - Pte. Alexander Johnston. In this case investigators were able to find a D.N.A. match with a great nephew.

A Tempest In A Teapot

2011-06-07T19:43:00.000-07:00

In November 1915 there was a riot in London, Ontario. Or so it has been portrayed in some historical reference books. When one looks at it closer one wonders if it was in fact a riot - or a drunken brawl.

At this time there were two battalions training in London - the 33rd. at Carling Heights, and the 70th. at Queen’s Park. There was some discontent. It was centered largely around the inability of the Canadian Ministry of Militia to decide when to send these battalions overseas. The boys were ready - or so they thought.

On November 19th in anticipation of orders to proceed overseas leave was given to the soldiers of the 33rd. On Saturday evening the 20th. a Pte. John McCann was taken off of a trolley, and arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct. As he said to the judge, “I was drunk, sir. I spent my time drinking as hard as I could from 5 to 7 on Saturday evening”. (1)

His arrest was witnessed by other soldiers who tried to intervene to protect one of their own. Five were arrested, and charged - Charles Beckerson, George Reid, Sidney Jones, John Ferguson, and McCann. Each were bound over for the sum of $100 dollars with an admonishment from the judge that “You are British, not German”. Also the judge stated that he did not want to prevent any man from going to the front, if he desired to do so. (2) However, there was more.

On the evening of the 21st.. Some soldiers apparently decided that they would rescue those who were in jail. Naturally they were in a bar at the time. The soldiers marched on the police station in downtown London. There was a punch up with police both civil and military, and there was some damage to downtown businesses. Pickets from the two battalions moved in from their respective camps to maintain order. There were some civilians milling around with the soldiers, and apparently not above handing out bricks for the soldiers to throw. (3) Five more soldiers, and two civilians, were arrested - Walter Cowley, Charles Tatham, Patrick Crowley, Henry Hawes, William Brennan, Charles Bell, and Ross Grover. There was a great deal of finger pointing which laid most of the blame on the 33rd. battalion. Also there was conflicting evidence about who did what from the soldiers, police, and the Home Guard military police.

“The London Advertiser” (whose editor had little use for conservatives in general, and Sam Hughes in particular) did not see the soldiers as the problem.
“Hughes caused all the trouble. Let him set it right again. The Sir Sam Hughes system of having the men in training policed by home guard military police is all wrong - we say this at the risk of offending the divine censorship of Sir Sam Hughes.” (4)(5)

Sir Sam Hughes replied with what can only be called a Samism. (There were dozens of these Samisms throughout 1914 to 1916).
“It is up to the men to trim the officers who have disgraced the regiment rather than vent their feelings on the police, and it is the business of the honest and self-respecting officers to purge themselves of those who have proved dishonest. There is going to be a grand shake-up in the regiment.”(6)

Was there a “grand shake-up”? No.

“Any person who expected Sir Sam Hughes, minister of militia, to eat raw beef and break a lion’s jaw with his hairy fist when he came to London, would have seen this morning a gentleman as wild as the famous sucking dove.” (7)

Little or no comment from “The London Free Press”. Did I mention that it was a Conservative supporter?

Note: I have included a link to the attestation papers of those soldiers that I could find in a very quick search. Two of the soldiers I have linked to - Beckerson and Ferguson - were in the 70th. battalion.

(1) “The London Free Press”, November 22, 1915.

(2) “The London Free Press”, November 26, 1915. All of the soldiers were released to their battalions, and served in the trenches. Both the battalions were broken up and used as reinforcements. As far as I can assertain none were killed.
(3) This is not surprising. Londoners have always enjoyed street theatre. If that means windows being broken, or a building on fire, even better. Today a party thrown by college students involve more people with much more damage being done. The value of it as street theatre is pretty much the same though.
(4) “The London Advertiser”, November 24, 1915.
(5) Troops looked at the Home Guard as at the worst cowards or at the least - as we would say today - draft dodgers in uniform. At least while in uniform they avoided the white feather. Mind you after casualty lists began to be published in the papers there were very few white feathers handed out.
(6) “The London Advertiser”, November 23, 1915.
(7) “The London Advertiser”, November 25, 1915.

A Further Note On Pte. Lawless

2011-06-07T06:43:00.000-07:00

The identification of Pte. Thomas Lawless is a fascinating look how different disciplines came together to identify a missing World One soldier. The last stage was to create a facial reconstruction. The story is here from “The St. John’s Telegram”.

Labatt Brewery Donation

2011-06-02T09:13:00.000-07:00

Labatt Brewery donated 164 years of historical documents to the University of Western Ontario (UWO) on June 1^st.

“Labatt’s President, Bary Benun, officially turned over The Labatt Brewing Company Archival Collection to Western’s President Amit Chakma, on June 1. Labatt also donated $200,000 to assist in digitizing portions of The Labatt Brewing Company Archival Collection. This will help preserve some of the key content of the collection and make it more accessible. “ Labatt’s President, Bary Benun, officially turned over The Labatt Brewing Company Archival Collection to Western’s President Amit Chakma, on June 1. Labatt also donated $200,000 to assist in digitizing portions of The Labatt Brewing Company Archival Collection. This will help preserve some of the key content of the collection and make it more accessible. “

Advertising poster c. 1894. The Labatt Archives Media Center.

Considering the volume of material available I expect that business historians are drooling. I am not sure what is there that might interest genealogists; however, if the collection contains staff records it could be a gold mine.

Library And Archives Canada Reply

2011-05-31T09:51:00.000-07:00

It appears that LAC has felt a need to reply to critics of their operations. LAC‘s reply can be seen here. It appears that the battle has been joined. It remains to be seen what the fall out will be..

A Writer's Take On Library And Archives Canada

2011-05-30T16:05:00.000-07:00

Writer and historian Susan Crean writes a point of view that highlights some of the differences between historians, and genealogists, about the operation of Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Genealogists should pay attention. Both genealogists, and historians, share a stake in the operation of the LAC. I’ve noticed that sometimes we work at cross purposes to each other. We agree that the LAC should be more responsive (which it is not); however, we disagree on what it's priorities should be.

The Tunnels of Vimy Ridge

2011-05-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

A team of Londoner’s are studying the inscriptions and carvings left by Canadian soldiers in the tunnels at Vimy Ridge. For a more complete look go to this link.

Their results should be fascinating .

Some Of The Memorials In Southwest Ontario

2011-05-23T14:35:00.000-07:00

Memorials to the war dead come in all shapes and sizes. Some are old - some new. Cities, towns, and villages who do not have them are few and far between. Here are just a few (out of hundreds - remarkable for a country that prides itself on being unmilitaristic.) with what little information that I have on them.

Aylmer

Erected and dedicated 25 November 1928

Essex County

Essex County War Memorial constructed in 1924.

Ingersoll

Ingersoll Honour Roll erected in 1999.

London
London's monuments I have mentioned in previous posts.

Parkhill

War Memorial in Coronation Park erected in 1928.

Point Pelee

Unveiled in 1985 in Memory of Canada's fallen warriors.

Sarnia

Dedecated to Boer War Veterans. Thought to be the oldest in the country.

Thamesville

Erected in 1936.

Wingham

Constructed in 1924.

William George Kerr and William Stewart McKeough

2011-05-13T12:05:00.000-07:00

Both William George Kerr and William Stewart McKeough were at the time Lieutenants in the 18th. Battalion.

William George Kerr was born 13 December 1894 in Chatham, Ontario. (1) He survived the war.

Library and Archives Canada.

In a letter published in the “London Free Press”, November 1, 1915, he discusses the state of the Battalion in France.

“Speaking of the Ross rifle. “It’s all right. The men like it since we have had the chamber bored out a bit, and one of our snipers picked off two Germans at 650 yards, so you could not kick much at that.

We were bombarded on our first day by high explosive shells, coal boxes and 8-inch shells. I can’t say that I felt very brave when the first one lit about 25 feet from me on our wire.

The form of trench here is narrow and irregular. As regards traverses they are almost wholly built above ground of sandbags, the parapets and parados being about the same height.

They were quite dry, too, in wet weather. We used no loopholes. Periscopes are utilized by day and by night a man puts his head up between two loose sandbags. The dugouts were fine, and I guess the men had a pretty good time. I could stand up easily in my dugout, and it was about eight feet square. This is a terrible country for mud, and when it rains it is almost impossible.”

William Stewart McKeough (1) was born 2 September 1893 in Chatham, Ontario, and died 15 September 1916.

Canadian Virtual War Memorial, Veterans' Affairs, Ottawa.

Library and Archives Canada

In a letter also published in the “London Free Press” , November 1, 1915 he wrote:

“We have been in the game over here almost a month and having lost little time after our arrival in France in gaining experience or instruction. We have been kept busy. You may have heard by this time of our narrow escape in crossing this channel, when our transport was rammed amidships by a torpedo boat steaming 22 knots per hour and for several long and dreary hours we were truly a shipwrecked crew in distress, on a cold black night and a choppy sea.

The next few wet days were occupied in heavy marches over cobblestone roads across France. By the end of the week we had taken over our trenches and had received our baptism of fire in good order. We have since then been in and out or just behind the line in, support or reserve.

The Canadians to date have not been utilized as a driving force, but, of course, have had our part to play in other ways, connecting with the move on the 25th of last month.(3) On that day we surely realized that we were in the midst of a terrific bombardment by our artillery, which, however, was carried on more particularly and incessantly some distance south of us. Last week, after enjoying a few days and a bath, etc, two miles behind, we turned over our line, which was composed of exceptionally good trenches, and moved a few miles north, taking over a new frontage. Our former trenches were splendid, but these I believe are in a class by themselves - a hot corner where the wind and water of Flanders, large quantities of which we have already encountered, are at their best.

For the past two days we have been occupying dugouts just a year old, which, having been hurriedly and very poorly constructed, are now rotting and falling to pieces. Damp, musty and filthy, with the grass and weeds and moss sprouting in patches over the sand bagged walls, we have been kept busy cleaning up and making them habitable, as well as building new quarters.

Altogether this is quite a life out here, everyone making the best of matters and all getting along in good style. I am enclosing you clipping from one of the London papers, which gives a rather elaborate account of the billeting system in France and Belgium. Well, we have put up in every kind of quarters, in fields, in barns, in sheds and stables, in tents, in live beds, on marble floors and in dugouts, etc.

I was fortunate one night in locating a grand Louis quatorge canopied feather bed, while the following night caught a good four hours’ sleep on a bundle of straw in a manger with a noisy young calf, having to pull out at 2:30 a.m. in the pouring rain to go into the trenches. Such is this life.”

(1) He was born to John Garner Kerr and Louisa McLean in Chatham, Ontario. Archives of Ontario, Registrations of Births and Stillbirths - 1869-1911. John Garner Kerr was a lawyer, businessman, and a judge.

(2) His father was William Edward McKeough ( 12 February 1860-3 December 1929). He was mayor of Chatham, Ontario in 1904. Family papers are held by the Ontario Archives as the William Edward McKeough Family fonds ( F 2131). William Stewart’s nephew William Darcy McKeough became a member of the Provincial Legislature for West Kent in 1963, and later the Minister of Municipal Affairs (1967, 1972), Minister of Energy (1973-1975), and Treasurer and Minister of Economics and Intergovernmental Affairs (1975-1978).

(3) Although not stated I think that the letters were written sometime in October so that the reference may well be to the Battle of Loos, September 1915.

Book Review - Time Traveller’s Handbook

2011-05-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

Althea Douglas, “Time Traveller’s Handbook: A Guide to the Past”, Dundurn Press, 2011, ISBN 978-1-55488-784-2 (soft cover) $19.99

Althea Douglas’s new book is an excellent addition to the reference library of both genealogists, and historians. Althea maintains that family historians are essentially time travellers; but then again so are historians. Many of the references, and terminology, used a hundred years ago that we often turn up in documents are not relevant for us today. A handy book that can remind us (those of us past forty that is) what a quart, mile, or acre were is a useful reference.

The book deals with deciphering documents, family traditions, money and its value, trades, how people lived, and seafaring and military traditions. An appendix of important dates, notes that are chock full of references, deciphering Latin references, and a strong bibliography are for me very useful. As a boy I had British measures such as quarts, peck, mile, and inches pounded into me to the point I can not seem to shake them even now. Younger people should find these tables useful.

Unfortunately, I am now old enough to remember many of the life style references. When I was 6 and 7 my family lived on a small street in the village of Byron (now part of London), and I still remember the horse drawn Silverwood’s milk wagon. I do not remember the milkman ever sitting in the driver’s seat. The old horse probably knew the milk route better than the milkman. Right up until the end of the 1950’s my maternal grandmother kept her coal furnace. My paternal grandmother finally got electricity to the farm house when her sons returned from the war. With electricity, and a septic tank, my father bought her her first refrigerator. Much of the lifestyle we wonder about today was not that far in the past. Either that or I am getting old.

I highly recommend “Time Traveller’s Handbook” for any genealogist or historian’s reference library.

Posters Of The Great War

2011-05-08T11:24:00.000-07:00

Distracted from my primary research again !

Prior to 1916 production of posters was up to the local authorities. Someone would create, and finance, the poster as advertising vehicles for recruitment, victory bonds, or just plain propaganda. What I love about them is that you just can not judge our grandfathers, or great grandfathers, by our 21st. Century morality.

Recruitment poster for the 142nd. Battalion (London's Own) recruited in 1915, and broken up for reinforcements in 1916. Library and Archives Canada.

Here's one that would not fly today. All she needs now is some white feathers to hand out. Library and Archives Canada.

In this instance the Germans handed the allies a propaganda goldmine. Library and Archives Canada.

A reference to the sinking of the hospital ship 'The Landovery Castle' where nursing sisters lost their lives. Library and Archives Canada.

If the little tyke held on to her Victory Bond it might actually be worth something in forty to fifty years. Library and Archives Canada.

A Ross Rifle Question

2011-05-06T12:49:00.000-07:00

Ed Hardy from Vernon, British Columbia sent me an e-mail recently asking me to identify a Ross rifle that he had acquired.

“I am a collector of Canadian arms from the 1700’s to 1945. I have a Ross M1910 Mk III which has a Home Guard serial number, and is stamped on the wood ECHG. I am wondering if this might be Elgin County. The Ross M10 Mk III rifles were the ones which went overseas with the CEF in 1914/15, but they failed in the trenches d/t issues with ammunition and dirt fouling. They were replaced with the Lee Enfields, but many were contracted by the Canadian government for Home Guard use. Most are stamped B of M for Bank of Montreal, but some were issued to other units. I have appended a couple of photos. I know (from your website among others) that Elgin County has a history of Home Guard dating back to Fenian times, and wonder if this might be what the EC stands for? It would have to be somewhere in Ontario, or possibly Quebec.....…”

I am not an expert on the arms carried by the First World War infantryman ( my expertise only goes as far as looking at the rifle, and saying: “Yep that’s a Ross“). So I could not positively answer Ed’s question. Does anyone out there in blogland have an answer for Ed ?

The 1st. Battalion And The Battle Of Givenchy 1915

2011-04-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

Here I am back at it with my research of the 1st. Battalion.

The Battle of Givenchy was a smaller engagement sandwiched between Festubert in May, and Loos the following September. Originally the attack on June 15th. was to be made by the British 7th. and 51st. Divisions with the Canadian 1st. Division in support. As the plan was developed the Canadians were delegated to take two German strongpoints known as the Duck’s Bill and H3. Supposedly, lessons had been learned at Festubert, and plans were made to address the issues of barbed wire and machine gun nests. Three artillery pieces were secretly moved, and camouflaged, closer to the front line to eliminate machine gun nests. A tunnel dug under the German trenches was packed with explosives in the hope that it would eliminate a large section of the German front line trenches. Lastly an artillery bombardment using high explosive shells was intended to destroy barbed wire.

The Duck's Bill crater in 1919, Library and Archives Canada.

The four companies of the 1st. Battalion were to lead the attack. Two weeks prior their Ross rifles were replaced by Lee-Enfields. By mid afternoon of July 15th. the Battalion was in place.

Pte. Maurice Henry Brown wrote to his friend Art Wheatley of London on June 19th. (1)

“London may be well proud of her sons; they did everything that could be done in this struggle.

Our beloved Col. Becher (2) lost his life leading them. No one was loved so well as he, but this war seems to be taking our best men.
……..
We knew an attack was to be made, and the 1st. Battalion was honoured with the job. We marched into the trenches at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, and waited till 6. Four four days a terrible bombardment of the enemy’s trenches had taken place. At 5:30 a fierce concentration fire from our guns was turned on them. At one minute to 6 we blew a mine up. This was a signal for the attack. The mine was too near to our trench, and its violence shook our trench all to pieces, killing a number of our men, and the earth which it threw up, coming down, smashed some of our men’s heads beyond recognition. Being a signaller I was kept in the trench.(3)

Well, the boys from Chatham, I believe, started the attack, followed quickly by the London boys. The din was terrific, the struggle terrible. We dared not put our heads over the parapet to see our boys advancing, but it was a brilliant sight. Nearly everybody over at the same time. They soon had the first line cleared of Germans, and then off to the second line, and they had just about reached them when I got mine.

A big shell struck the trench above us. Four were killed and four of us completely buried by six to eight feet of earth. I continued shouting to let them know where I was, but soon went off for lack of fresh air. The next thing I know they had dug me out. I didn’t know what had happened, but my memory returned after a while. I had given myself to my Maker. I did not expect to see any more of this world, but God in His providence had heard your prayers.

I am now in hospital again, just two weeks after my return to the regiment. It was the worst experience I ever had.”

The problem was that two important positions were not taken by the British so that German machine guns were able to play havoc with the attacking Canadians while a counter attack was organized. It was during the German counter attack that Lieutenant Frederick William Campbell earned his posthumous Victoria Cross.

Casulties during the Great War are never exact. According to Sir Max Aitkens Givenchy cost the 1st. Battalion somewhere around 366 killed, wounded, and missing. (4) Included in this total were twenty out of twenty three officers. I suspect that that figure is low. I did a count from the Ministry of Militia's "Official List Of Casulties" from June 13th. to June 30. (5) The organization of these lists is confusing as to dates - so the hell with it - I counted the last two weeks of June to see how it squares with other figures that I have seen.

The breakdown is a follows:
Killed in action and Died of Wounds 107
Wounded 461
Suffering from Shock 32
Ill 8
Gas 1
Missing 5

If the Battalion was at full strength before June 15th. (which is unlikely) that is a casulty rate of well over 50%. Since the Battalion went into a rest area after the 17th. the majority of the casulties would have occured on June 15th. and 16th.

(1) “The London Free Press”, July 6, 1915.
(2)

Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Major Henry Campbell Becher (Jan. 20, 1874-June 15, 1915) was a member of a prominent London family. His father Henry Becher had been mayor of London for one term. At the start of the war he was Lt. Colonel of the 7th. Fusiliers which was London's militia infantry regiment. He was second in command of the 1st. Battalion.

Library and Archives Canada

(3) The British engineers found that water encountered under no man’s land prevented them from tunnelling under their objective. So they got the brilliant idea that increasing the charge would do the job. It resulted in killing some of the Battalion, and exploding the bomb reserves in the Canadian front line. Resulting in a shortage of grenades.

(4) Sir Max Aitkens, "Canada In Flanders: The Story Of The Canadian Expeditionary Force", vol. 1, 1916.

(5) Ministry of Militia, " Official List of Casulties to Members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force: compiled to June 30, 1915". Ottawa, 1915.

Civil War Veterans Buried In London, Ontario

2011-04-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

There was a beginning made in 2006 in listing civil war veterans buried in London for a Civil War Rededication Service in 2006. I have included some names that were partially researched at that time. I have done some checking into these veterans; but by no means an exhaustive research. I will leave that up to those who are interested in carrying it further.

Woodland Cemetery

Frederick Mathias Alberstadt. He was a private in Company B, Missouri Cavalry. He can be found in the 1901 Canada Census where he gives his immigration year as 1879.

George W. Duncan. He was a sergeant in the 107th. USCT.

Frederick John Fitzgerald. He was a Corporal in the 19th. US Infantry. His enlistment papers gives his date of birth as c.1846 in Kingston, Ontario.

George McLean. He was a Private in the 4th. Missouri Infantry.

Henry Peters. He was a Private in the 1st. New York Marine Artillery. The 1901 Canada Census puts his birth as 6 October, 1838 in England. He died in London Jan. 28, 1914.

George Washinton Pitt. There is quite a bit available on this man as he was a prominent jeweller in the city. He was born on 19 April, 1836 in Granger, New York, or 20 April, 1835 depending on the source. He died on 28 April, 1921 in London. The 1911 Canada Census gives his immigration year as 1875. His obituary in “The London Advertiser” mentions that he fell to his death from a third story window at Victoria Hospital. The paper speculates a bit on the possibility of suicide. Medical authorities deny it. But Hey this is small town Ontario !

Manser John Thorpe. He was Quartermaster Sergeant in the 16th. New York Calvary.

Mount Pleasant Cemetery

Charles J. Ashton. He was a Private in the 78th. Indiana Infantry. He was born December, 1827 in England and died 7 March, 1915 in London.

James Bailey. He was a Sergeant in the 21st. New York Infantry. He died in London 9 October, 1911.

James M. Charles. He was a Private in the 8th. Pennsylvania USCT. He died in London 5 November, 1908.

Charles Cox. He was a Private in the 1st. New York Engineers. He died in London 7 May, 1929.

Oliver Fountain. He was a Sergeant in the 12th. USCT. He died in London 11 April, 1897.

William James Laskey. He was in the 45th. Wisconsin Infantry. He died in London 17 August, 1934. He was the last Civil War Veteran to be buried in London.

Thomas Mills. He was a Private in the 5th. Michigan Infantry. He died in London 27 June, 1903.

William Peel. He was a Private in the 97th. Pennsylvania Infantry. He died in London 13 February, 1927.

Martin V. B. Stearns. He was a Private in the 13th. Illinois Infantry. He died in London 2 December, 1908.

St. Peters Cemetery

James H. Flood. He was a Private in the 185th. New York Volunteer Infantry. He died in London in 1890.

William Reeves. He was a Private in the 24th. Michigan Infantry. He was born 14 August, 1845 in Greensville, Ontario and died in London 17 August, 1929.

St. Anne’s Anglican Cemetery

William Caldwell. He was a Private in the 4th. US Infantry. He died in London in 1931. Apparently he also went under the alias Ira Kelbourne.

Sources
1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911 Canada Census
Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1936 and Deaths Overseas,1839-1917, Ontario Archives, MS 935_125
New York's Town Clerk's Registers of Men who Served in the Civil War, ca. 1861-65. Ancestry.com
"The London Free Press"
"The London Advertiser"

London And The Civil War

2011-04-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

The American Civil War had a huge impact on the city of London, and Southwestern Ontario. It added a huge boost to the economy of the area. The increase in the size of the British garrison funnelled yet more money into the local economy, and forced politicians and civil leaders to look at the state of their local militias.

What often goes missing is the number of local men who fought on both the Confederate(1), and Northern sides in the conflict. Surprising, as I would have thought that genealogists, and historians, would have been hot on their trail. As this is the 150th. Anniversary of the Civil War I will try to outline some of the sources, and a few of the individuals who were veterans.

London had a branch of the Ontario chapter of the Grand Army Of The Republic which lasted from October of 1891 to December 15th., 1911. What documents survived are in the J. J. Tallman Collection at the University of Western Ontario.

Another source is the local newspapers - “The London Advertiser”, and “The London Free Press”. Lastly, and not the least are the local cemeteries. Except for the newest cemeteries, it would be fair to say that every cemetery had at least one burial of a Civil War veteran. When you take into account the region, Civil War veteran burials might well number in the hundreds.

In the City of St. Thomas one veteran Octavius Wallace (1837-5 May, 1862), killed at the battle of Williamsburg, was transported back to St. Thomas. His grave was registered with the Sons of Union Veterans, and is decorated every year with a small American flag.

(1) Very difficult to find those who fought in the Confederate army. Apparently there was a Confederate recruiting office in the city of London . Whether or not this was fact or rumour needs to be ascertained. There were deserters from the Confederate army living in London at this time; but as to whether they remained or went back to their homes after the war is not easy to find out.

Canadian Women March

2011-04-12T15:42:00.000-07:00

By September 1918 it appears that Canadian women had begun to suspect that young soldiers were not going on leave to England to improve their minds. More than likely they would be found on English beaches.

"The London Advertiser", September 4, 1918.

Well - the floozy !

“The London Advertiser” on September 21, 1918 reported on a march in Toronto.

                    “CANADIAN WOMEN ENTER PROTEST

                      AGAINST ‘FLOODING THE DOMINION

                        WITH BLUSHING ENGLISH BRIDES

Prominent Toronto women feel keenly on the question of Canadian soldiers marrying overseas. In their opinion it is a vital problem and one which should be dealt with by our Government at once.

‘It is the most unfair to our Canadian girls,’ said Mrs. E. A. Stevens, president of the Provincial Women’s Christian Union, and the matter is one which the women should bring to the attention of our good government league, and thus draw it forcibly to the attention of the Canadian Government, whose duty it is to look after the young womanhood of this Dominion.’

‘As a result of the fact that the British Government is playing the role of a match-making mamma and has clubs and organizations for the purpose of encouraging matrimony among the colonials, the success of their scheme is apparent in the statement attributed to Sir Edward Kemp (1) that ‘Canadian soldiers overseas are marrying English girls at the rate of one thousand a month.’

                              Thousands of English Brides

‘This means after the war that Canada is to be flooded with thousands of blushing English brides, while the Canadian women will be forced to work in the offices, shops and factories for the remainder of their lives.

The women of Canada have made their sacrifices without a murmur in letting their young men go overseas. Many of them will never come back, and it is my opinion that those who are left should be encouraged to marry the girls at home.

Now that the tide has turned in favour of the Allies and the Americans are pouring into the field of battle, I feel that the question of giving our young men who have seen service since the beginning of the war an opportunity to return to Canada on a short furlough.’ ”

Well now isn’t that interesting. If Canadian soldiers were marrying at the rate of one thousand a month it should not take more than ( roughly 300,000 active at any one time, and I think that this is a generous figure, divided by 12,000) 25 months to marry off the whole Canadian Corps ( many are already married, and two wives are a no no in Victorian Edwardian Canada). So probably the whole job could be done sooner than 25 months.

In fact War Brides were much more a World War Two phenomena than with the First. The Great War Canadian soldier spend most of the war years in Belgium or France. Leave was not easy to get for the ranks. Certainly it happened. “It appears ’wounded, Blighty, marriage’ is becoming a popular pastime with our fellows,” wrote Private Donald Fraser in his diary.(2)

(1) Sir Edward Kemp (August 11, 1858-August 12, 1929) succeeded Sir Sam Hughes as Minister of Militia and Defence in 1916. In 1917 he went to London as Minister of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada.
(2) Tim Cook, “Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting The Great War, 1917-1918”, vol. 2, Viking Canada, 2008, p. 174.

March Keywords

2011-04-06T08:37:00.000-07:00

It’s time to look at key words again. As I have mentioned before, I follow very closely the key words that land people onto my blog. As much as possible, I try to tie blog entries to what people are looking for. Even so sometimes I truly wonder what it is that triggers Google to send them to this blog.

How many veterans in Ontario
Interesting question. Are they asking how many there were or how many are left? I see various numbers out there. Across Canada the accepted figures seem to be over 600,000 men and women for World War One, and around 1.1 million men and women for World War Two. I am not sure what the numbers are for the Boer War, Korean War, or various peace keeping missions. For Southwestern Ontario somewhere around 75,000 for the First World War, and probably triple that for the Second World War.

Ojibwa boots they were
What ? I assume that Google zeroed in on the name of the submarine.

мемель фото 1944-1945

No idea.

Arthur sippi London Ontario
The Sippi’s were a fairly prominent family in London, Ontario, in the late 19th. century. The only Arthur Sippi that I am aware of was a professional baseball player. Attestation papers list Lt. William Griffin Sippi.

Library and Archives Canada.

Southwestern Ontario trench mortars

Actually we save them for elections. They help keep politicians away.

Photos of men of London who served in ww1
There are a few in the blog, and I will be adding more as I get them. So far I have around 200 saved on disk which I have scrounged from various sources. Not all are Londoners, many are from the region. It’s a thing with me to try and put a face to these men and women where possible.

Westminster Veterans Hospital

2011-03-27T11:27:00.000-07:00

In response to an e-mail request I had a look at what was available on the Westminster Veterans Hospital in London, Ontario. Online there is very little. Most of what is online is on the services that veterans receive today. My father is there today, and he and mother met at the old Westminster Hospital when he was undergoing physiotherapy in 1946. There were good reasons for me that made the e-mail request very intriguing to follow up.

As the hospital looked in 1977.

Information available in archives in London is another story. A great deal is available to hunt through. The London Room at the London Public Library has copies of two reports done for the London Health Sciences Center in September, 2000.

“Historical Documentation of the Veterans Psychiatric Institute, London Health Sciences Center, London, Ontario, September., 2000. Prepared by Historica Research Ltd.”
“Historical Documentation of Western Counties Wing Buildings, London Health Sciences Center, September, 2000. Prepared by Historica Research Ltd.”

Both reports are in binder form, and available in the archives section of the London Room. As well, the London room has a complete collection of the “London Free Press”. “The Free Press” seems to have taken an interest in the hospital, and devoted considerable space through the years to coverage.

In book form there is several available. It looked at two.

Jennifer L. Granger (ed.), “Delaware and Westminster Townships: Honouring Our Roots”, (2 vol.’s) The Aylmer Express Ltd. 2006.
John R. Sullivan, Norman R. Ball, “Growing To Serve: A History of Victoria Hospital, London, Ontario”, The Victoria Hospital Corporation, 1985.

Library and Archives Canada has the blueprints of the original buildings that comprised Westminster Hospital. If you are looking for names of residents, and staff, I suspect that that information is now held by the University of Western Ontario. When Parkwood Hospital took over the running of the veterans’ programs, files, documents etc., were handed over to the university’s archives. How far the university has gone in cataloguing this information is the big question.

I will follow up with more information as I have it. What struck me in the little research that I did was some unique stories that emerged. I will double check the sources, and then post a few of them in the future.

How Many Historians Does It Take To Change A Lightbulb?

2011-03-23T20:57:00.000-07:00

I couldn’t resist this piece from Prof. David Leeson of Laurentian University. The links are for those who didn’t realize that there is a Laurentian University!

“There is a great deal of debate on this issue. Up until the mid-20th century, the accepted answer was ‘one’: and this Whiggish narrative underpinned a number of works that celebrated electrification and the march of progress in light-bulb changing. Beginning in the 1960s, however, social historians increasingly rejected the ‘Great Man’ school and produced revisionist narratives that stressed the contributions of research assistants and custodial staff. This new consensus was challenged, in turn, by women’s historians, who criticized the social interpretation for marginalizing women, and who argued that light bulbs are actually changed by department secretaries. Since the 1980s, however, postmodernist scholars have deconstructed what they characterize as a repressive hegemonic discourse of light-bulb changing, with its implicit binary opposition between ‘light’ and ‘darkness,’ and its phallogocentric privileging of the bulb over the socket, which they see as colonialist, sexist, and racist. Finally, a new generation of neo-conservative historians have concluded that the light never needed changing in the first place, and have praised political leaders like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher for bringing back the old bulb. Clearly, much additional research remains to be done.”

One Lovely Blog Award

2011-03-21T19:53:00.000-07:00

2011 must be blog award year. Ian Hadden from Ian Haddon’s Family History nominated this blog for the One Lovely Blog Award. It makes me think that there is actually someone out there who is reading this blog. Well what do you know !

The rules of this award are much like the previous blog award.

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who granted the award and their blog link.

2. Pass the award on to 15 other blogs that you have discovered.

3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Well, as I have indicated in previous posts on my family blog “Hillman’s Of Elgin County” I am not a huge blog reader. I’m too demanding I think. I do keep track of the following:

This Intrepid Band

For All My Relations

Adventures In Genealogical Education

I see that many that I do read already have this award. What I will do is put together a list and post it in a week or so. Thanks Ian.

Get Out Of Jail Free Card

2011-03-21T12:50:00.000-07:00

It’s fascinating sometimes at how war creates an atmosphere where some of the craziest ideas immerge, and sometimes works. Who would ever thought that you could use the Monopoly board game as a tool for prisoner of war escape attempts.

A very useful item to have if you want to escape is a reliable map. A paper map has drawbacks. They get soggy when wet, and if you look at my father’s P.O.W. map there is a tendency to burn when too close to a flame. Someone in MI-5 (British intelligence) got the brainstorm of using silk rather than paper for the maps. Silk doesn’t get soggy, and is quiet when opened.

As it just so happens the British maker of the Monopoly board game John Waddington Ltd. had perfected the technology of printing on silk. So maps geared to where the P.O.W. camp was located (the camps were regional) were produced, and put into the monopoly playing pieces. The story was classified until 2007 when the John Waddington company, and its employees were honoured.

Who would have thought it!

The Word For Today

2011-03-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

Sue Light’s blog, “This Intrepid Band”, introduced a new word to me - a $20 word at that - prosopography.

“Prosopography is an investigation of the common characteristics of a historical group, whose individual biographies may be largely untraceable, by means of a collective study of their lives, in multiple career-line analysis. Prosopographical research has the aim of learning about patterns of relationships and activities through the study of collective biography, and proceeds by collecting and analysing statistically relevant quantities of biographical data about a well-defined group of individuals. This makes it a valuable technique for studying many pre-modern societies. “ (1)

This definition makes my editor’s bone twitch. Secondly, what’s their definition of pre-modern?

Apparently prosopographical research is highly dependant on the collection of data in the form of an electronic data base (read computer). I assume that the data is reliable. Prosopographists (I think this would be their description) seem to cover bases in history, biography, and genealogy. The study is multi biographical in that they accumulate data on people that have connections in common. For genealogists that would be looking at all of the members of a family tree in a specific time period (ie. The Smith clan in Smithville, Somewhere in the World., from 1700 to 1750). The data on the Smith’s would tell you about their connections, and how they operated within and upon institutions - social, political, economic, legal, and religious.

Two examples are Barbara Harvey, “Living and Dying in England 1100–1540: The Monastic Experience (1993)”, and Michael Erben, “"A Preliminary Prosopography of the Victorian Street", (1996)”. I can accept these studies as pre-modern. Athough where pre ends and modern begins is a good subject for a well lubricated debate.

I think I will look up these books, and try to get a feel for prosopography.

(1) Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopaedia.

History and Genealogy

2011-03-09T05:32:00.000-08:00

For some time now I have been mulling over an article written by James Tanner in his blog “Genealogy’s Star”. In his article, “Is History Genealogy ?” (October 6, 1910) James writes:

“In a real sense, all history is genealogy and genealogy is nothing more, or less, than detailed localized history. Traditional history was focused on the grand scheme of politics and society. It deals with wars and only mentions individuals as they become prominent.”

The more I think about it the more I disagree. A bit too generalized I think. For me history is an interpretive story or narration if you will. Unfortunately, I have yet to see a well researched historical narration in which the author leaves interpretations up to the reader. Everyone, it seems, has an agenda somewhere.

I have always tried to figure out what “traditional” history is or was. I suspect that the reference is to the “textbook” history of the kind that was inflicted on all of us in high school (not that I can remember that far back !).

When I was in graduate school from 1971 to 1974 the up and coming flavours of the decade were women’s studies, economic history (vast economic forces folks), and computer studies. Yes folks the computer was beating at the wall of the ivory tower, and the fight was on. A merry battle it was since it generally took place during well lubricated meetings of the graduate students’ society.

Genealogy at that time was known to me as local history. Believe it or not there was a chair of local history. Two professors that I studied under, James J. Talman and Frederick Armstrong, were hand in glove with the library’s archivist in amassing a collection of papers, and memorabilia, that is now housed in the excellent J.J Talman Collection at the University of Western Ontario.

It seemed to me at the time that research was generally done by the graduate students for the benefit of the professors. I am inclined to think that that has not changed. Interpretation of that research is the issue that spawns new articles, and books. As archives become available after copyright limits expire new facts come to light, and new interpretations emerge. In my own field a good example is the way in which historians today are revising their views of Sir Douglas Haig (I‘m not convinced). Secondly, more books are being written which have been influenced by letters and diaries that were written by veterans. More and more I am seeing historians use what we would view as being within the definition of genealogy.

For me that is a good thing as it adds colour, and interest, to the lives of our ancestors. It puts them into perspective. Frankly 90% of what I have seen, that is to say, this individual was born in 1900, died in 1950 was son of, or daughter of, makes me yawn. My response is - AND? I guess my training. such as it was. required me to use the word why quite a bit. When I look at my own family tree I ask why quite often. My great great great grandfather immigrated from Wiltshire either in 1830 or 1831 - why? He came to Canada - why? Why not the United States or Australia? He settled in Southwestern Ontario - what was the attraction that brought his family here? Why did the family largely stay, and not go west young man (sorry couldn’t resist) ?

I guess for me history is all about finding the answers to questions. Here I am guilty of generalizing just a tad. One prays that the answers are in a well written form.

Pt. Thomas Lawless (April 11, 1888-June 9, 1917)

2011-02-28T10:00:00.000-08:00

This is a fascinating story about the identification of the remains of Pt. Lawless found near Vimy Ridge in 2003. The story can be read here and here.

Photo - CTV.ca Edmonton, February 25, 2001

Library & Archives Canada

February Keywords

2011-02-21T08:09:00.000-08:00

As I have mentioned in previous posts I keep a close eye on keyword search terms to see what people are looking for when they reach this blog. Overall the google search terms seem to make sense - with an occasional exception. I suspect that a good deal of this is for school research papers considering the generality of the questions. Today I will look at a few.

1. Air raid shelters Ontario Canada
Pretty rare in Ontario. Most, I believe, date to the Cold War The most famous would be the “Diefenbunkers”. Called “Emergency Government Headquarters” over 50 of these shelters were authorized by the then Prime Minister John Diefenbaker in 1961. The one outside of Ottawa is now a historic site, and Cold War Museum. I know that some individuals built their own. My Dad couldn’t be bothered.

2. Canadian Boer War nominal roll

They are online. All you need is a name.

3. Danny Hugh Plunkett

No idea how this led to my blog ? From what I can see he is a preacher. I suspect that google zeroed in on “Hugh”.

4. Sir Sam Hughes attestation paper
He joined the South African War as a civilian, and badgered his way into a command. For the First World War there is an attestation paper; but not online. RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4598 - 1, Library and Archives Canada.

5. Duchess of Connaught Canadian Red Cross Hospital
Apparently the Astor family invited the Canadian Red Cross to build a hospital on their estate next to Taplow Lodge , Taplow, Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. It was named “The Duchess of Connaught Red Cross Hospital” after Louise Margarete wife of the Duke of Connaught (Governor General of Canada 1911-1916). Prince Arthur William Patrick Albert (May 1, 1850 - January 15, 1942) Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was the third son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Colburg.

During the Second World War the hospital was expanded and renamed “The Canadian Red Cross Memorial Hospital”. The building was apparently demolished in 2006.

6. London Newspapers

I assume it means London, Ontario, papers. Here they are:

The London Advertiser 1863-1868: The London Weekly Advertiser & The London Evening Advertiser 1868: The London Evening Advertiser 1869-1869; The London Advertiser 1869-1936 (on microfilm)
The Canadian Free Press 1849-1851; The London Free Press 1851- present (on microfilm)
The Farmer’s Advocate 1866-1936 (on microfilm).
After the 1950’s the numbers increase. For my research papers that published up to the Second World War are the important ones.

The Bombing of No. 1 General Hospital

2011-02-17T07:29:00.000-08:00

While surfing (I think that is what it’s called) I came across the lyrics to a song titled: No.1 Canadian General Hospital Nursing Sisters’ Theme Song”.

“In my sweet little Alice Blue gown,
When I first came to Birmingham town.
I had had a bad trip, in a nasty old ship
And the cold in my billet, just gave me the pip.
We came out to nurse our own troops,
But were greeted with measles and whoops.
Now I'll be a granny, and sit on my fanny,
And keep warm with turpentine stupes.

In my sweet little Alice Blue gown,
When I return to my home town
They will bring out the band, give the girls a big hand,
Being a nurse in the force, I'll be quite renowned.
And I'll never forget all the fun,
That I had, since I joined Number One
I was happy and gay, to have served with MacRae
In my sweet little Alice Blue gown.”

I have no idea what tune they used to sing this ditty. One thing leads to another, and a story emerges.

I won’t go into a long dissertation on the differences between general hospitals, stationary hospitals, casualty clearing stations, etc. Suffice it to say that the general hospitals (there were 16 by 1918) went from 520 beds to anywhere up to 2,300 beds. In May 1918 the No. 1 Canadian General Hospital was located at Etaples, France. On May 19, 1918 it was bombed, and included in the dead were 4 nursing sisters. One was a girl from Southwestern Ontario.

Gladys Maude Mary Wake was born on December 13, 1883 in Esquimault, British Columbia. She died of her wounds on May 21, 1918.

Gladys Wake, Library and Archives Canada

`Funeral of Gladys Wake. Library and Archives Canada

Dorothy Mary Yarwood Baldwin was born October 11, 1891 in Toronto, Ontario. She died of her wounds on May 30. 1918. She was a graduate of the Victoria Hospital School of Nursing, London, Ontario.

Dorothy Baldwin, "The London Advertiser", June 3, 1918.

Dorothy Baldwin, Library and Archives Canada

Katherine Maude Macdonald was born January 18, 1898 in Brantford, Ontario. She was killed in the bombing raid on May 19, 1918. Her tragic story was told in a letter by Dr. Edwin Seaborn:
“As it happened we had two N/S Macdonald [sic], and when we were ordered to send a sister to another hospital I gave the name McDonald, thinking that the last one sent to us here would be sent. By mistake in the first name the wrong one was sent. She came to me with tears in her eyes. I telephoned the Assistant Director of Medical Services that I wished the other one substituted. He would not allow this but said that he would recall her as soon as possible. She was to be sent to us on a certain date, but was killed in the raid. She had crept under the bed, as I was told. Was wounded in the thigh but had bled to death before she was discovered”. (1)

Katherine Macdonald, Library and Archives Canada

Margaret Lowe was born on January 26, 1888 in Morayshire, Scotland. She joined the nursing staff of the Canadian Expeditionary Corps in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She died of her wounds May 28, 1918.

Margaret Lowe, Library and Archives Canada

Funeral of Margaret Lowe. Library and Archives Canada.

Service records for Margaret Lowe and Gladys Wake are on online in PDF form from Library and Archives Canada.

(1) A.M. Jack Hyatt and Nancy Geddes Poole, “Battle for Life: The History of No. 10 Canadian Stationary Hospital and No. 10 General Hospital in Two World Wars”. The Laurier Center for Militay Stragegic and Disarmament Studies, Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo. 2004. p. 35.

My Mother The Nurse

2011-02-16T11:56:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed that I am blogging quite a bit on the nursing sisters of the Great War. I expect that, in time, I will be getting to their experiences in the Second World War.

The reason is the influence of one woman - my mother. Audrey June Steele (1921-1989) was born in London, Ontario. She graduated from the Victoria Hospital School of Nursing in 1942, and joined the army shortly after. She was posted, for the most part, in military hospitals in Ontario. It was while she was at Westminster Hospital (now the London Heath Sciences Center) that she met my father. He was there for treatment, and physiotherapy, of injuries he received during a train accident in July of 1945.

And the rest as they say was History!

Audrey Steele is on the right. Needless to say, mother was not big on either putting dates or writing names on the back of photos. So I do not know who the other nurse is. She was also not big on keeping pictures of herself so I am surprised that I have this one. At a guess I would put it at either 1943 or 1944.

Hospitals in the Great War

2011-02-15T10:14:00.000-08:00

Here is an interesting link. It's titled:
"Location of Hospitals and Casualty Clearing Stations of the British Expeditionary Force in the Great War".
A good reference for anyone interested in the medical services during the war. A note of thanks to Sue Light in her blog “This Intrepid Band” for pointing it out.

Documenting Southwestern Ontario’s War Dead, 1885-1918

2011-02-12T18:27:00.000-08:00

Individuals from this area served in the Northwest Rebellion 1885, the Boer War 1899-1902, and the First World War 1914-1918. There is a huge mass of material out there on these conflicts. Unfortunately there is little online. Some is on microfilm through the National Archives, and the Ontario Archives; and a smattering her and there in local libraries, military museums, and university archives . A great deal is still in paper form. I find a tremendous amount has yet to be catalogued. This is just a brief description of what is available - a complete list would fill a book. Speaking of books I am going to largely ignore them - check out the library folks!

The Northwest Rebellion:

Soldiers of the Midland Regiment, 1885, Library and Archives Canada

Newspapers are the best place to begin. Assuming that you know where a man was from he would get front page coverage in his local newspaper. Most of the local newspapers have been microfilmed.
Library and Archives Canada : List of Officers and Men Killed and Wounded in the North West Rebellion, 1885.
Library and Archives Canada: Royal Canadian Mounted Police data base.

The South African War:

2nd. Canadian Mounted Rifles, 1902, Library and Archives Canada.

Newspapers are again a good place to begin.
As mentioned in a previous post Library and Archives Canada has “Soldiers of the South African War (1899-1902)” data base. The Canadian Virtual War Memorial lists the Canadian dead of the South African War. Also the collections include Medal registers, records of active service, and other documents from the Ministry of Militia.
Local communities such as London erected memorials to the local men who died in the war.

Face of London's Memorial Listing Men killed in South Africa. Personal Collection.

The First World War:

N.C.O.'s 1st. Battalion, 1919, Library and Archives Canada

If it is one thing that an army is it is a paper producing machine. I would need another life time to become familiar with everything.
Ministry of Militia’s “Official List of Casualties to Members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force“. This is a multi volume compilation. The most complete collection that I have found so far is in the London Room of the London Public Library, London, Ontario. There are volumes missing.
“The Circumstances of Death Registers” are a key source for information on the war dead. If the soldier was killed in action, presumed dead, or missing in action a form was completed and placed in his file to document the circumstances of his death (if known). Later the form was removed from the service files so it is rare to find them within individual service files. They are at Library and Archives Canada.
As with the Boer War the Canadian Virtual War Memorial lists the dead of the C.E.F. I have found some names missing so it is not 100%. If a veteran died due to his wounds after 1918 his file should be there as the Ministry of Militia often contributed to his or her tombstone.
Cities, towns, villages, churches, and universities erected memorials, or memorial plaques, to their local dead after 1919.
The Commonwealth War Graves Commission maintains a data base “Debt Of Honour” listing over 1,700,000 men and women from throughout the British Commonwealth. Just to check, I searched for my uncle Bruce Ivan Hillman who died in 1945. Yep, he is there, and it’s accurate.
Library and Archives Canada “War graves registers and other documents” are textual documents grouped into six series depending on the circumstances of the serviceman or woman’s death. They include World War 2 documents.

I have yet to check out the British Archives. For all of this period Canadians served in Imperial forces, and a great deal of documentation is there. Library and Archives Canada has copies of some of the nominal rolls, pay sheets, medal rolls, etc. I do not think though that their collection is exhaustive.
Lastly individuals, communities, and societies (historical and genealogical) have researched and published volumes on servicemen, and women. There are literally hundreds. Many might be in your library - few are online.

The Oxford Rifles to 1902

2011-02-11T09:15:00.000-08:00

A company of Oxford Militia was active during the War of 1812. At that time Oxford County was part of York County. As such, the Oxford companies served with the York Militia. To find names it is to the York militia nominal rolls you must go.

I found an interesting reference to a skirmish involving an Oxford company that occured after the Battle of Moraviantown in 1813. (1) From the description, I suspect, but can not prove that the skirmish occured at what we call today “Snake Hill”. Snake Hill is located within modern London. It appears that the American troops looked at the steepness of the hill, the trees, the rocks, the muskets pointed at them, and said: “Nuts to this”, and left. They must have been veterans.

The Oxford Rifles proper were organized by a general order issued August 1, 1863. Their first Commanding Officer was Lt. Colonel W.S. Light with headquarters in Woodstock, Ontario.

No.1 Company officered by Captain Hugh Richardson based in Woodstock organized May 8, 1855.

Hugh Richarson from "A Story of the Oxford Rifles 1798-1954".

No.2. Company officered by Captain Isaac Wallace based in Embro organized 22 Jan. 1862. Apparently this was a highland company. Which is not surprising considering the Embro area was largely settled by Scots. No mention of a kilt though.

No..3 Company officered by Captain George Grey based in Beachville organized Dec. 28, 1862.

No.4 Company officered by Captain Louis Cole based in Wolverton organized Jan. 16, 1863.

No. 5 Company officered by Captain John Henderson based in North Oxford organized Jan. 23, 1863.

No. 6 Company officered by Captain Thomas Coulter based in Princeton organized Jan. 23, 1863.

Sample of Nominal Roll for Oxford Rifles, Library and Archives Canada.

When Lt. Colonel Light died in 1864 the regiment was taken over by Hugh Richardson (more in the next post about Lt. Colonel Richardson as he become quite well known in the 1880’s). The Oxford Rifles were called to serve during the Fenian Raids. They were sent to the Niagara region in June, 1866 - but arrived late. So they were not a part of the engagement at Ridgeway.

The uniform was a big concern for all militia regiments. After all one must look the part. It seems that the decision was to mimic the uniform worn by British rifle regiments. The photo of Hugh Richardson gives you an idea of what it looked like. In a letter from Prentice, Moat & Co., military outfitters from Montreal, to Lt. Colonel Richardson:

“We have forwarded to Toronto suit of the Uniform just imported by the Montreal Rifle Regiment and have requested them to be forwarded to you for inspection. Please be careful as they belong to the Regiment and are only loaned.”(2)

There remained two independent companies in Ingersoll and Thamesford. The reason, it appears, is that when they saw the dark green uniforms they decided that they would rather keep their smart red jerseys. Thank you very much !

The Oxford Rifles sent the following volunteers to the South African War. I have added what I could to each name: however, the database “Soldiers of the South African War” will only give you an index to the service files and medal rolls. Where there is more I have added it.

James Murray Ross
His service files are at Library and Archives Canada.
J. Smith
There is a J. Smith in the Library and Archives database; but no way to tell if it is indeed our man without requesting a copy of the files. I looked at the First World War database. Do you know how many J. Smith’s there are? Yikes !
A. Edwards
Same problem except here. There is only a medals register.
George William Leonard #7208
Died at Sand River, South Africa, while with the Royal Canadian Regiment.

Memorial to Canada's war dead in South Africa. Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Service files in Library and Archives Canada. Also included in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
H. Lane
He might be Harry Goldney Lane from the service files.
A. Marshall
More research needed here.
Victor Wentworth Oldlum
Fought with the Royal Canadian Regiment in South Africa. During the First World War he rose to the rank of Brigadier General. Known to his troops as “Old Lime Juice”. I mentioned him in an earlier post.
H.R. Wilson
No information.
M. Davidson
There is a nominal roll for a M. Davidson who served with the South African Constabulary. Apparently he died of enteric fever in 1902. (3)
G. Campbell
Apparently served with the First Contingent (4), and there is a medal roll for a G. Campbell but little else. For me Campbell rates right up there with Smith - lots of luck !

(1)History of the County of Middlesex, Canada, 1889. Reprinted in 1972. Daniel Brock (ed.)
(2) Hubert Moore, “A Story of the Oxford Rifles 1798-1954:, Oxford Museum Bulletin No.5, 1974.
(3) Ibid.
(4) Ibid.

Surprise London - It’s Uncle Sam !

2011-02-03T08:07:00.000-08:00

Londoners were Agog ! “The London Advertiser” thrilled. All when units of a U.S. battalion staged an impromptu parade down main street London (that would be Dundas Street) September 2, 1918.

“SAMMIES THRILL LONDONERS

WHEN THEY PAY VISIT

Labour Day groups stood about the sidewalks at noon yesterday discussing the war. There was not much stirring, and most people were storing up energy and sunshine against the coming of a hard winter.

Then the notes of a tune from a brass band came through the air. It was a band that sent forth volume and melody stronger than any local band since the ranks of musicians have been so much decimated by the war.

People looked toward Richmond Street. Suddenly a formation of men in khaki swung round the corner onto Dundas Street. Most men thought a party of returned soldiers was being escorted home.

But there was something distinctive, something different, about these men from the thousands of Canadians who have paraded the familiar streets of this town on route marches, on cerimonial parades, going overseas and coming back in more irregular order.

WORE STETSON HATS

These troops wore Stetson hats. They wore no tunics. They were great big fellows.

“Americans !” The word ran down the street. Everybody got stirred up. It was a thrill for the town, an unexpected thrill.

The great band came along, playing a sharp, typically Yankee air. Silver instruments glittered in the sun. A single returned Canadian in the kilt led these unexpected, but warmly welcome guests through the streets…..

The band preceded two of the finest companies of fighting men ever seen in a city that has watched upwards of 40,000 men trained fine, and inspired by pride of their corps, leave for the war. Upstanding, six-footers, bronzed and free-muscled, moving as one winding automaton, they marched eight abreast through Dundas street and turned at Wellington street, to board again this train which brought them to the city from Camp Grant, near Chicago. They were two companies of the 343rd. Battalion, traveling to Toronto, for a stay during the Exhibition (what today is the C.N.E.)…….

Norwegian lads from the woods of Wisconsin marching to the music of a Canadian pipe band (apparently the second two companies were led by a local pipe band) in the great trek forward to do the mighty task of the hour ! Scandinavian boys from the prairies and mines of the middle west marching through an Ontario city they never knew existed three hours before ! Canadian returned heroes fraternizing with giants of Uncle Sam’s great States ! Officers chatting together, and Canadian girls gathering postcards from the Sammies and wondering what sort of girl “back there” would get them ! It was a little one act drama in the great pageant of democracy, a curtain raiser that gave Londoners a touch of novelty and brought closer home a real conviction of the alliance of democratic nations !” (1)

Was the reporter for “The Advertiser” excited - or what ! Apparently, these companies belonged to a battalion which was called “The Melting Pot Battalion”. Largely because of the different nationalities represented by the battalion’s soldiers. Two names that occur in the article are Lt. Col. Charles R. Howland (C.O. - Commanding Officer), and Major T.F. Marshall who was in charge of the companies that marched through London. One thing that I was not aware of was the term “Sammies” for American soldiers. It’s not an idiom which caught on.

(1) “The London Advertiser”, September 3, 1918.

Wordless Wednesday - The 1st. Battalion Parades

2011-02-02T06:34:00.000-08:00

Library & Archives Canada - Salisbury Plains, England 1915

Library & Archives Canada, Salisbury Plains, England 1915

List Of Casualties - 1st. Battalion

2011-02-01T11:17:00.000-08:00

The following are six pages from the Militia Ministry's "Official List Of Casualties to Members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force", 1915. The six pages are from February 1915 up to March 2. There are still seven more pages to go. All are for the 1st. Battalion. The volumes where these are taken are in the London Room, London Public Library, London, Ontario. Gradually, I will try to get them all digitalized, and put them online. It will take a while. For now I have used my digital camera so they are not of the best quality. There is no index - so its peck and hunt !

The Dumbbells Come To London

2011-01-28T13:18:00.000-08:00

"The London Advertiser" Speptember 27, 1919.

The Dumbbells was an entertainment troupe that was formed just after the battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917. Formed to entertain the troops, and build moral, the members were formed from the ranks of the Third Division. Thus their name - which was also the division’s symbol.

As far as I know no one from Southwestern Ontario was a member of the Dumbbells. Managing Director and comedian was Capt. Merton Wesley Plunkett (1899-1966).

Library and Archives Canada

The Dumbbells played to the front line soldiers with skits and songs about life in the trenches. Theirs was very much a vaudevillian act. Through 1917 and 1918 the show would be taken to wherever the Canadian Corps happened to be . The skits tended to dark humour which went over well with soldiers, but was sometimes was over the heads of civilians who could not quite see the trench humour. Songs tended to be, for the time, racy, with titles like “These Wild, Wild, Women Are Making A Wild Man Of Me”, or “I Know Where The Flies Go”.

After the war the troupe re-formed, and after rehearsals in Orillia, opened for three nights September 30, October 1 and 2nd., 1919, at the Grand Theatre in London (the Grand is still here and thriving). Theatres in London by 1919 were mixing both vaudeville acts, and silent films, on their playbills.

Library and Archives Canada

Both London papers found the show well received. “The London Advertiser” in its review stated:

“A capacity audience, which included the staff and patients of the Western Military Hospital, was delighted with the performance of the “Dumbells” in the original overseas review. “Biff Bing Bang”, at the Grand Theatre last night. These talented artists, who repeat their bill tonight and twice tomorrow, present an offering which is of high order, the entire cast being male, although R.D. Hamilton, as Marjorie, could easily become the ace of female impersonators should he care to try for the honour. His work was of the best, possessing a good singing voice which aided greatly in the impersonation.”

“The artists in this company have served an average of sixteen months in the firing line before being selected by Capt. Plunkett for the revue, and last night was military night, the “boys” being welcomed in London by local soldiers, this being the opening engagement in Canada”. (1)

For “The London Free Press”;

“ London theatregoers were presented with something new, something, which they have not seen here before, last evening when “The Dumbbells” in their original overseas revue , “Biff Bing Bang” opened a three day engagement at the Grand. The house was packed to the roof and the boys in France got as much fun out of the entertainment as those present last evening , life on the other side was not as black as most folk imagine.” (2)

I might add in closing that they hit Broadway in May 1921 with their show “Biff, Bing, Bang”, and were a hit. The Dumbbells' popularity with veterans reminds me of the popularity that Bob Hope enjoyed with American veterans in his long career.

Library and Archives Canada. In front of the Ambassador Theatre on Broadway, New York, 1921.

For more on the Dumbells, and biographies of some of the members, check out Library and Archives Canada "The Virtual Gramophone".

(1) “The London Advertiser”, September 30, 1919.
(2) “The London Free Press”, September 30, 1919.

Ancestor Approved

2011-01-27T10:05:00.000-08:00

Ruth Blair of Blair Archival Research. And her blog "The Passionate Genealogist", has nominated Veterans of Southwestern Ontario for the Ancestor Approved Award. Thank you very much Ruth. Ruth is a professional genealogist and researcher based, I believe in Toronto. Or as we say in London “Tranto”.

The Ancestor Approved Award was created by Leslie Ann Ballou of the “Ancestors Live Here” blog who asks two things of those who receive the award:

1. Write ten aspects of their research that surprised, humbled, or enlightened them.

2. Pass the award along to ten other researchers whose family history blogs are making their ancestors proud.

What ! - only ten aspects that surprise, enlighten, or humbled me in my researches ? Surprises seem to come every day !

1. I restricted my research to the counties of Southwestern Ontario partly because my own ancestors largely lived in this area, and I naively thought that researching in a restricted area might lessen the scope of my research. Give your head a shake Bruce! The shear volume of the material (I might add most of which is not online) is awesome.

2. Of all the frontline battalions that were in the trenches from 1915 to 1918 two do not have a published history. Guess which two ? The 1st. , and 18th. , from Southwestern Ontario, of course.

3. Tim Cook, a military historian from Ottawa, writes that the 1st. Battalion had the highest casualty rate in the First World War - a turnover of over 600%. (1) Increasingly, I am becoming aware of the fact that it is a rare family that was not affected in some way by the war.

4. That a Canadian identity predates what many historians identify as starting after Vimy Ridge. In the nineteenth century people viewed themselves as good Canadian subjects of the British Empire. I suspect, but its only conjecture that part of that has to do with an increasing number of 2nd. , and 3rd. , generations away from the pioneers. These generations have fewer or no memories of the old country, and are rooted in Ontario.

5. Just how many from my own family (paternal as well as maternal) served in the various wars, or skirmishes, that involved militia units (the Fenian Raids 1866-1870) , the Canadian Expeditionary Force (1914-1918), the Canadian Army, Airforce, and Navy (1939-1945). Quite surprising for a family that were largely peaceful hard shell Baptist farmers.

6. I have not yet found anything that would fit a Hollywood script. Anything I have seen from veteran memoirs outlines only a profound respect of soldiers for the Nursing Sisters - their Bluebirds. I suspect that anyone mistreating a nursing sister would have to answer to the “poor bloody infantry”.

7. Like the British we seem to be able to throw up some real eccentrics. These people are fun !

8. Local archives on the whole are not aware of what they have. I have found treasures that have not been catalogued. I do not think that the archivists really know what to do with this material.

9. Studying the 19th. Century militia units can give you a real insight into the social and cultural values of the society. It is clear that these people are Victorian Edwardian. They do not think as we do.

10. Genealogy is indeed a insight into the history of our province. It is interesting to see how our ancestors coped with the economics of the times, world events, and each other.

Ten blogs I would recommend ?

As I have said in a post in my other blog “Hillman’s Of Elgin County” I am not a big blog reader. I tend to be somewhat tough in my regard for blogs. I divide them into worthwhile, and fluff. I do keep tract of the following some of which I am sure have already been nominated:

1. "Anglo-Celtic Connections" by John Reid. John keeps us informed of the goings on at Library and Archives Canada. This is the most important archival source for military historians.

2. Brenda Dougall Merriman. A genealogist and writer. She is the author of “Genealogical Standards of Evidence: A Guide for Family Historians” (2010) published by Dundurn Press.
3. Diane Rogers "Canadian Genealogist, “Or“, “Jane’s Your Aunt” A well written blog that keeps me informed as to what’s happening in the British Columbia genealogy world.

4. Elizabeth Lapoint’s “Canadian Genealogist“. Elizabeth is a genealogist writer, and editor, of the Ontario Genealogical Society’s journal “Families”. Surprising this journal is in the London Room at my local library.

5. Elsie Cole’s “Librarians Helping Canadian Genealogist Climb the Family Tree”. God knows we need all the help from librarians and archivists that we can get.

6. I like Lori’s blog “Family Trees May Contain Nuts”. Actually the goings on in British Columbia fascinate me. Yes, I’ve been there.

7. You will notice that so far I have not listed any military blogs. Most seem to be centered around an individual soldier. A listing of what is available to date can be found on a blog sponsored through the CEF Matrix Project. “CEF WW1 Soldier Blogs”.
8. Annette Fulford’s blog “Canadian War Brides Of The First World War” looks at the War Brides of the First World War. This is a little known subject. Far better known are the Second World War war brides. For one thing there were more of them. Probably due to where the troops were in the two wars. The trenches were hardly a place for romance in spite of Hollywood.

9. There seems to be considerable interest in the nursing sisters. Sue Light’s blog “This Intrepid Band” looks at the British nursing sisters, and their experiences in the Great War. I find it of interest probably because the British nurses often found themselves working in different theatres of the war.

10. “Mole’s Genealogy” looks at the South African War. It’s an interesting history especially as there were some lessons of trench warfare which it appears no general paid much attention to.

(1) Tim Cook, "Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting The Great War 1917-1918", Vol.2, Penguin Canada 2009.

Middlesex County, Ontario, Militia Units

2011-01-25T13:57:00.000-08:00

Well - Here’s where confusion reigns supreme. Try and sort through the Middlesex County pre-1900 militia units. We will give it a go in several postings.

First, something about the state of the militia in Southwestern Ontario prior to The Boer War. The Militia system was organized after the creation of Upper Canada in 1792 by the first provincial legislature in 1793. The militia system was based on the British regimental example. Was it an effective military system ? Hard to say as it was rarely tested. Units were quickly recruited during the Fenian Raids; however, units from this area did little more than guard Sarnia, and Windsor, and as such saw no action. By the 1870’s fear of invasion from the United States had abated, and the locals saw little reason to get excited over the militia. Ultimately the militia became an officer’s social club, and a way for an ambitious man to rise on the social ladder within his community. All that changes under the pressures of the First World War.

I will look at the 4th. Middlesex Militia Regiment first. Prior to the 1820’s little was done in organizing a militia regiment in Middlesex County (which includes London). In 1822 command of the regiment was given to James Hamilton ( a sheriff from Sterling). Companies were recruited on a township basis. At this time London was a village so when the individual is identified as from London usually that is a reference to London Township. In a muster of 1824 I found the following names:

Ira Schofield (Major)

J.S. Harrison (Captain)

Rosewell Mount (Captain)

Simeon Bullen

Duncan McKenzie

Richard Talbot

Daniel Hine

Hiram Schofield (Adjutant)

James Fisher (Lieutenant)

John Siddall (Lieutenant)

John T. Jones (Lieutenant)

William Geary (Lieutenant)

Thomas Lawrason (Ensign)

Archibald McFarlane (Ensign)

Daniel Campbell (Ensign)

William Putman (Ensign)

Thomas H. Summers (Ensign)

George Robson (Ensign)

In 1829 the 4th. Middlesex Regiment mustered 415 all ranks. Finding the names of anyone other than the officers is a daunting task. One would need the pay records of the regiment which may or may not be in Library and Archives Canada. Many of the records of this period have not survived.

Interesting that one of the burning questions for the regiment was - what colour should the uniforms be ? The Lieutenant Governor wanted a grey jacket with collar and cuffs of black velvet, and trousers of grey cloth. The officers wanted a green jacket, and sent one of their number off to Scotland to buy green cloth.

Secondly, as will happen when there are big fish in a little pond - the officers fought with each other. In 1829 Ira Schofield pressed court martial proceeding against Edward Allen Talbot. Apparently Talbot “in a seditious manner” resisted attending a muster of the regiment. Wouldn’t you know that the written proceedings of the court are nowhere to be found. Maybe he got the firing squad ?

More Bluebirds

2011-01-24T20:18:00.000-08:00

Bessie Maud Hanna second from the left. "The London Advertiser, July 20, 1916". Others are not identified.

This photo was sent to the “London Advertiser” by Bessie Maude Hanna, a nursing sister who served at the Ontario Hospital, Orpington, Kent, England.

Library and Archives Canada

In 1915 the Ontario Government donated $2 million dollars to build a treatment center for soldiers wounded on the Western Front. Fully staffed, it treated over 15,000 soldiers from 1915 to 1919. There were 182 who died. Most are buried in the “Canadian Corner” of the All Saints churchyard . Not only Canadian soldiers but all soldiers in the British Expeditionary Force were treated. Advances in plastic surgery, and occupational therapy for shell shock victims, were pioneered here. Renamed the 16^th. Canadian General Hospital during the war the building was torn down in the 1980’s. It has been replaced by a modern hospital.

C.B.C Archives, prefab unit 16th. General Hospital

The country the world forgot - again

2011-01-17T18:12:00.000-08:00

This article was written by Kevin Myers, an Irish journalist, for the London Telegram, 21 April, 2002. It bears repeating.

“UNTIL the deaths last week of four Canadian soldiers accidentally killed by a US warplane in Afghanistan, probably almost no one outside their home country had been aware that Canadian troops were deployed in the region. And as always, Canada will now bury its dead, just as the rest of the world as always will forget its sacrifice, just as it always forgets nearly everything Canada ever does.

It seems that Canada's historic mission is to come to the selfless aid both of its friends and of complete strangers, and then, once the crisis is over, to be well and truly ignored. Canada is the perpetual wallflower that stands on the edge of the hall, waiting for someone to come and ask her for a dance. A fire breaks out, she risks life and limb to rescue her fellow dance-goers, and suffers serious injuries. But when the hall is repaired and the dancing resumes, there is Canada, the wallflower still, while those she once helped glamorously cavort across the floor, blithely neglecting her yet again.

That is the price which Canada pays for sharing the North American Continent with the US, and for being a selfless friend of Britain in two global conflicts. For much of the 20th century, Canada was torn in two different directions: it seemed to be a part of the old world, yet had an address in the new one, and that divided identity ensured that it never fully got the gratitude it deserved.

Yet its purely voluntary contribution to the cause of freedom in two world wars was perhaps the greatest of any democracy. Almost 10 per cent of Canada's entire population of seven million people served in the armed forces during the First World War, and nearly 60,000 died. The great Allied victories of 1918 were spearheaded by Canadian troops, perhaps the most capable soldiers in the entire British order of battle.

Canada was repaid for its enormous sacrifice by downright neglect, its unique contribution to victory being absorbed into the popular memory as somehow or other the work of the "British". The Second World War provided a re-run. The Canadian navy began the war with a half dozen vessels, and ended up policing nearly half of the Atlantic against U-boat attack. More than 120 Canadian warships participated in the Normandy landings, during which 15,000 Canadian soldiers went ashore on D-Day alone. Canada finished the war with the third largest navy and the fourth largest air force in the world.

The world thanked Canada with the same sublime indifference as it had the previous time. Canadian participation in the war was acknowledged in film only if it was necessary to give an American actor a part in a campaign which the US had clearly not participated - a touching scrupulousness which, of course, Hollywood has since abandoned, as it has any notion of a separate Canadian identity.

So it is a general rule that actors and film-makers arriving in Hollywood keep their nationality - unless, that is, they are Canadian. Thus Mary Pickford, Walter Huston, Donald Sutherland, Michael J Fox, William Shatner, Norman Jewison, David Cronenberg and Dan Aykroyd have in the popular perception become American, and Christopher Plummer British. It is as if in the very act of becoming famous, a Canadian ceases to be Canadian, unless she is Margaret Atwood, who is as unshakeably Canadian as a moose, or Celine Dion, for whom Canada has proved quite unable to find any takers.

Moreover, Canada is every bit as querulously alert to the achievements of its sons and daughters as the rest of the world is completely unaware of them. The Canadians proudly say of themselves - and are unheard by anyone else - that 1 per cent of the world's population has provided 10 per cent of the world's peace-keeping forces. Canadian soldiers in the past half century have been the greatest peace-keepers on earth - in 39 missions on UN mandates, and six on non-UN peace-keeping duties, from Vietnam to East Timor, from Sinai to Bosnia.

Yet the only foreign engagement which has entered the popular non-Canadian imagination was the sorry affair in Somalia, in which out-of-control paratroopers murdered two Somali infiltrators. Their regiment was then disbanded in disgrace - a uniquely Canadian act of self-abasement for which, naturally, the Canadians received no international credit.

So who today in the US knows about the stoic and selfless friendship its northern neighbour has given it in Afghanistan? Rather like Cyrano de Bergerac, Canada repeatedly does honourable things for honourable motives, but instead of being thanked for it, it remains something of a figure of fun. It is the Canadian way, for which Canadians should be proud, yet such honour comes at a high cost.

This weekend four shrouds, red with blood and maple leaf, head homewards; and four more grieving Canadian families know that cost all too tragically well.”

Its ironic that it takes a journalist from Great Britain to point out just how well Canada has operated on the world stage for the last 100 years. Wish I could hear this from Canadians.

Recent Key Word Activity

2011-01-08T17:03:00.000-08:00

I admit that I do pay attention to key word activity to see what draws readers to my blog. Listed below are some of the most recent. I apologise if some of my responses are a little cheeky. I can not help myself sometimes.

1.Boer war and southwestern Ontario
2.canadian contingent for south africa

I have written a little bit on the Boer War. If you believe the press coverage of the period Southwestern Ontario was behind the British Empire 110%. Probably that was not far off what the majority of people thought. Library and Archives Canada has “Soldiers Of The South African War (1899-1902)" if you are searching for a specific name.

3.”great war commands” wingard

I’M AHEAD OF THE GAME ! See previous blog.

4. how to apply for history of Canadian Veteran ww2
Online form is at Library and Archives Canada.

5.elgin county home front ww2

Online very little. Looks like library time.

6. submarine port burwell

I mentioned this in an earlier post and eliminated the dirty politics that went on.

7. Nominal Roll of the 161st Battalion London Ontario
Nominal Rolls 18th. Battalion

Online at “The Matrix Project”.

8. photo of Major V.W. Odlum 1915

Victor Wentworth Odlum (21 October 1880-4 April 1971) reached Major General in the First World War. He was known by his men as “old Lime juice” after he made them drink lime juice rather than a rum ration before an engagement. It was not appreciated. Here’s his picture.

9. “German P.O.W.” London ontario

Got me stumped. Could be. Have not run into one yet in my research. If so, it is far more likely to have been from the Second World War.

10. canadian veterans second world war from ontario canada

Wow ! Not asking for too much here. There was somewhere around 179,000 men and women from Southwestern Ontario serving in all services. Maybe twenty years from now (should I last that long) I will have a partial list. Do not expect Library and Archives Canada to digitalize all of these records anytime soon. There were 1.1 million men and women from across Canada serving from 1939 to 1945. The volume of paperwork is stagering.
11. home guard fenian raid

Yep its here: but tongue in cheek.

12. Pictures of English military medals 1800’s

I’M not that into it ! Up until recent years though Canada tended to follow the British lead.

13. Was all cdn infantry battalions effective ww2 ?

Got me. Could be.

14. Names of the 18 battalion 1915

Usually - “The poor bloody infantry”.

15. veterans cemetery london ontario

Not as such. Veterans are scattered in cemeteries throughout London. The practice here is each November 11th to put little flags on the burial of each veteran .

16. mabel mccalla Ontario

This shows google search at it best (tongue in cheek here). How this resulted in a hit on this blog heaven only knows; but I did check just in case, and found no Mabel McCalla in World War One Canadian data bases.

The Canadian Corps: Great War Commands

2011-01-07T19:32:00.000-08:00

A recent book on the Canadian Corps is now available in PDF format in a free download from the Regimental Rogue. Hopefully this is the start of a good thing !

Nursing Sister Agnes Davies

2011-01-05T12:46:00.000-08:00

"The London Advertiser, June 16, 1916"

Although the majority of the casualties of the First World War were suffered by the infantry other services suffered as well. The nursing sisters did not go unscathed. In this article in the “London Advertiser, June 16, 1916” outlines some of the pressures on the nursing sisters.

Agnes Balfour Davis was born on February 9, 1875 in Milton, Ontario. “The London Advertiser” considered her a London girl.

Library and Archives Canada.

“ That it is almost beyond human conception to appreciate the wonderful fortitude and patience with which wounded soldiers bear up under the strain while in the hospitals near the front, was the idea conveyed by Miss Agnes Davis of 472 English street, a nursing sister who returned to this city yesterday.

Miss Davis went with the first contingent, and spent the first winter at Bulford, Salisbury Plain in England, where her work was principally with convalescent soldiers.

In February, 1915, she was transferred to Taplow, Buckinghamshire, to the Canadian Red Cross Hospital, the matron in charge being Miss Edith Campbell of Ottawa.

Miss Davis was one of five who organized the Duchess of Connaught Canadian Red Cross Hospital.

Remaining at Taplow until May, 1915, their own unit, No.2 Canadian General Hospital, in charge of Col. Brydes was ordered to France, the hospital being located at La Traporte, on the French coast, near Dieppe.

This town Miss Davis described as being a beautiful situation for a hospital, situated on the white chalk cliffs 300 feet above the sea level.

The hospital had a capacity of 1,060 beds, all of which were constantly in use.

During her stay at La Traporte, to which hospital the soldiers are taken direct from the trenches, Miss Davis witnessed many heartrending scenes, in addition to the wonderful exhibitions of bravery of the wounded men under such trying circumstances.

Owing to the excessive strain connected with her work, Miss Davis suffered a complete nervous breakdown, and in December, 1915, she was invalided to England, where she had since remained prior to leaving for Canada a week ago.

Miss Davis was accompanied by Nursing Sister F. M. Nichols (1) of Paris, Ontario, who has returned to her home on sick leave of absence.

Miss Davis will remain at the home of her brother, Mr. James Davis, of 472 English street for a time.”

(1)Florence Nichols born 1875 in Paris, Ontario.

Library and Archives Canada.

Officers Of The 1st. Battalion

2011-01-03T17:52:00.000-08:00

The Regional Room, London Public Library, London, On.

From left to right:

Capt. W.J. Taylor, Capt. Frank Wall, Lt. Col. Henry Campbell Becher, Lt. Walter Chester Butler.

Henry Campbell Becher born in London, Ontario, January 20, 1874 to Henry Becher and Katherine Campbell died June 15, 1915 at Givenchy.

Libary and Archives Canada

I have the attestation papers for Walter Chester Butler. who was wounded at Vimy, but so far little else on the other officers.

Library and Archives Canada

Dating the photo is problematic except that is was definately taken in 1914 either in London before they went to Valcartier or at Valcartier. Since Henry Cambell Becher is identified as a Lt. Col. ( a militia commission) I would bet on London. When he died he was commissioned as a Major in the 1st. Battalion.

Book Reviews

2010-12-26T08:48:00.000-08:00

What have I been doing over the Christmas Holidays? Mainly catching up on my reading. Unlike others who go through a bazillion blogs I prefer to read - YES BOOKS ! Partly a life long habit, partly because it's tough to get everything you want in military history online, and partly because genea-computer geeks leave me gasping for breath, and grasping for a dictionary.

This is a look at what I have read. not in depth reviews. That way I can stay out of trouble at least until Monday.

Two of the books are a reread years after I first looked at them. Pierre Burton, “Vimy”, and Daniel G. Dancocks, “Sir Arthur Currie: A Biography”. Both books were written by journalists. Yep, you can tell. Well written, and repeating many of the old cliché’s that recent military historians are questioning.

David Williams, “Media, Memory, and the First World War”. Mr. Williams is an English professor. Yep, you can tell. He never uses a $5 word when a $10 one could be found. I swear that he has made some of them up. You definitely need a dictionary beside you when you read this one.

Andrew B. Godefroy (ed.), “Great War Commands: Historical Perspectives on Canadian Army Leadership 1914-1918”. This one is a recent overview of some of the officers of the Canadian Corps (not army as that designation belongs to the Second World War). A good start in looking at the Canadian Corps. More in depth studies are needed. For me the most interesting article is by Timothy Winegard, “ Lieutenant Colonels Glen Campbell and Andrew T. Thompson and the Evolution of Native Canadian Participation during the First World War”. This is a look at two battalions that served overseas - the 114th. (Brock’s Rangers), and the 107th. (Timber Wolf Battalion)(1). Both battalions had at least 50% of their enlistments from the native communities. On the whole, good stuff, and a good indication of where today’s military historians are headed with their research.

As far as I know none of the above books are online so that means a trip to either the bookstore or the Library. Sorry for your luck folks !

1. The 114th. battalion was broken up in England and used to reinforce other units on the Western Front. The 107th. battalion was initially to be broken up as well but in February 1917 was redesignated a Pioneer battalion. Pioneers are infantry soldiers who who performed minor engineering tasks - ie. digging trenches, the grunt work in building roads, railway lines, etc.

Major James Emanuel Hahn

2010-12-21T10:14:00.000-08:00

The London Advertiser, August 17, 1914.

James Emanuel Hahn was born in New York City July 30, 1892 to Alfred Hahn and Eugenie Schlossburg. (1) The Hahns’ immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1890, and some time before 1898 to New Hamburg near Kitchener (Berlin at that time), Ontario.

Major James Hahn is a very interesting man, and shows that little has be done by historians researching the men who served in the Great War. Sometimes being distracted by little nags of - “just who is this guy ?”- can result in a goldmine of information. As it turns out he wrote an autobiography in 1954 entitled “ For Action: The Autobiography of a Canadian Industrialist (Clarke, Irwin & Company, 1954)”. I had hoped that there would be some information on the 1st. Battalion; but that was not to be. It turns out that Major Hahn is a good example of not assuming that just because a soldier is on the nominal rolls he served with that battalion.

Library and Archives Canada.

He served with the 1st. Battalion only until the point where the 1st. Division was heading overseas to Britain. Just before leaving he was transferred to Military Intelligence, and served in that capacity on the Western Front through to November, 1918. He took part in all of the major battles of the Canadian Corps with the exception of Vimy Ridge. At that time he was recovering from a serious wound. The first part of his autobiography is an interesting account of the duties and experiences of the junior officers’ intelligence functions, and of the rise of a young officer through army staff appointments. He reached G.S.O. 3 in the Fourth Canadian Division.

It is his roll after the Great War as an industrialist that is the most interesting read. Early involvement in radio, and in 1938 the purchase of the John Inglis Company. This company became the largest manufacturer of Bren guns in the British Commonwealth during the Second World War.

(1) The Hahns’ are found in the 1900 U.S. Census in the Bronx. Just to confuse things James’ year of birth is given here as 1893 while he put 1888 in his attestation papers. I expect that he wanted to be seen as older than he was. By the 1911 Canada Census they are in Stratford, Ontario. James Hahn was a Captain in the Lambton County Militia which also, it seems, included men from Perth County.

Medals, Honours And Awards Database

2010-12-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

Library and Archives Canada has introduced a new database called “Medals, Honours and Awards.

“Library and Archives Canada holds medal registers, citation cards and records of various military awards. These records indicate the medal, honour or award to which an individual was entitled. This research tool provides the relevant archival references for those documents.
There are no service files for the Canadian military in the 1800s, so these records often provide the only proof of service for 19th century conflicts.
The names of the recipients of the Queen's South African Medal are indexed in our South African War database.”

The database is particularly useful in two ways. It will give you some information about servicemen pre-1900, and the regimental unit that the man was serving with when he received the medal. In my case I found that Peter Hillman, a distant cousin, was serving in the Essex militia during the Fenian Raids. Information I was not aware of before. So that makes two of my family serving in militia units in 1868 to 1870. Son of a gun !

Major William Norman Ashplant And The Somme

2010-12-08T09:33:00.000-08:00

In a letter to Henry Brinsmead Ashplant published in the “London Free Press” September 23, 1916.

“Referring to the lucky nature of my wound, Major Ashplant says, gee, but twas a near thing for me, another half inch and I’d be pushing daisies. I’ve got the piece of shrapnel, a very nice souvenir from Fritz, and an ugly piece it is, from one of his deadly high explosive 5.9 shells, one of the best shells made. I had only come up from what recently was a German dugout, now our advance battle battalion headquarters, to get a breath of fresh air and a rest. Our artillery and that of the enemy were pounding away at each other, with all calibre guns, but about 10 shells of ours to his one…..I had just laid down on the side of the smashed up trench in my “tin hat”. Two or three of my runners (message carriers), were stretched out resting around, when “plug”. I felt as though half my head had gone.

I up and hopped it around for a second and soon realized what a squeak I had. The velocity of the falling splinter seeming like a brick, compared to what it actually was. One of my runners soon had my field dressing out from my tunic and going down into the dugout, the artillery liaison officer washed off the dirt splash and blood and iodined the wound, after which I strolled down to our front regimental first aid post, and got temporarily fixed up. I was ordered to immediately get to the main dressing station, and get inoculated against tetanus.

You can bet I was feeling nearly all in, having only had four hours sleep in 60, which under the hellish strain of this battlefront is near the limit of a man’s endurance. For 18 solid hours I had been at the bottom of that dugout, reeking with the contaminated atmosphere of those irritating lachrymatory gas of tear shells which Fritz had been liberally dosing this vicinity with, and the place is swarming with big, bluebottle flys which thrive on the dead, laying around half buried.

I had spun off scores of messages and instructions incidental to an adjutant’s duties in the field in direct phone communication with the O.C. (1) companies in the front line and support s and the reserve battalion headquarters in the rear, etc.

I wasted no time getting away, as I was, of course, a walking case. We beat it over and, but had to pick our way through the German artillery barrage. Heavens alive ! I thought the Ypres salient was hot stuff, but it’s got nothing on what is transpiring around here. On getting to the dressing station, I found our brigade major being fixed up with a badly smashed left arm….Fritz’s 5.9’s (great favourites of his) were plowing about close to the right, searching out some of our batteries, which were firing from well-concealed positions, all around our route. I eventually got into the 6th. Australian dressing station and had the serum against tetanus pumped into my right breast. Also was given two steaming cups of cocoa, dosed liberally with some Scotch. Lord, how that did go down ! …………From there with Capt. Cosby(2), who had been hit with shrapnel in the right hand, we were brought on here by an Australian ambulance. I was given a hot bath, a good dinner, and the staff sergeant dressed and readied my scratch, and put me to bed like mother would have done. I certainly was feeling tough.

Next morning I strolled down to watch some German prisoners badly wounded, and being fixed up, Prussian guards, and some big fellows, which the Australians had trimmed up in the morning.

Tis an awful shambles, close to the lines we are holding, and hundreds of Germans and Australians lay there, at present unburied. It’s been an inferno all right, but believe me, Fritz is getting it hot now, and his morale is getting shattered. He is fighting a losing game and his troops are beginning to know, and sooner or later, their army will revolt and turn on their arrogant, besotted, selfish, military leaders, but Germany has to be cleaned from within. ……One of these Germans and X.C.O.(3) speaking a little English, said ‘We did not know what a bombardment was like. Verdun was a picnic to this,’ so I guess we are giving it to him pretty bad.

Fritz has now learned pretty well the art of putting his hands up, and these prisoners are glad to be in our hands. Two big wire cages of prisioners are in close proximity to here. It’s surprising how indifferent you get to what may happen when once in line, but he’s a lucky man who pulls through this war and gets amongst the hot stuff without losing some of his anatomy. I guess I’ll clear from here in a week or so and get on the job again.”

1. O.C. - Officer Commanding
2. I found three Cosby’s - Frederick Lorne Crosby of Pt. Hope, Ontario; Crawford Stuart Cosby of Toronto, Ontario ( a civil engineer); and Norman Weber Cosby of Toronto (also a civil engineer). Take your choice.
3. X.C.O. - guessing here but I think he means former C.O.

“The London Free Press” And William Norman Ashplant

2010-12-08T06:14:00.000-08:00

Since Major Ashplant was city engineer at the beginning of the war the local paper showed considerable interest in his career.

“ LIEUT. ASHPLANT SLEPT IN KRUGER’S ROOM IN VRELAND

Lieut. W.N. Ashplant, of London, city engineer and all-around good fellow of this good old English school, is suffering from a badly swollen arm as the result of his inoculation against typhoid by the military doctors. He is an officer of the 18th. Battalion(1), and is just itching to get into active service against the empire’s enemies.

Lieut. Ashplant has seen much service as a soldier and an engineer. When he was a mere lad he wnt out to South Africa. In 1896 with a number of the famous Jameson raiders, who were then out of a job, to take part against the Matabeles(2), who were on one of their periodical rampages. After a time Mr. Ashplant went into the city engineer’s office at Capetown, where he secured much valuable experience. He joined the Cape Artillery as a volunteer, every Englishman going into the army in Africa, as it is necessary and proper to be prepared.

Everybody in 1896 knew the Boer war was coming and, in common with other Britishers, the lieutenant joined the Cape Peninsular Regiment, after having been in the artillery for some time. He did garrison duty during the Boer war and was at Johannesburg, Victoria Capetown, and Port Elizabeth.

SLEPT IN KRUGER’S ROOM

Later, when the war was ended, and Britain had won. Mr. Ashplant was employed in drawing the plans for the Pretoria drainage system, and during that tibe(time) be boarded in the buildings know as the Presidency, which were formerly the home of President Kruger. When Oom Paul died a Dutch lawyer rushed to the woman who kept the boarding house and notified her to get out inside of 21 hours and the remains of the former president were to be brought back to South Africa and were to lie in state in his former home.

Mr. Ashplant occupied the bedroom which had formally been used by Kruger, and he did not propose to give it up unceremoniously. In going over the lease with the woman who conducted the place it was observed that a clause had been scratched out which forbade any person wearing the British uniform to be harboured in the place. This so angered the Britishers that they engaged a lawyer to fight the Dutch claims to the residence, with the result that the boarding lady was offered 500 pounds to vacate and she asked 1,000. The friends of Kruger would not pay this amount and the lady clung to her four year lease. Then the body of Kruger was laid in the old Dutch church, where friends of the late president were able to view his remains.

Altogether Mr. Ashplant is a most interesting man. He has been a splendid city engineer and now that war has broken out he is going to the front to fight side by side with Englishmen, Irishmen and Scotchmen to preserve British liberties. He was on a leave of absence from Nigeria when told that the city engineer’s position in London was vacant and he left England on a few hours’ notice to come to this city.”

“The London Free Press”, December 7, 1914.

1. Actually he enlisted with the 33rd. Battalion, and is found in the 33rd. Battalion’s nominal rolls as a Major. The 33rd. Battalion embarked for Great Britain April 6, 1916 where it was broken up for reinforcements. In July 1916 it was absorbed by the 36th. “Overseas Battalion”, and disbanded July 17, 1917.

2. The link will give you a better understanding of theses events. The newspaper is not at all accurate. Journalists with the “Free Press” at that time rarely let facts get in the way of a good story. Go figure !

Major William Norman Ashplant

2010-12-07T08:55:00.000-08:00

William Norman Ashplant was born July 23, 1877 in Haverhill, Suffolk, England, and died on the Somme with the 1st. Battalion on September 22, 1916. His body was never found. He was a civil engineer by trade, and in 1914 city engineer for London, Ontario. Even though he spend only a couple of years in London he still received mention in Michael Baker and Hilary Bates Neary’s (ed.) book, “Fascinating Londoners” (James Lorimer, 2005).

Major Ashplant is a very good example of the men who made up the Canadian Corps (Canadian born becoming a majority in the Corps did not happen until 1918), and assuming that the battalion that they enlisted in would be the battalion that they would serve in in the trenches. He was born in England, and he was a South African War veteran. The attestation papers has him in the 33rd. Battalion upon joining; however, he was in the 1st. Battalion at his death.

Digging to verify information in the attestation papers can (for me at least as a historian) lead to some interesting facts. Major Ashplant lists his father as Henry Brimstead Ashplant living at 807 Waterloo St., London, Ontario. In fact, Henry Brimstead Ashplant is his brother. The brothers’ father was named William.(1)
The brother, for me, is a far more interesting character. Henry Brimstead Ashplant was born November 15, 1863 in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, and died March 12, 1941 in London, Ontario.(2) Henry Ashplant arrived in Canada in 1891(3), and married Alice Hargreaves April 6, 1892 in London, Ontario.(4) He served five times on city council, and was city auditor from 1922 to 1938. Of great interest to me was that he was the one who organized the International Socialist Labour Party in London in 1895. What ! A socialist in London? When did that happen? I thought they were extinct ! Bears further research.

1.England and Wales, Free BMD Birth Index, 1837-1915

2. BMD Birth Index, “The London Free Press“, March 13, 1941.

3. Canada Passenger Lists, 1865-1935

4. Ontario, Canada, Marriages 1801-1926

Elgin County Book Launch

2010-11-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

On Saturday October 30^th. Jeff Booth’s book “Dreams of Food and Freedom” was launched at the Elgin County Military Museum in St. Thomas, Ontario. The book launch was well attended by surviving veterans, and their families. My brother and I took dad along although I am not sure that he had entirely clued in to what the event was all about. Nevertheless He did recognize some of the items in the displays, and had some interesting comments about them. A few of the other veterans also started to reminisce.

Two of the veterans represented the other side. I approved whole hardly. It was interesting to hear from them about their experiences in a Canadian prisoner of war camp.
Jeff Booth holding copy of book with the veterans who could make it to the launch.

The book covers most of the wars in which Elgin County boys participated - The War of 1812, the American Civil War, the South African War, World War 0ne, and World War Two. An excellent addition to the library for a genealogist researching families in Elgin County.
I bought one! The book is available from the Elgin County Military Museum.

Nominal Rolls

2010-10-24T17:52:00.000-07:00

My Stat Counter lists of recent keyword activity shows a number of people using “nominal rolls” as a keyword search term. Nominal Rolls of the Canadian Expeditionary Force can be found in two places. Library and Archives Canada have put the nominal rolls on microfilm. My library in London, Ontario, has a complete set, and I expect that many of the larger libraries throughout Canada would have them as well. For those outside of Canada they can be found on “The Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group: ‘The Matrix Project’.

One word of warning for genealogists. The nominal rolls are in many ways a boarding list for the troops that were making their way to England for training prior to their posting to France. Do not assume that because they are listed with a particular battalion that that means that they served with that battalion in the trenches. (too many that’s. Must be a term for that!) There were transfers while training, sickness, accidents, and other adjustments for various reasons (lets not forget politics - eh!). After 1916 chances were that the battalion was broken up in England after training, and the men used as reinforcements to keep existing battalions up to strength. If nothing else, and if your ancestor was not an officer, the nominal rolls will give you his regimental number which is very useful for further research.

Sock It To E’m Boys

2010-10-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

Knitting socks was one of the moral boosters that the ladies on the home front provided the front line troops - thousands of socks. Soldiers were very happy to get them. Some even put them on their feet! Little did the ladies know that they had many uses - mittens, covering for rifles, stowing away trinkets picked up here and there.

A veteran in Library and Archives Canada‘s “Oral Histories of the First World War” outlined how much the men appreciated these treasures from home:

“I got two or three pairs of socks sent to me by a lady in a church organization. I wrote back and thanked her and explained what it meant to have dry socks and that the issue was only two pairs of socks per man. It was impossible to dry the socks out and get back up again and I'd be awfully glad if we could get about three hundred pairs of socks. To my utter amazement along about November, to my utter amazement, along came a shipment of socks from that lady and her organization - about 300 pairs. We got them each winter, I got those socks. So that when [you had] wet ones, alright you picked them up, issued a pair of dry socks and that meant an awful lot for comfort, amongst other things. You [were] issued dry socks and you got your wet socks dried out properly and there was a second pair of dry socks ready so that you always had dry socks. That made a whale of a difference.”

Lady in Red Cross uniform from Whitby, Ontario shows off socks she made. Whitby Public Library.

Wool was supplied by the Daughters of the Empire to all who would knit away. These are directions for making socks that appeared in the “Dutton Advance“, January 13th, 1916:

Cast on 68 stitches: 4 ½ in. 2 plain, 2 purl; knit plain 7 ½ in. (12 in. in all)

Heel-Knit plain 34 stitches on to one needle; turn, purl back these 84 stitches; slip 1, knit 1 to end of row, turn, repeat these two rows (always slipping the first stitch) 16 times, 17 in all. With the inside of the heal towards you, purl 19 stitches, purl 2 together, purl 1.

Turn, knit 6 stitches, slip 1, knit 1,pull slipped stich over, knit 1, turn, purl 7 stitches, purl 2 together, purl 1.
Turn, knit 8 stitches, slip 1, knit 1,pull slipped stich over, knit 1 turn, purl 9 stitches, purl 2 together, purl 1.
Turn, knit 10 stitches, slip 1, knit 1, pull slipped stich over, knit 1, turn, purl 11 stitches, purl 2 together, purl 1.
Turn, knit 12 stitches, slip 1, knit 1, pull slipped stich over, knit 1, turn, purl 13 stitches, purl 2 together, purl 1.
Turn, knit 14 stitches, slip 1, knit 1, pull slipped stich over, knit 1, turn, purl 15 stitches, purl 2 together, purl 1.
Turn, knit 16 stitches, slip 1, knit 1, pull slipped stich over, knit 1, turn, purl 17 stitches, purl 2 together, purl 1.
Turn, knit 18 stitches, slip 1, knit 1, pull slipped stich over, knit 1.

Pick up and knit 18 stitches down the side of the heel piece.
Kit the 34 stitches of the front needles on to one needle. Pick up and knit the 18 stitches at the other side of the heel piece. Divide the heel stitches on the two side needles, and knit right round again to the center heel.

First needle: knit to within three stitches of the front end of side needle, knit 2 together, knit 1.
Front needle plain.
Third needle: knit 1, slip 1, knit 1, pull slipped stich over, knit plain to end of needle.
This reducing to be done every other row until there are 68 stitches on the needles (front needles 34, side needles 17 each).
Knit plain until the foot (from the back of the heel) measures 2 ¼ in. less than the full length required, 8 ¾ for No. 3 and 9 ¼ for No. 4 sock.
To decrease toe begin at front needle: knit 1, slip 1, knit 1, pull slipped stich over, knit plain to within 3 stitches of the end needle, knit 2 together, knit 1.
Second needle: knit 1, slip 1, knit 1, pull slipped stich over, knit plain to end of needle. Third needle: knit plain to within 8 stitches of the cud, knit 2 together, knit 1. Knit three plain rounds, then decrease as before; knit another 3 plain rounds, then decrease as above. Knit 2 rounds and decrease ; 2 more decrease; 2 more and decrease.
Knit 3 plain rows, decreasing each row and decrease as above in each of the next 3 rows, which leaves you with 24 stitches on 2 needles.
Intake of toe; Thread a wool needle. Begin on front needle, put needle in as if to knit, pull wool through and take off stich. Put needle in next stich as if to purl, pull wool through, but leave stich on. Go back to needle, put needle in next stich as if to knit, pull wool through but leave stich on. Come to front needle and repeat.

There you have socks! I have no idea what all the above means. Hopefully knitters do!

The 1st. Battalion

2010-10-18T15:20:00.000-07:00

Yes I have been researching the 1st. Battalion with the idea of writing a history of this unit. Why? Perhaps the simplest reason is that no history of the 1st. Battalion has ever been written. Mind you, the 18th. Battalion which was recruited from Southwestern Ontario as well also does not have a published history. This somewhat makes them unique of all the other 48 Battalions (1) that saw active service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War. One Battalion at a time.

There is more documentation available now than ever before.We will see the 100th. Anniversary of the end of the First World War on November 11, 2018. Library and Archives Canada has released a huge amount of material from attestation papers to unit diaries. There is a great deal more that needs to be made available. John Babcock was the last man standing from all who served in the C.E.F. There are no more remaining.


1st. Battalion, Salisbury, England, 1915. Library and Archives Canada.

Canadian memory of the Great War over the last 90 odd years has been shaped then re-evaluated, and re-evaluated again. Once again historians are looking at the war. Opinions on how the battles changed, and defined Canadian nationalism, has been hotly debated over the last few years.The debate goes on.

What is known is that Canada, and particularly the 1st. Battalion, paid a butcher’s bill from 1915 until November 11, 1918. In a country of 7 to 8 million people Canada enlisted around 620,000 men and women into the Canadian Corps. That figure does not count those who served in Imperial services. The highest percentage of casualties were of course “the poor bloody infantry”. There was no more dangerous spot to be in than in the infantry.

The 1st. Battalion holds the dubious distinction of being the single most devastated battalion in the Corps. From the spring of 1915 to 1918 6,449 of the rank and file passed through the battalion.(2) If we take battalion strength as 1,000 men that means that the 1st. Battalion was destroyed six times through the war. Of course, a statement like this is not always accurate as the battalion was not ever wiped out in one battle as were the Newfoundlanders. Instead this represents a constant bleeding of manpower as the war dragged on.

When you read an outline of the battalion you can understand why kids tend to fall asleep during history class. There must be more to it than that!

(1) There were many more than 50 battalions recruited; however, Currie resisted re-organizing the Corps into an Army with more and smaller divisions in favour of larger divisions within the existing Corps. So newer battalions were broken up as reinforcements for the 50 active frontline battalions.
(2) Tim Cook, “Shock Troops: Canadians Fighting The Great War 1917-1918”, Viking Canada 2008, p. 614.


Flags of the 1st. & 18th. Battalions in St. Paul's Cathedral, London, Ontario.

Mutt and Jeff Go To War

2010-10-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

With the entry of the United States in the Great War Mutt and Jeff get into the act.


"The London Advertiser", May 4, 1917.

"The London Advertiser, May 30, 1917.

Lest We Forget

2010-10-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

"The London Advertiser, May 4, 1917"

From left to right:

Annie Henderson Henry, b. July 6, 1889 (Whitechurch, Bruce County).
Vera Edith Sotheran, b. Oct. 2, 1893 (Fordwich, Ontario).
Annie Isabel Elliot, b. Aug.15, 1888 (Wingham, Ontario).
Annie May Ferguson, b. April 15, 1890 (Wingham, Ontario).
Mary Evelyn Wood, b. Jan. 29, 1891 (Iderton, Ontario).
Helen Abel, b. Jan. 27, 1882 (Fergus, Ontario).

All of the above nursing sisters in the photo survived the war.

At the beginning of the Great War Canada had five Permanent Force nursing sisters, and fifty-seven listed in reserve. By the end of the war 3,141 nurses had volunteered . Because of their blue dresses and white veils they were nicknamed the “bluebirds”. Approximately 45 gave their lives. The most famous tragedy was the sinking of the hospital ship “Llandovery Castle” on June 27, 1918. All 14 nursing sisters aboard the ship lost their lives. There is a Nursing Sister’s Memorial in the Hall Of Honour in the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa.

Mabel B. Clint wrote an account of her experiences as a nursing sister titled, “Our Bit: Memories of War Service By a Canadian Nursing Sister” (Barwick Ltd. 1934).

Wordless Wednesday- Nov.11, 1918- London, Ontario, Canada

2010-09-22T12:29:00.000-07:00


"The London Advertiser", November 12, 1918.

"The London Advertiser", November 12, 1918.

Online Data Bases For Canadian Military History

2010-09-09T19:37:00.000-07:00

At the September 7th.meeting of the London and Middlesex Genealogy Society I was asked about an outline of the online resources for researching veterans of the Canadian Forces. (they were thinking local of course). I will outline in a more general way what I have found so far. Local resources later.

I will list resources by event in the case of Library and Archives Canada. War is largely a Federal concern in this country so that the vast majority of the documentation of any one of the services is held by Library and Archives Canada. This is a huge data base covering all of the wars that Canada has participated in. Not everything is online. What is online is free to use. I have covered in previous posts how one can order information from Library and Archives Canada. The data bases can give you the microfilm reel # of any topic or individual that you want to research. We can break the topics down in this way:

1. British forces in Canada. Records are with the British Archives: however , Library and Archives Canada have some copies on microfilm.For those researching an ancestor who served in a British regiment in Canada there is also “British Regiments in Canada”.

2. Militia before 1914. This can be the toughest to research. The numbers of Militia regiments across the country is staggering. Library and Archives Canada has microfilm reels of militia musters, militia payrolls, officers, and casualties.

3. The Northwest Rebellion. A list of the Officers and men killed or wounded in the Northwest Rebellion of 1885. This is online and accessible.

4. The South African War 1899-1902. List of microfilm reels containing attestation papers, records of active service, etc.

5. Northwest Mounted Police(NWMP), 1873-1904 personnel records. Why the police? They were a strong recruiting group for regiments in the Boer War and the Great War.

6.Soldiers of the First World War Attestation papers are digitalized and free to use. The data base in the “Canadian Genealogy Center” outlines the availability of personnel records. Some are online most are not.

7.The Second World War. Nothing much as yet, but I can imagine what a job that will be in the future. You can request service files if you have proof of the death of the veteran or permission of the veteran.

8. The Canadian Virtual War Memorial lists the country’s dead along with a short description of the veteran.

If you are disappointed and can not find the individual that you are looking for that does not mean that he or she did not serve. Paper has been lost, destroyed, and burnt. You might have to go instead to more local resources such a newspapers.

Other Data Bases:

This could really fill a book by itself. So I will highlight the ones that I use most often.

To my mind the finest Provincial data base is “The Newfoundland Regiment and The Great War”.

“Canadian Military Force Study Group” is a forum on the Great War. It is searchable and you might find some useful information.

Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group “The Matrix Project” is an excellent source for looking at how the Canadian Corps was organized. It's not for the cursory researcher or the weak hearted.

The Legion Magazine produces “The Last Post” a listing of the veterans who have recently passed away. The data base contains well over 100,000 names dating from 1987.

In another post I will outline some of the web pages and blogs devoted to individual counties or regiments(and battalions) that are of a more local nature. There are dozens of these and I am sure that I have missed quite a few.

Also, do not forget the printed word. There are hundreds of out of print books on the military out there. Many can be found using google books or the internet archive.

Researching Soldiers Of The First World War- Part 1

2010-08-31T15:35:00.000-07:00

When looking for an ancestor who served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force the very first place you can go are the Attestation Papers at Library and Archives Canada data base “Soldiers of the First World War“. Service numbers are the primary identifier in the Canadian Corps.

When the Battalions were been organized service numbers were allotted in number blocks. This did not last so do not assume that because your veteran has a service number in the 6000 block he served in the 1st.Battalion. Probably because of the tremendous growth in numbers in the Canadian Corps there was a certain amount of confusion in assigning numbers. There are some duplications in the early years. By 1915 this system was re-organized (of course with some exceptions), and each unit as it was organized was given a block of numbers and each soldier served throughout the remainder of the war with an unique service number. Even so, you do need that soldier’s service file if want to identify exactly which Battalion he served in in the trenches. The Battalion that he joined in Canada was not necessarily the Battalion he was sent to as a reinforcement once he reached France.

Following British army traditions, officers were not assigned service numbers. However, with the high casualty rate for officers in the trenches NCO’s were promoted. After promotion they were identified by name not service number from the date of their promotion. For these veterans when requesting service files from Library and Archives Canada the researcher should use both the service number and name.

Rally At Victoria Park For Veterans

2010-08-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

Retired colonel Pat Stogran a staunch advocate for veterans as an ombudsman spoke to veterans in Victoria Park today decrying the lack of support for Veteran Affairs from our present Conservative Government. Among the issues that are at the forefront are pension benefits, lack of mental health care, impending cutbacks at Parkwood Hospital that will reduce the number of patients by 72, and a major budget cut planned in the Veteran Affairs Ministry.

Irene Mathyssen MP will take a petition signed by those present at the rally to the Minister of Veteran Affairs Jean-Pierre Blackburn.

Tracing Father 1944-1945

2010-08-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

I noticed while looking at recent key word activity for this blog that there has been considerable interest in the prisoner of war maps. For me they have been useful in tracing my father's route through Poland and Germany as a P.O.W.

Some of Dad's Lancaster crew members 426th. Squadron, 1943. From my personal collection.

My father John Arnold Hillman was a P.O.W. from March 1944 to May 1945 at Stalag Luft 6, Stalag Luft 4, and Stalag Luft 3. Tracing his route from Stalag to Stalag up to his liberation by British troops has been a challenge. Much of the online information is been written by American authors who do not seem to distinguish between Canadians and English. Perhaps to them we are all the same.

Dad’s Lancaster went down during a raid on Stuttgart on the evening of the 15th. March, 1945. He was captured not far from the Swiss border near Tiengen. From Tiengen he was taken to a P.O.W. camp in Frankfurt. In an interview for an article in the “London Free Press”(1) Dad remembered Frankfurt:

“Frankfurt was being bombed, While the prisoners were in air raid shelters, a 3,000 pound bomb dropped on the compound Hillman was in, and blew it to smithereens. Gone were most of their clothing and possessions. They were soon outfitted with American clothing and boots through the Red Cross.”(2) From Frankfurt Dad was shipped to Stalag Luft 6.(3)

Library and Archives Canada.

With the approach of the Russian army the P.O.W.’s were transferred to Stalag Luft 4. One group was sent to the Baltic Port of Memel (now Klaipeda in Lithuania), and boarded steamers to Sinecure (now Swinouiscie in Poland). From there they boarded trains to Stalag Luft 4. Dad remembers what he calls a coal ship so I suspect that there were Canadians included in with the American P.O.W’s that traveled in this manner.(4)

Telegram from the International Red Cross lists John A. Hillman in Stalag Luft 4 in October, 1944. Library and Archives Canada.

From there Dad was in Stalag Luft 3 which was the site of the “Great Escape” portrayed in the 1963 film. To trace Dad’s route from Stalag Luft 3 to the Rhine is iffy. All I can say at this point is that he walked all of it. Apparently the American P.O.W.’s went to Stalag Luft 7A at Moosburg where they were liberated by Patton’s Third Army. Dad’s group: however, seems to have been marched North and West as he was liberated by the British Army near the Rhine.


P.O.W. telegram Dad sent from Stalag Luft 3 to his mother. Unfortunately there is no date or anything written on the inside. They were used to let relatives know that you were alive and well. Library and Archives Canada.

(1) “The London Free Press”, June 6, 1986
(2) Ibid.
(3)There is an interesting web page “G.P.S.- practice-and-fun” on Stalag Luft 6. Stalag Luft 6 was a P.O.W. camp for NCO”s (non-commissioned officers); however Dad clearly remembered that when he arrived his whole crew were there. Since his pilot was an officer I suspect that the Germans did not necessarily follow any NCO only rule.Also a month after his capture Dad was promoted.
(4) In the “Free Press” article Dad remembers being boated to Heldelberg to a new Stalag Luft 6 before he was sent to Stalag Luft 4.

Harry Wellington Swanson #6406

2010-08-20T19:45:00.000-07:00

There are two dates given for Harry Swanson’s birth - in his attestation papers he gives his date of birth as April 12, 1873. In the Ontario Canada Births, 1869-1911 there is a declaration signed by his brother on 16th. Of March 1931 that he was born April 12,1870. He was born to David Swanson and Mary Whyte. In his 1914 attestation papers he says St.Mary's, Ontario, and in the 1917 attestation papers Scotland. By 1914 he was living in Windsor. The second attestation paper suggests that he returned to Canada (probably wounded), and re-enlisted. To trace him further means finding his record of service file at Library and Archives Canada.

Library and Archives Canada

In a letter published in “The Windsor Evening Record” (1) Harry Swanson wrote:

“It makes a fellow feel pretty good when he gets a letter from someone at home, especially when the bullets are flying around. They are coming pretty thick just now. We take shifts of five hours on and eight hours off. The heavy batteries have started on our left; I suppose they are going to take another place over there. We captured three miles of trenches the day before yesterday, Feb. 9, and one mile and a half yesterday, Feb. 10. I am not allowed to say in my letter where I am, but I am here and on the job.(2)

This isn’t war, Harvey, this is hell, and then some. The Germans are using all kinds of bullets on us, from dum-dums to split noses. (3)They are using a lot of flat-nosed bullets that expand about four inches, and when one hit’s a man in the forehead it takes very nearly all his head with it.

This has been a beautiful country, but you ought to see it now. The Germans have destroyed everything in sight, the church spires and convents being a special target for their big guns. One of the men who left Windsor with me - he lives in the east end- got struck with a piece of shrapnel, which took a pound or two of ‘steak’ with it. He is getting along fine. I am not allowed to tell what his name is.

We are going out of the trenches tomorrow for a few day’s rest, then we have to come back and face the music again. I have been very lucky so far: I haven’t had a scratch, but some close shaves. The Germans have the greatest spy system in the world and we are picking some of their spys (4) up every day. Some of the French, too, are selling their own country, but you know what we do with them.

If any of the boys would care to send us a few cigars or cigarettes I would feel like a millionaire. We have plenty of money, but we cannot buy anything. By the time we get a place the Germans have taken everything and there is nothing left to buy.”

(1) The Windsor Evening Record, April 7, 1915.

(2) The 1st. Battalion at this time were just outside of Ypres undergoing training. Unfortunately, the unit war diary starts after this date. We do know that the war diary of the 1st. Field Company (engineers) places the engineers at Neuf-Berquin in Northern France near the Belgium border. The infantry would be near. At this time the Canadians were occupying trenches under the supervision of British Battalions as was outlined in an earlier posting of a veteran’s interview.

(3) The terms dum dum and split nose are almost interchangeable. Both refer to hollow point bullets designed to expand on contact.

(4) I know - it’s spelled “spies” but I try not to correct their spelling. It’s hard not to. Perhaps I should put a red sp. next to the word?

German P.O.W. Camps

2010-08-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

Its amazing what you can find in a shoebox. When my father John Arnold Hillman was admitted to the Veterans Hospital in London, Ontario, my brother and I started to look through the things that my father had saved in shoe-boxes. One contained his and my mother’s medals, and the silver star which had been given to my grandmother after uncle Bruce’s death in 1945. Another contained what I think is a bayonet, and a well worn burnt in places map of German prisoner of war camps.

I could not get the whole map digitalized as a single unit so I took several pictures. Dad was in Stalag Luft 6, and Stalag Luft 4. It has been a bit of a challenge to trace his route from East Prussia to the Rhine where he was liberated by the British Army.

The map was given to the Elgin County Military Museum in St.Thomas, Ontario.

Port Burwell Lands Sub

2010-08-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

An article in “The London Free Press” today states that the Elgin Military Museum has decided to exhibit their cold war era submarine, the H.M.C.S. Ojibwa, in the village of Pt. Burwell.

H.M.C.S. Ojibwa

The H.M.C.S. Ojibwa is an Oberon class submarine that the Canadian Navy commissioned in 1963. She was based in Halifax until she was decommissioned in 2001.

The Newfoundland Regiment and The Great War

2010-08-15T09:37:00.000-07:00

We are getting away from Southwestern Ontario but anyone with a Newfoundlander in their family tree should be aware of this excellent data base. The data base contains the names of over 6000 men who served in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during the Great War. If existing the data base contains each soldier’s attestation sheet, troop conduct sheet (yes, the bad boys are there), casualty forms, Medical forms, allotment forms (these forms were used to deduct part of their pay that would go to family back in Newfoundland), and application for pensions. These are a few of the forms as there are more included depending on the soldier involved.

This is the type of data base I would like to see from Library and Archives Canada. The numbers of men and women involved are of course quite a bit different; however, it could and should be done.

James Fiddes Murray #6256

2010-08-04T16:03:00.000-07:00

James Fiddes Murray was born March 31, 1884 in London, Ontario to Scott Murray and Judy (Ancestry.ca has her as July which seems to me to be a transcription error) Fiddes. He died on September 7, 1948 in London, Ontario. He enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Valcartier on September 18, 1914. He was with the 1st. Battalion until January, 1917 . He then returned to Canada on January 23, 1917. He reenlisted and left for England August 10, 1917 where he served with the Canadian Railway Troops and Canadian Postal Corps until he was discharged at London, Ontario, April 8, 1919.(1)

Attestation Papers, Library and Archives Canada

He received the Distinguished Conduct Medal March 11, 1916:
“For consciencious gallantry; during a bombardment, he continually carried messages under heavy shrapnel fire. With a comrade’s assistance he rescued three men who had been buried in a “feather” trench after the remaining five in the same place had been killed. He also did fine work on three other occasions.”(2)


Distinguished Conduct Medal, Veteran Affairs Canada

He was interviewed by the “London Advertiser” when he returned home in 1917.

“He is the second last of the original 1st. Battalion, who remain. The other, Sergt. Chas. Owens, D.C.M, Woodstock, is now the last man of the battalion that left London in August, 1914, to go to the front.
Sergt. Murray went into the trenches in February, 1915, and came out on November 29th, 1916, 22 months continuous service. During that time he had two holidays, one of eight days after ten months fighting, and one other of ten days.
“I am one of the lucky fellows,” said Murray, when questioned abut his record. “I only did what I could not help doing. I do not deserve any more credit than lots of other boys, who only had a short stay in the trenches. They did what they could, and that’s all I did.”
“I lost nearly all my pals. The majority of them are killed. One loses a lot of friends when a battalion is shot to pieces. I miss them very much, That’s war, and, this is an awful war, believe me.”
Sergt. Murray was named for the D.C.M. at Givenchy, where Lieut.-Col. Becher was killed. He carried the colonel back, and later dug three companions out of the trenches where they were buried. He volunteered as an ambulance man, and spent the night on the battlefield, looking after the wounded.” (3)

(1) Particulars of Service, Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.
(2) Library and Archives Canada.
(3) “The London Advertiser”, February 1, 1917.

Jesse Carl Biggs

2010-07-20T17:02:00.000-07:00

Jesse Carl Biggs #7172 is an interesting case of a man who served in both the South African, and First World War. He was born in Windsor, Ontario, 26 April, 1880 to A. James Biggs and Sarah ?. (1901 Canada Census) The Biggs family were originally from Ohio.

Men from the Essex Fusiliers in Company "B" of the First Contingent. Windsor Public Library. Biggs is 2nd. from the left in the first row.

Jesse Carl Biggs is referred to in the book, “Painting The Map Red: Canada and The South African War” by Carman Miller. He was at first rejected from enlisting apparently because of chest size. Actually, he should have been rejected because of age but apparently this was not taken into account. However, contacts in London used their influence to get him in. This was Victorian Ontario after all where status and politics accounted for a lot.

“Bloemfontein, O.F.S., April 14, 1900

To Mr. Wm. Gray:

Dear Sir, - Possibly you will be surprised to hear from me again, for I should have written more frequently. In order that you may remember me, I will say here at the beginning that I am the boy whom you helped into Company “B” of the Royal Canadian Regiment after he was discouraged by rejection. I have often thanked you for what you did that day in London. If I had had to go back to Windsor I don’t know what would have become of me.” (1)

Library and Archives Canada has a Jesse Carl Biggs font which contains four letters to his aunt Alice C. Dick during his service in South Africa. Unfortunately this is not online.

The 1911 Canada Census finds Jesse Carl Biggs in Edmonton, Alberta. In 1915 he joined the 3rd. Canadian Mounted Rifles as Captain and Adjutant. To find out more about his service from 1915 to 1918 it would be necessary to get a look at his service record from Library and Archives Canada. Needless to say, these records are not online.

Attestation Papers, Library and Archives Canada.

We do know that the 3CMR left for England in June 1915 as part of the 1st. Canadian Mounted Rifles Brigade. This unit operated basically as an infantry unit. In 1916 the 3CMR was broken up and used as reinforcements for 1st. and 2nd CMR to bring their numbers up to battalion strength.

(1) “The London Free Press”, May 28, 1900.

Canadian Contingent in South Africa - “B” Company of the First Contingent

2010-07-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

Sample of South African Medal Rolls - Library and Archives Canada.

“B” Company comprised of the men from Southwestern Ontario. The following is a list of names I have been able to get out of newspapers of the era. There may well be some holes. I will fill them in as I continue the research.

Anderson, A.H. - St.Thomas - #7162
Andrews, E.C. -Windsor - #7161
Atkinson, D.H. - Ailsa Craig - #7163
Ballard, H.E. - Stratford - #7164
Barr, H.B. >- Windsor - #7165
Becher, Archibald Valancey#, Sergeant - #7257
Bethune, Alexander - Sergeant - London - #3068
Biggs, J.C. - Windsor - #7172
Beers, F.C. +- Windsor- #7167
Bowden, R.B. - Windsor - #7153
Buchan, L., Lieut.-Col.
Brenden. J.G. - Brantford - not at L&A
Burns, W.J. - London - #7168
Burwell, H. - Chatham - not at L&A
Campbell, Glen Eden - #6330
Carley, J.H. - Mt.Forest - not at L&A
Craig, E.D. - Windsor - #7179
Dalgleish, Arthur Duncan> - Galt - #7183
Day, J. - New York - #7182
Dolman, E.N. - Windsor - #7185
Donahey, H.R. - London - not at L&A
Donegan*, John Andrew - London - #7188
Edwards, A. - Sweaburg - #7189
Evans, F. - London - #7190
Farley, J.E. - St.Thomas - #7157
Foote, W. - Galt - #7191
Galloway, George William> - Quartermaster-Sergt. - London - #228
Gorman, Frederick - Sarnia - #7154
Gorrie, W.B. - Chatham - #7194
Graham, G. - St.Mary’s - #306
Green, W.J. - London - #7197
Greene, A.E.C. - London - #261
Hendrie, Murray> - London - Sergeant - #7345
Hill, J.C. - London - #7202
Jell, A.P. - Walkersville - #7205
Johnston, K.G. - Sarnia - #7207
Jones, M.L. - Goderich - #7206
Lane, H. - Ingersoll - #7209
Leonard, G.W. - Woodstock - #7208
Marentette, Victor F.+ - Windsor - #7218
Marshall, A. - Woodstock - #7217
Mason, J.C.> - Lieut. - London - officers do have reg.#
McBeth, George - Strathroy - #185
McLean, M. - Ailsa Craig - #7212
McMahon, W. H. - Guelph - #7213
McMillan, D.C. - Thedford - #7214
McMurchy, A. - London - not at L&A
Moore, D.L. - London - #7089
Mullins, Ernest* - London - #3676
Munro, G.H. - Ailsa Craig - #7219
Northwood, J. - Windsor - #7222
Peart, Ernest W. - St.Mary’s - #7226
Powell, J. - Galt - #7229
Rae, A.H. - Glencoe - #7230
Reid, D.A. - Windsor - #7232
Robinson, J.B. - Windsor - #7235
Odlum, V.W. - Toronto - #7223
Odlum, G.M. - Toronto - #7224
Padden, Arthur E.+ - Windsor - not in L&A
Phillips, G.R.S. - Windsor - #7155
Pink, H. - St.Thomas - not in L&A
Rorison, C.K. - Windsor - #7234
Scott, C.R. - Forest - #7239
Sipi, George B.+ - Sergeant - London - not in L&A
Smith, John - Thames ford - #7156
Smith, Robert* - London - #7236
Stanbury, F.G. - St.Thomas - #7237
Stevenson, William Richard - London- #7101
Stuart, Duncan E. (Major)> - London
Sutherland, J. - St.Thomas - #7238
Trolley F.H. - Alvinston - #7242
Webb, A. B. - Clinton - #7251
Wells, J. - Elora - #7246
Westaway, H. - St.Thomas - #7250
Wheatcroft, A.H. - London - #7252
White*, Walter Raymond McCullough. - Windsor - #7255
Wilson, A. R. - Clinton - #7247
Wilson, H.R. - Tillsonburg - #7159
Woodward, A.W. - London - #7249

Symbols - *died in South Africa - >land application (land applications are not online; however, they can be accessed through Library and Archives Canada) - + wounded - L&A - Library and Archives Canada
Medal rolls, Service Files, Land Application records are available at Library and Archives Canada. They are not online; but you can access them on microfilm. Microfilm reel numbers are online. Not of the records are available.

Burwell, H might be Burwell, Alfred Edward. The newspapers sometimes get the initial wrong.

The Boer War - London Area Casualties

2010-07-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

On the side of London’s Boer War Memorial is a list of six names of men who died in the fighting in South Africa.

Deaths did not even come close to the scale experienced in the Great War. The Boer War was Londoners’ first taste of battle outside of Canadian borders. They were very enthusiastic about the whole thing. In 1900 the average Londoner considered himself a good citizen of the British Empire, and they supported the Canadian Contingent wholeheartedly. To judge by pictures in the local newspapers, that supposedly depicted reality, one can see something of a romanticizing of the war. Nothing was mentioned about getting your head blown off by a dumdum bullet. That would change after the Great War.

"The London Free Press", March 24, 1900.

Company “B”, Royal Canadian Regiment. “City Of London: The Pioneer Period and The London Of Today”, 1900, p.175.

John Andrew Dunegan #7188
Killed in battle at Paardeberg February 18, 1900. He was buried in the Vendusiedrift Garden of Remembrance, Paardeburg (Veteran Affairs Canada: The Canadian Virtual War Memorial). He is #17 in the above photo.

Douglas Leeds Moore #7089

Died of enteric fever February 14, 1900 at Orange River Station, South Africa. He was born September 1877 to George James Moore and Agnes ? in Cambridgeshire, England (England & Wales Birth Index 1837-1915). He is buried at the West End Cemetary, Kimberley, South Africa (The Canadian Virtual War Memorial).

Robert Smith #7036

I have very little on Robert Smith. He is #11 on the above group photo. He was killed February 18, 1900 at Paardeburg along with John Andrew Dunegan. He is buried at the Vendusiedrift Garden of Remembrance, Paardeberg.

William George Adams #7160
He died of enteric fever on April 16, 1900 at Bloemfontein. He was born in 1881 to Robert Adams and Isabella (Bella) Stockdale in London, Ontario (Canada Census 1881). He is buried at the President Brand Cemetary, Bloemfontein. He is #2 on the group photo above.

Ernest Mullins #3676
Another one that is difficult to find. He died June 11, 1900 at Kroonstad, and is buried at the Kroonstad Garden of Remembrance. According to his entry in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial he was 26 years old.

Francis George William Floyd #7193
He was born May 14, 1878 to William Floyd and Hannah Osworth in Middlesex County (Ontario Birth Records), and was killed at Zand River in the Orange Free State. He is buried at the Kroonstad Garden of Remembrance. He is #21 in the group photo above.

Changed Profile Photo

2010-07-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

I changed the profile picture. Thought maybe the graduation photo of June, 1974 added an aura of Yep I really did get those degrees!

Victoria Park

2010-07-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

I have been trying out a new (to me new) digital camera. So off I go to Victoria Park to get those shots of anything military.

Victoria Park is what is left of the parade grounds of the British garrison in London. It's 15 acres of cool quiet oasis in the middle of the city. It's also the home of dozens of very fat black squirrels.

The Boer War Memorial is I think the center piece for the park. It was erected in 1912 although I could stand to be corrected on this. Just in front out of the picture are four cannons from the Crimea War. Why these cannons are here I do not know as of yet. Perhaps they were left by one of the British regiments. (Looks like I need to redo the date on the photos.)

The "Holly Roller" is a Sherman tank that saw service with the 1st. Hussars in World War 2. For the kids its a climbing toy. I climbed over it as a kid ,as did my sons, and I expect any grandchildren I might have.

The Cenotaph was erected in 1934, and it is here that Remembrance Day ceremonies are carried out each November 11th.

The Dutch Canadian Memorial Carillon erected in 2006 just to the west of the Cenotaph.

Robert John Edwards

2010-07-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

In the collection of the London Room, London Public Library.

Robert John Edwards #190186 was born on March 2, 1892 in the County of Suffolk, England. He died in London, Ontario January 25, 1977. He was a well know maker of stained glass windows in the London area. He joined the Canadian expeditionary Force on March 22, 1916. At the time he was living in Union, Elgin County, Ontario.

Library and Archives Canada

“I enlisted on the 22nd. March 1916. My training, what little I had, was in St. Thomas- I had very little in Canada. I had some at the ranges over London west at the Coves. They picked me out there as a sniper, my being a crack shot, and they sent me on a six weeks training course in England. There was 12 men in the group- the crack shots. I joined the 1st. Battalion in the Second Battle of the Somme. That’s where I got my initiation. That was October, 1916.

We would be back of our trenches- behind them. We would hide anywhere - I can remember being in a hollow tree one time. Another time I got up into an old house and I crawled up and sniped from the top of a big square chimney.

Half a mile down there might be another sniper, then we would cover the area facing us. We had telescopic sights right on the rifle. We would be in our cubbyhole all day- maybe all night and move early in the morning. We’d take our food along- whatever we had- and we might sit all day without firing. Of course, when we fired we sort of exposed ourselves to a certain extent, but just a single shot didn’t make much noise because there was firing all along the line.

1st. Battalion's #2 Scout Platoon Library and Archives Canada

(Vimy Ridge) It was mostly sniping and observation. You’d have a big map and mark out these places on the map and get your locations and distances and then memorize them so you’d really know where you were shooting. As a sniper you’d carry a long distance. In some instances we might even be a few hundred yards behind the lines. We used Lee-Enfields. I took the Ross (1) to France with me but exchanged it for a Lee-Enfield. They (the Rosses) were too big and clumsy for sniping. I remember once, I picked out a German sniping post. I finally got a range on that and it wasn’t very long before they soon disappeared somewhere. They knew that somebody had got track of them so they soon disappeared. I remember all through the winter of 1916, I was in a place called Soucez, right in the Souchez Valley, back of Vimy ridge- I sniped there all that winter in 1916 and the spring of ‘17. The Battalion was in the line, but the line was very quiet, other than the sniping. There was about a dozen snipers in the battalion- three from each company. As a sniper we got out of a lot of fatigues. I’ve seen me going into the line and taking up a position on a step and stay there all day and all night and maybe never fire a shot. We used a telescopic sight on the rifle. We were shooting (the target) may have been three or four hundred yards, but we knew the distance. We had previously checked out the potential targets on a map so we knew the exact distance of each. We spent the winter with the battalion training, shooting, bombing with the Mills bomb and keeping in shape.”(2)

(1) The Ross Rifle was Sir Sam Hugh’s baby. The problem with it was that it tended to jam at absolutely the worst moments in a fire fight, and became nothing more than an expensive club.
(2) Interviews by William G. McKenzie with veterans of the 1st. Battalion in the London Room, London Public Library.

Wordless Wednesday- 1st. Battalion

2010-06-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

1st. Battalion at Valcartier 1915 Library and Archives Canada.

Music Drives The Cares Away

2010-06-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

Bandsman William Christopher Dillmutt #190075 wrote to Francis Patterson of Dutton, Ontario from France in 1917. (“The Dutton Advance” August 2, 1917).

Attestation Paper: Library and Archives Canada

“You have asked me to tell you something of what I am doing. When the boys arein the trenches we are practicing new music to entertain them when they come out. We play for them twice daily when they are resting. During the past week we were very busy, doing sentry duty twice a day, a concert in the afternoon and some place or other at officers’ mess. Sometimes the officers give a garden party and of course that means we have to play. At present the boys are back in the trenches and we go on with our daily routine - polishing buttons and cleaning up in the morning, inspection, practice, then dinner, more practice in the afternoon, then we have our so-called supper - not cold ham, strawberries, ice cream and cake, but just tea, bread and jam.

The boys love the music and ours is the only band here that has officers leading them. We always have the newest music, but the boys like the rag-time the best. We often play for the Y.M.C.A.”

Music and songs were important to the soldiers. It allowed them some release from the horrors of the trenches by reminding them of home, and relieving some stress. Many of the songs you see on archival sites such as Library and Archives Canada were not the most popular songs sung by front line troops. Remember that the Western Front was very much a male dominated society. Writing the lyrics here to many of the songs would probably result in this blog being considered in bad taste - Eh!

Harry William Rowlands

2010-06-11T09:14:00.000-07:00

Harry William Rowlands #402392 was born 10 June, 1892 in Birmingham, England. Unfortunately I do not yet have the date when he died. Originally he enlisted in the 34th. Battalion, and then sent to the 1st. Battalion as a reinforcement. Harry Rowlands ran a successful flower shop in London for many years. The interview with Harry Rowlands took place on 27 November, 1974. The cassette tapes of the interview are in the London Room, London Public Library.

“Plugstreet Woods was a noted place. We got the name Plugstreet from the fact that the name of the little town was Ploegsteert which is Flemish and it became Plugstreet to us.

We were at Plugstreet for quite some time- about two or three months- in and out of the trenches. We would put in six or eight days in the trenches and then we would move out to Brigade Reserve, a matter of not more than a couple of miles behind the front lines for a few days. That is where the brigade offices were. You would then go back into the trenches for another six of eight days and then you would be taken out again and sent back to divisional reserve. That was about five or six miles to the rear. You might possibly be able to get a bath there of some sort. There were no tents or huts even there.”

“While we were at Ploegsteert we got word that we were going to parade as close to the trenches as we could, which meant about five miles because Lord Kitchener was coming through. He had been making a survey of the front and they had the troops that were out of the trenches on their resting period lined up for inspection up along a highway as far as you could see. There was a cluster of generals waiting for Kitchener to come down into their section and amongst them was our firebrand, Sam Hughes. (1) He was a firebrand. He got into an argument with this Australian. Sam Hughes, as usual, was boasting that the Canadian troops were the best in the world and the Australian thought his were just as good and to prove it he would show him and started to take off his coat and put up his fists- all this in front of thousands of men. Now this was something that we watched. He was a real firebrand. (2)(3)”

(1) Sir Sam Hughes was Minister of Militia at that time. He was a real character. The center of a whirlwind of motion decisions were often made off the cuff resulting in a great deal of confusion. The English thought that he was mad; however, he did keep them from using Canadian troops as reinforcements for battered English Battalions.
(2) by 1917-1918 the Canadians and the Australians were certainly the cockiest troops on the Western
Front. If they were bivouacked near each other the British took to putting British troops between them.
(3) Berlin, Ontario was renamed Kitchener after Lord Kitchener.

Photo #1: Attestation Papers, Library and Archives Canada.
Photo #2: King George, Queen Mary and Lord Kitchener inspect Canadian troops on the Salisbury Plain, 1914. These troops are part of the First Contingent which included the 1st. Battalion. Library and Archives Canada.

Maurice Henry Brown

2010-06-09T09:08:00.000-07:00

Henry Maurice Brown #6189 was born on 19th. January, 1894 in Cheltenham, England, and died on the 23rd. January, 1985 in London, Ontario. He was interviewed sometime in the 1970’s (I do not have the exact date of the interview). The cassette tape of the interview is in the London Room of the London Public Library, London, Ontario.

“I was working down at Cook Fitzgerald (attestation papers show him as a shoemaker) when war was declared and I just suddenly went. I didn’t even go back to the factory, I just left. I don’t think I gave notice that I was going, just walked off. There was myself, and Ed Barney( #6175) and another chap in the same boarding house and the son (Roy Curtis #6202) of the landlady. Both of them were killed at Ypres. All three of us went up right then and joined. We were living at 308 Ridout Street, across from the old jail. We went up to the London (Dundas Street) Armory, just walked right in there and offered our services. ‘Aye, you’re not very big, said the recruiting sergeant, but come on in.’ I was 5’4” and weighed 130 at the time. ‘How’s your health?’ First Class, I said, perfect condition. They had me up before the medical officer right away and from there I was sworn in and equipped- the same day. I went home that night and packed up what clothes I had.”

Ypres- April 1915

“Our company was to the left. My platoon was led by Chester Butler (1). I followed him. He and I stuck together all the way- in full day light this was, about 4 o’clock in the afternoon. You could just run for so long- if there was any cover you took it. You just had to take your chance. The ridge was pretty near a mile away so we had to do it in leaps and bounds. Every time an officer blew his whistle another group got up and moved ahead for a few yards. As we got close to the trench- we were a little to the left- the trench we were about to occupy, which had been vacated by the French troops during the gas attack, we saw a nice little ridge. So we sat down for a half a minute to catch our breath when a big shell exploded above us and rained shrapnel down on us. One caught me on the right hip and another one in the back. Fortunately the Germans were still using up their old style pre-war ammunition and the shrapnel consisted of round balls- not like the sharp jagged pieces of metal they used later on- and they made a much cleaner wound. So I just dug it out of my leg myself- and was it hot! But Chester- he didn’t have on heavy equipment as I had- busted his kneecap. He said, ‘I think I’ve got it, I don’t think I can move.’ So I said, ‘We’ve got to get out of here Ches. We’d better crawl over and make as small a target as possible’. That’s what we did, we crawled over and I helped yank him into the trench. We were on the left about 25 or 30 feet from the Pilckem Road. There we stayed and before I left this little ridge that thumb I had hold of my rifle at the time a bullet came right across the top of it and flattened it and took that nail clean off. It didn’t hurt, but in a few minutes it was sore. Then I couldn’t handle my rifle. It was a bad day.”

(1).Walter Chester Butler in attestation papers as Lieutenant. Officers were not assigned regimental numbers.
Photo: Library and Archives Canada.

Frank Dickinson

2010-06-08T12:06:00.000-07:00

This is the second in a series of interviews done by William G. McKenzie with veterans of the 1st.Battalion in the 1970’s. Tapes of the interviews are in the London Room, London Public Library, London, Ontario.

Frank Dickinson #6206 was born on 22 May, 1890 in Lancaster, England, and died on 12 March, 1976 in London, Ontario. The interview with Frank Dickinson was in 1975.

“The officers were all militia officers and what they didn’t know abut war would fill a book and what they did know would fill about a line.”

“I never counted myself a soldier. I was only a civilian in uniform doing a job that had to be done.”

“When we dropped anchor we started getting sight seeing boats coming around. I don’t know what they expected, “EEE - Look they talk English!” We should have been saying “Ugh” or something.”

“Into the trenches with the Leicesters. They were a nice set of chaps. Each one of us was “buddied” with a Leicester. The guy I was buddied with was standing down. The dry out roof was very low- you couldn’t stand up in it. We hadn’t been down very long when all at once there was “rapid fire” on our right and I sat bolt upright and nearly knocked myself out. He (my buddy) reached out and said, ‘It's alright chum, it’s only the Lancasters cleaning their rifles.’ I felt sure there was an attack.”

Ypres

“It’s a sad tale and a glorious tale. Up till then we were going to be backup for the English- building trenches for them. That’s what we found out through the grapevine when we went into Ypres. French (Sir John) is reported to have expressed the opinion that the Canadians were ‘nothing but a damned armed mob‘. Well the armed mob showed him it could fight!”

Photo: Library and Archives Canada.

Lance Corporal Frederic (Fred) Mason

2010-06-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

This is the first in a series of posts based on interviews done in the 1970’s by William G. McKenzie with some surviving members of the 1st. Battalion. The tapes (cassettes) of the interviews are at the London Room, London Public Library, London, Ontario. The following are excerpts from an interview with Frederic Mason, December 9, 1974.

Lance Corporal Frederic (Fred) Mason #403004 was born on 30th. April, 1893 in Chester, England, and died in London, Ontario, 27 July, 1979. He came to Canada as a Bernardo boy. He enlisted in the 34th. Battalion, and was sent overseas as a replacement. He joined the 1st. Battalion in the summer of 1915. He was wounded twice in 1916.

On being a bomb thrower:

“The English blew up a German sap about 35 yards in front of our trench at Flaegsteert. They asked for volunteers for bomb throwers so I volunteered for a bomb thrower - I didn’t know a bomb from an egg, but I soon learned. We had to go out into No Man’s Land with one rifleman - one rifleman and one bomb thrower. This was at night. That was the only time we could go out.”

On Christmas 1915:

“That was the day! When a fellow by the name of Lt. O’Grady. He took us out on a working party - he was pretty well lit. One of the fellows warned him, “There’s a hole Mister O’Grady” just as he stepped into it. ”I found it” was the reply.
(Christmas dinner) was anything but dinner. He made his rounds - he (Lt. O’Grady) wasn’t that far gone- I’ll say that about him. The soup was more like rainwater and we had a Christmas pudding about an inch and a half thick with about half an inch of carbon on top. The tea was no good. We may have had beef - I don’t remember ever seeing any turkey over there. We were right in the trenches. We were on a working party.”

On Sir Sam Hughes:

“Another time, when we were up at Ploegsteert Woods, Sir Sam Hughes came up through the trenches there. A fellow by the name of Cossin (I’m not sure of the spelling) got up on the firing step. Hughes pulls him down and says’ “Get off the firing step you bloody fool. Do you want your brains blown out?” By gosh, inside of a month he had his brains blown out. He was badly wounded - hit in the head- and died in London about 1920.”

On Captain Nelles:

Captain Nelles was orderly officer and I was a lance jack in charge of the listening post. The officer wouldn’t give us any rum. We got an issue of rum every two hours; about a thimble full, maybe an ounce, we called it a thimble full. He wouldn’t give us our rum so I went back to Nelles’s dugout. This was about one or two o’clock in the morning. “Who’s there?” Corporal Mason. “What the hell do you want?” Lt. Gurney won’t give us any rum for the men. “You go back there and tell Lt. Gurney to give you the rum and if he doesn’t, come back and tell me.” He was one swell guy.

Photo: Attestation paper, Library and Archives Canada,

Major-General Malcolm Smith Mercer

2010-05-31T05:10:00.000-07:00

Photo from Veteran Affairs Canada, The Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Major-General Malcolm Smith Mercer (17/9/1859-3/6/1916) was the highest ranking Canadian born officer to die in combat in either the First or Second World Wars. Compared to those generals who survived, and were able to write memoirs, very little has been written on Mercer. Two articles I came upon were:

“Malcolm Mercer“, from Wikipedia (not entirely sure who contributed to this article)
Gordon MacKinnon, “Major-General Malcolm Smith Mercer: The Highest Ranking Canadian Officer Killed in the Great War by Friendly Fire”, Canadian Military Journal, Spring 2007.

Mercer was born just outside of Toronto in 1859 in what then was Upper Canada. He attended the University of Toronto in 1881 and was called to the bar in 1885.(a) While at university he enrolled in the Queen’s Own Rifles as a private, and by 1911 he became Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the regiment.(b) In 1913 Mercer was aide-de-camp to Defense Minister Sir Sam Hughes during a military tour of Europe where he inspected the German Army first hand.(c) In 1914 Mercer, probably because of his close association with Sir Sam Hughes , was one of those who was called upon to help in the establishment of the Canadian Expeditionary Force that was being organized for overseas. Within days he was promoted Brigadier-General in command of the First Brigade, and in January 1916 he was made a Major-General in command of the 3rd. Division. He was killed in action at Mount Sorrel June 3, 1916.(d)

Canadian Expeditionary Force, Attestation Papers.

Malcolm Smith Mercer’s ancestry looks like this:

        Malcolm Smith Mercer (17Sept.1859 York, Upper Canada-3June1916 Mt. Sorel, France)


Father Thomas Mercer (1812 Etobicoke, Upper Canada- ?)
Mother Mary Smith (1815 Upper Canada- ?)

Grandfather Samuel Mercer (1780 Londonderry, Pennsylvania- 30June 1830 Etobicoke, Upper Canada)
Grandmother Nancy or Ann Anderson (Sept. 1792 York, Upper Canada-28 October 1882 York, Ontario)

Great Grandfather Thomas Mercer (1744 Of Hillsboro, Belfast, Ireland-1829 York, Upper Canada)
Great Grandmother Sussana Jordan (1754 Lincolnshire, England- 3June 1815 York Upper Canada)

Sources: Canada Census, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891, 1911.
               Family Search    http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/frameset_search.asp?page=census/search_census.asp
                 Ancestry.com
              “York, Upper Canada Minutes of Town Meetings and Lists of Inhabitants 1797-1823 ed. Christine Mosser 1984”. Lists Samuel Mercer as an inhabitant of York in 1800.

(a) Gordon MacKinnon, “Major-General Malcolm Smith Mercer: The Highest ranking Canadian Officer Killed in the Great War by Friendly Fire”, Canadian Military Journal, Spring 2007, p.75
(b) Gordon MacKinnon, p.76
(c) Malcolm Mercer, “Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia”, p.2
(d) Gordon MacKinnon, p, 78-81: Wikipedia, p. 3

U.S. Born Veteran Given Funeral After 85 Years

2010-05-26T14:21:00.000-07:00

In a story I found in the Montreal Gazette . The only question I have is why did it take years to find the information?

Official List Of Casualties 1915

2010-05-25T16:31:00.000-07:00

The "Official List of Casualties to Members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force" was a publication of the Canadian Ministry of Militia from1915 to1918. It is now a rare find. The only copies I have been able to locate are in the Regional Room of the London, Ontario, Public Library. The Regional Room's collection unfortunately is not complete. They have volumes 1-8, 14, and 16-18.

As my interest is in the battalions that came from Southwestern Ontario I will try to scan for those battalions. The year 1915 for the 18th. Battalion is below. It will take a while to do the 1st. Battalion as there are over 30 sheets of casualties recorded through 1915 alone.

The first page is to June, 1915. The second page is from October 1 to December 31, 1915.

What Did You Do In August 1914 Grandpa?

2010-05-21T08:22:00.000-07:00

Or perhaps we should ask "What did you do in August 1914 great-grandpa?' (Gee where does the time go?)

Well your grandma (or great-grandma) and I went to the Grand Theater in London. I dressed up in my best sporty outfit.

Grandma dressed in her nifty little number that she made herself.

We went to the theater to see "The Beauty Shop" starring Raymond Hitchcock.

We traveled in style in our brand new Russell "Six-30" touring car.

Photos from "The London Free Press", September, 1914.

Circumstances of Death File for Great War Soldiers

2010-05-19T17:17:00.000-07:00

The Circumstances of Death File is available from Library and Archives Canada. It is not included in the Service Files that I blogged about earlier. Usually it is of one page in length. Go to the blog “Librarians Helping Genealogists Climb Family Trees” for the details on what is available and how to order.

Automated Genealogy

2010-05-18T17:09:00.000-07:00

A site that often goes unnoticed is Automated Genealogy. To quote from the site’s home page:

“Automated Genealogy hosts several projects to index Canadian censuses. Over the last several years Library and Archives Canada has digitized their microfilms of the original census forms for several of the Canadian censuses and Automated Genealogy has organized volunteers to produce indices to the people enumerated in these censuses. Each project uses simple web forms to allow volunteers to transcribe census data from the images into a database, with the entered data being immediately available on the site. Following transcription further volunteers proofread and make corrections. Anyone with an internet connection can participate as a transcriber, proofreader, or just by submitting corrections as they use the site. The status of each census project varies depending on how long it has been active. There is a link to the LAC image of the original census page at the top of each transcribed census page.”

For our purposes this site is very useful when beginning research into an ancestor who was a veteran of the Great War. Lets take one example. I chose the surname Thomas mainly because two of my great uncles who went overseas were Thomas’s.

Scroll down the home page to “Linking Projects”, and click on “Soldier’s of the First World War Linking”. Various surname’s and christian name’s are listed. By no means does this represent even a fraction of the total; however you may get lucky. I chose C.E. Thomas or Charles Edward Thomas. So what we have is the 1901 & 1911 Canada Census, and at the bottom his attestation papers. Had he died in the war there would also be a link to the Canadian War Memorial.

This is yet another tool to use to begin your research, and I sincerely hope, that it is expanded and is continued. It is a boon to genealogists.

Civil War Veterans of Elgin County, Ontario

2010-05-17T12:51:00.000-07:00

Here is an article on the Civil War veterans from Elgin County, Ontario. This article was written by Bruce Johnston and Bob Moore for the Elgin County Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society, 13 December, 2008.

Boer War Ancestors In The Canadian Archives

2010-05-16T07:34:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned in an earlier post it takes time and effort to maneuver your way through the Library and Archives Canada website. There are gems to be found if you are persistent. A case in point is the Boer War. Soldiers of the South African War (1899-1902) is a case in point.

Click on the "South African War - thematic guide" link at the bottom and you have a list of the unpublished documents in the Library holdings. as well as government publications. These are not online, or I assume, on microfilm.

The gems are found in the search. Put in a name in the search box. I entered Captain D. Stuart who was in command of “B” Company of the 1st. Contingent. “B” Company was recruited from militia regiments from the Southwestern Ontario area. Click on the link “view image” and you get an image of the South African Medal Rolls.

A gold mine for genealogists. Note that not all of the veterans medal rolls appear; however, it looks as if you could build a complete series of the Medal Rolls. These really need to be organized. Maybe I will try!

Image from Library and Archives Canada.