A Call to the Colours: Tracing Your Canadian Military Ancestors

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INTRODUCTION

Prior to the rebellions of 1837, Anna Jameson toured Upper Canada and recorded her impressions in a book entitled Winter Studies and Summer Rambles. Her text offers Canadian historians an interesting glimpse into the early development of the Province of Ontario. For anyone interested in military history, she recorded the following review of an early militia muster in the community of Erindale, just west of Toronto. It speaks volumes about the state of our country’s early military preparedness.

On a rising ground above the river which ran gurgling and sparkling through the green ravine beneath, the motley troops, about three or four hundred men, were marshalled — no, not marshalled, but scattered in a far more picturesque fashion hither and thither. A few men, well mounted, and dressed as lancers, in uniforms which were, however, anything but uniform, flourished backward on the green sward, to the manifest peril of the spectators; themselves and their horses, equally wild, disorderly, spirited, undisciplined: but was perfection compared to the infantry. Here there was no uniformity attempted of dress, of appearance, of movement; a few had coats, others jackets; a greater number had neither coats nor jackets, but appeared in their shirt sleeves, white or checked, or clean or dirty, in edifying variety! Some wore hats others caps, others their own shaggy heads of hair. Some had firelocks, some had old swords suspended in belts, or stuck in their waistbands; but the greater number shouldered sticks or umbrellas.

Mrs. M. told us that on a former parade day she heard the word of command given thus — Gentlemen with the umbrellas take ground to the right! Gentlemen with the walking sticks take ground to the left! Now they ran after each other elbowed and kicked each other, straddled, stooped, chattered; and if the commanding officer turned his back for a moment, very cooly sat down on the bank to rest. Not to laugh was impossible, and defied all power of face.[1]

Militia drilling, Elora, Ontario. Archives Ontario, C 286-1-0-6-31.

From the earliest days of this country, our ancestors were required to perform some form of military service, often as militia. At least once a year, or as commanded by the military authorities, all able-bodied men between the ages of sixteen and sixty were required by law to muster for military training. Indeed, a myth developed that, during the various conflicts it endured, this country was saved by the local militia. It is hard to believe, after reading Anna Jameson’s account, that the men who mustered in Erindale in 1837 were capable of stopping a determined enemy or eventually serving, as many of their descendents did, in major world conflicts. Or that many of these men had ancestors who had served during the War of 1812 or even farther back in time during the American Revolution. But they did.

By 1856 the British government had decided that it was about time for their North American colonies to take more responsibility for their own defence. Many of the British regiments that had been stationed in the colonies had been withdrawn during the Crimean War, and British taxpayers were already overburdened. So a more professional militia was recommended for Canada. Uniforms, arms, equipment, and professional training were provided by England and our militia took on a more professional look. Militia regiments like the Queen’s Own Rifles and the 48th Highlanders are good examples of the result of this change in policy. It soon became fashionable for young gentlemen with money to join one of the more prestigious militia regiments. By 1870–71 the remaining British regiments were withdrawn and Canada found itself responsible for its own defence. However, when necessary, Britain did send regiments back to Canada during periods of international or internal tension, such as during the Red River and North West Rebellions.

Canada’s involvement in the Boer War heralded our first real military involvement beyond our own borders. Of course, by the end of the First World War Canadian soldiers proved that they were ready to be called upon to serve with distinction anywhere the country needed them. Unfortunately, this call would come again a mere two decades after the end of the war to end all wars.

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The discovery that an ancestor served during one of the major conflicts in our history is exciting. To find a family name on a Loyalist muster roll, a Canada General Service Medal with an ancestor’s name engraved on it, a set of First World War attestation papers, or a box of Second World War medals says that one of our ancestors faced challenging events beyond the scope of everyday living.

It could have been that an ancestor served with a British regiment and chose to remain in Canada following his discharge or had seen service with one of the Provincial Corps established during the American Revolution and later applied for a land grant in Canada. You may discover that an ancestor served with a Canadian regiment during the First or Second World Wars, or with the 1st Polish Armoured Division attached to the Canadian Army in Northwest Europe. Polish Canadians who may have fought alongside our troops can access their records at The General Sikorski Institute and Museum, 20 Princess Gate, London, SW7, www.pism.co.uk/archive/archive-documents.html.

During times of peace or even insurrection, your ancestors may have served in the sedentary, active, or incorporated militia as part-time soldiers. You might even discover that a distant ancestor decided to join one of the early Fencible Regiments and saw more extensive action. It’s exciting to discover an ancestor had seen action in one of the major battles of the War of 1812, fought the Fenians at Ridgeway in 1866, served on the Nile in 1884, or went west to fight the Métis during the Red River Rebellion in 1870 and again in 1885 during the North West Rebellions. There is a very strong likelihood that someone in your family served during the South African Boer War (1899–1902), First World War (1914–18), or Second World War (1939–45). Your female ancestors may have served as a nursing sister or with the Royal Flying Corps as a driver in the Second World War or even in the army, navy, or air force during the Second World War. Remember, some of our ancestors also served on sea and in the air throughout many of the conflicts mentioned in this resource guide. You will want to understand the events in which your distant relatives lived their lives and served their country.

The purpose of this educational resource guide is to offer archival, library, and computer resources that will provide the family historian with the tools to commence your own search for your ancestor’s personal military history and surround his or her name with the appropriate context. I hope to provide you with the shovel to let you do the digging!

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The limited scope of this guide precludes any in-depth history of battles and wars. That is left to the professional military historian. The study of our military history, excluding wars and battles, can be compared to studying a new and unfamiliar culture with its own customs, laws, and mores. I have, however, attempted to provide a basic knowledge of military structure at one particular point in history.

Each military event also includes an introduction to a research subject as a focus for discovering the records. I trust this makes the guide more personal and relevant.

I have focused only on the periods of our history when we were involved in active military events. A brief outline of these events introduce each chapter. Each chapter ends with resources and a bibliography that researchers can use to acquire more knowledge about the events.

I have also included additional information that I hope will be of some use to those family historians who have discovered old photographs, documents, uniforms, and other militaria owned by their ancestors. An old uniform; rank, skill at arms, or trade badges; hat badges or collar dogs; pieces of webbing; and especially old medals all tell us something about the times in which our ancestors served. Medals, in particular, are the one item that our ancestors tended to keep and, for this reason, I have included pictures of the type of medal you might expect to find in a family collection.

Finding a family name on a monument, muster roll, medal, land grant application, or any other resource is not the end of the search. You need to prove that person is your relative by consulting other sources. This guide deals only with military records and assumes that you will also include in your final product references to vital statistics, census returns, land records, and church registers.

You will soon discover that researching military records requires that you learn about a whole new culture with its own language, structure, and customs. For instance, the title A Call to the Colours refers to the flags that every regiment holds in esteem: the king’s or queen’s colours and regimental colours. In early periods, both flags were carried into battle as a rallying point for the men of the regiment. In later wars they were given into the care of the regimental garrison church for safekeeping until hostilities ended. Our early militia’s colours were often made by some of the women in the community. During the War of 1812, for instance, these ladies joined what was referred to as a Loyal and Patriotic Society, made clothes for the troops, conducted fundraising activities, and, in the case of the 3rd Regiment of York Militia, sewed its colours. Every regiment in Canada has a set of colours (also referred to as standards), often bearing the names of past battle honours. These flags are well worth viewing, especially if your ancestor served with one of these regiments during a past war.

Many of the regiments your ancestors might have known still exist, either on their own or through amalgamation with another unit. Most have headquarters in various cities throughout the country and websites highlighting the history of the regiment. These regimental websites can offer a wealth of information and sometimes provide resource material to help with your search.

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Searching for your military ancestors and placing them in historical context can be a rewarding experience. Good luck and I hope that this resource guide helps you start the search for your military ancestors.

NOTES

1. Anna Jameson, Winter Studies and Summer Rambles (reprinted by Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1990), 49–50.

PREFACE

How to Make the Best Use of This Guide

Your family history comes alive, then you add details about events that had an impact on your ancestors’ lives — the battles, equipment used, medals earned, or interesting family stories — all create historical context. Otherwise, the history is merely a collection of names and a list of vital statistics: birth, marriage, death.

Throughout this book, many websites or textbooks have been referred to as potential sources of information. Only include any web address as a source after you have verified the material. There are six basic online resources:

• national archival web pages

• provincial archival web pages

• city, historical society, and museum websites

• free information sources prepared by either organizations or individuals

• gateway websites allowing access to a variety of specific pages

• pay-per-view websites

BOOLEAN SEARCH

Remember, once you identify the regiment/squadron/ship in which your ancestor served, you can do a boolean search to discover more specific details. Many search engines, such as Google or Yahoo, automatically implement a boolean search. When searching a site with an advanced function, use this excellent tool.

• Use AND to find both words. This will only open pages that have both words: Italy AND star.

• Use OR to find all instances of either one word or another. This will find all pages that mention either word or both.

• Use NEAR to find words close to each other. This will provide pages that have both words and return pages ranked in order of proximity. So the first pages will have the words closer together than items lower on the list.

• Use AND NOT to exclude certain text from the search.

• Use * to look for words that start the same. Thus capture * will find capturing, captured, etc.

• Use ** to search for all forms of a word.

• Put quotation marks (Canadians in Italy) around phrases you want the search engine to take literally.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA

When you discover an RG (record group) that might contain important information about your topic, open this page. Then select Show Arrangement Structure. In RG 24-D-1, for instance, when you check the show arrangement structure icon, list of HMCS ships and related archival resources appears. Click on the small + icon beside the name of the ship to display the information that the archives holds related to that vessel. The specific RG that holds the information is listed beside each archival resource. This should help you narrow your search considerably. However, LAC is currently revising its search tools. Be aware that you may be directed to another area of LAC or to ArchiviaNet to continue your research.

Through both its archival and library records and books, and the Canadian Genealogy Centre portal, LAC should be your first stop. LAC is constantly posting new sources of data. For instance, early in December 2010 it launched a new online database, Medals, Honours and Awards. "Through this online database, researchers can access more than 113,000 references to medal registers, citation cards and records of various military awards. In addition to archival references, this research tool includes digitized images of some medal registers. The database is available at: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/medals/index-e.html."1

You should also become familiar with Amicus and ArchiviaNet through the Collections Canada site. These research tools can help you access the archival collections throughout Canada. LAC also offers an interlibrary loan service.

When you visit LAC in person, the following record groups contain military records:

• RG 8 — British Military and Naval Records

• RG 9 — Militia and Defence

• RG 15 — Department of the Interior (western land grants related to Red River, North-West Rebellions, and Boer War)

• RG 24 — National Defence Records

• RG 28 — Munitions and Supply

• RG 38 — Veterans’ Affairs

• RG 44 — National War Service records

• RG 49 — Defence Production during the war

• RG 57 — Emergency Measures Organization

• RG 61 — Allied War Supplies Corporation

• RG 83 — Defence Construction Limited

• RG 117 — Office of the Custodian of Enemy Property

• RG 150 — Ministry of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada (First World War records)

Library and Archives Canada has prepared finding aids for most of their RGs and anyone doing research should automatically consult these when requesting information. Should you experience any difficulty identifying the appropriate RG, consult one of the on-site archivists. They should refer you to two resource guides:

• A Guide to Sources Relating to the Canadian Militia — finding aid RG 9-58 lists resources for infantry, cavalry, and armoured units.

• A Guide to Sources Relating to the Canadian Militia — finding aid RG 9-59 deals with the artillery.

OTHER RESOURCES

At Veterans’ Affairs, www.vac-acc.gc.ca, you can learn about service medals and use a search engine that will allow you to visit the Book of Remembrance.

If you suspect an ancestor died in the war, visit the Commonwealth War Graves site at www.cwg.org. This site will provide you with date of death, service regiment, location of interment, and, perhaps, the address of next of kin.

Your provincial archives will have copies of many of the records available at the Canadian archives as well as records unique to your province.

Your local library and provincial genealogy society will also have their own records as well as some of the more popular LAC ones. For example, the Ontario Genealogical Society website is www.ogs.on.ca and the Toronto Reference Library web page is www.torontopubliclibrary.ca. Similar services are available throughout the country.

Canadian university libraries also hold material related to your military ancestors. Many of them contain valuable collections of scarce manuscripts or copies of LAC material. For instance, Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, has a complete set of the Upper Canada Land Books with an index, www.brockloyalisthistorycollection.ca/collection.html.

Before making a personal visit to any of the repositories, be sure to phone or email for hours and restrictions. When visiting an archives, expect that you will not be allowed to take in any writing implements beyond a pencil.

Portals, such as Cyndi’s List, www.cyndislist.com, or pay-per-view sites like Ancestry.com and Findmypast.com allow access to a wide variety of resources. Don’t forget to access the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons, LDS) site at www.familysearch.com or visit one of their Family History Centres. Both Ancestry.com and Findmypast.com are free to view at the LDS Family History sites. Ancestry.com is also free to use at most public libraries.2

When you find yourself seeking reference material specifically related to the regiment or battle in which your ancestors served and fought, there are several book sites to search:

Grenadier Militaria, www.grenadiermilitaria.com.

Naval and Military Press, www.naval-military-press.com.

Pen and Sword Books, www.pen-and-sword.co.uk.

WHAT CAN MEDALS AND OTHER ARTIFACTS TEACH YOU?

Military medals issued before the Second World War were engraved around the rim with the name of the soldier, his or her rank, regimental number, and battalion or regiment. They were also issued with a ribbon that was unique to that medal. Sometimes in an old black-and-white photograph that patterned ribbon is enough to allow you to identify the military event in which an ancestor may have served.

Similarly, the crown you will find on cap badges will help you identify relevant time periods. During Queen Victoria’s reign, cap badge design included what is commonly referred to as a Queen’s Crown over the regimental number. This design changed when Edward VII and later George the V & VI assumed the throne, replaced by a King’s Crown, and then changed back to a Queen’s Crown for Elizabeth II. British medals were issued with clasps or bars denoting the military event in which the participant saw service.

As you continue researching an ancestor’s military history, expect to develop an awareness of the changes to the uniforms worn by your ancestor over the decades as well as the development of various patterns of webbing (military harness designed to support necessary equipment) and the type of weapons you might discover a family member carrying in some old photograph. This knowledge also helps you place an ancestor into context.

The infantry webbing worn by your ancestor will certainly help identify a time period in an old photograph. Often you will see a photograph of a soldier wearing Slade-Wallace harness, Oliver Pattern harness, 1908 or 1936 Pattern webbing, or, if your ancestor was an officer, wearing what was referred to as Sam Browne harness. Each piece of equipment carried by a military ancestor during certain time periods represents a change in the military culture. Refer to the glossary for an explanation of khaki, webbing, collar dogs, flashes, service and battle dress, puttees, and other uniquely military terms that will help you complete your search for your ancestor’s military history.

Always make sure your sources are trustworthy (especially online). And remember, just because you cannot find a record does not mean that it does not exist; it could be that an ancestor’s name was not recorded on the muster rolls or that the name was spelled differently than you expect it to be. You will quickly learn to distinguish between primary and secondary sources and some of the inherent weaknesses in the documents you may have to use as references. For example, when I searched the published rolls for the North West Canada Medal, they simply showed that a family member qualified for the medal and clasp (M. & C.) with nothing else of significance in the transcription. However, when I checked the original rolls I discovered that the transcriber had omitted a small, handwritten note. The note, which stated simply 12/05/85 wounded, added a significant footnote to my family narrative. It meant this individual had fought in the Battle of Batoche (8–12 May 1885) and consequently would have been entitled to the Batoche clasp with the medal because he had served under fire.

All researchers should note that many early military medals were awarded well after the event. The British Military General Service Medal for the War of 1812 was commissioned in 1847 and debate about the bars to be awarded continued into 1856. The North West Canada General Service Medal issued for the North-West Rebellions in 1885 was last awarded in 1945 to the men of the transport corps. Your ancestor had to apply for these medals, so if he or she did not there’s a good chance he was either too busy to bother or had already died.

There are military terms and abbreviations that you will need to become familiar with in order to decipher any documents that you discover. The same applies to any photographs that show division, rank, skill at arms, trade, wound, battalion cap badges, or dog tags. A working knowledge of all of these will help you add to your narrative and enhance your research.

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The websites in this book are correct as of the end of 2010. If you cannot find a site, do a Google search