British and Canadian Recruiting Commission

[Terry_Reeves]

The British and Canadian Recruiting Commission was formed to recruit British and Canadian citizens resident in the USA. Its headquarters were in New York but there were a number of recruiting outstations . I have some details of the outstation at Spokane, Washington State, but I have not been able to find out the locations of the others. I would be pleased to hear from anyone who has information about these outstations.

TR

Edited 31 July , 2021 by Terry_Reeves

[Ken S.]

This has been discussed a few times on the CEF Research message forum:

Appendix- British-Americans and Conscripts

Research for this book led me to study the faceless reinforcements sent to the Canadian Corps during the closing months of the war. I had assumed, like most historians, that the reinforcements were men recruited by virtue of the Military Service Act (MSA) of 1917. Since then, I have changed my opinion. I now believe that the MSA men were suplemented by a very significant number of British volunteers (some were Canadian-born) recruited by an agency known as the British Canadian Recruiting Mission (BCRM), which operated recruiting offices throughout the United States during the war. I propose that these volunteers from the USA represented a large proportion of the reinforcements sent to Canadian units in France in the summer and fall of 1918.

http://www.cefresearch.ca/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=4508&p=35172&hilit=+British+Canadian+Recruiting+Mission+#p35172

[Terry_Reeves]

Ken

Thanks for the pointer, I will follow it up. I do have some information from a Spokane newspaper, but there were obviously more cities in the US involved in the campaign. It also brings in the question of conscription of British and Canadian citizens in the US. Indeed I have a copy of the convention between the two countries in this respect.

TR

[ss002d6252]

Oakland Tribune of 20 June 1915 - The Germans had protested about the neutrality of allowing recruiting to take place



Craig

[ss002d6252]

A good article here - http://interactive.ancestry.com/8049/1915_08_19_0001/480005121?backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.com%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3fdb%3dnews-ca-oa_tr%26rank%3d1%26new%3d1%26MSAV%3d1%26msT%3d1%26gss%3dangs-d%26msydy%3d1915%26gskw%3dRecruiting%2bCommission%2b%26uidh%3d784%26gl%3d%26gst%3d%26hc%3d50%26fh%3d50%26fsk%3dBEHsvOQIgAAfcQABK34-61-&ssrc=&backlabel=ReturnSearchResults&rc=1282,4000,1450,4033;3271,5042,3467,5075 - on a further court case about recruiting in the US and it gives names of some of those involved as well as an idea on numbers recruited in California.

Craig

[Terry_Reeves]

Craig

Thanks for that. Unfortunately I can't get access via the second link as I do not have the right type of Ancestry account. If you could let me have the meat of it i.e. recruiting figures and names of those involved I would be grateful.

Many thanks

TR

[ss002d6252]

The figures weren't huge but

'Ross' is A. Carnegie Ross, British Consul General at San Francisco.

Craig

[Terry_Reeves]

Thanks Craig, much appreciated.

TR

[Keith_history_buff]

An interesting article.

The British-Canadian Recruiting Mission of 1917-1918