Major James Emanuel Hahn

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.

Nominal Rolls

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.

Researching Soldiers Of The First World War- Part 1

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.

Official List Of Casualties 1915

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.