47th Battalion C.E.F. 1915

[Gardenerbill]

I am in the process of researching the men who served in my Grandfathers A.S.C. M.T. Company. The man currently under investigation is Malcolm McCraith. He was originally from Nottingham but appears to have emigrated to Canada where he enlisted into the 30th Battalion C.E.F. at New Westminster British Colombia March 1915 then transferred to the 47th Battalion (3rd reinforcing draft). His rank was Lance Corporal but he was briefly Acting Transport Sergeant at Vernon Camp B.C. Then in December 1915 he applied for a commission and was accepted into the Army Service Corps.

 

When did the 3rd reinforcing draft join the 47th Bn CEF and where were they in the Summer of 1915?

[sotonmate]

Malcolm has a service file at Kew in the (British) Officer section, and where I imagine his Other Rank papers might also reside, though being a Canadian soldier they might also be in Canadian digital archives if you want a peek.

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1104330

The 47th Battalion War Diary begins at Bramshott Camp (Aldershot area) on 10 Aug 1916 where they are  entraining for Southampton where they sail for Le Havre, arrive on 11th and are in billets in Godewaeresvelde ( near Ypres) by 13 Aug. It might be possible to find when they landed in the UK from Canadian archives, but they seem to have followed UK practises and only opened up the War Diary on mobilisation to the Front.

 

Later: 47th Battalion was raised on 7.11.1914 in British Columbia with men from Vancouver and Victoria,they departed for Britain on 13.11.1915 so would have been under training here from late Nov until leaving for France in Aug 1916.

Edited 9 November , 2016 by sotonmate

[richardgreen1908]

The CEF files are being digitized as we speak, but they have not yet reached the McCs. There is a database record at Library and Archives Canada for Malcolm, but not yet with any digitized attachment. The LAC blog on digitizations says they have reached :

"Latest box digitized: Box 5848 and Mahony". So not far to go before McCraith! The whole process will be finished by 2018 and is about halfway.

 

You might also want to report your question on the CEF study group forum http://cefresearch.ca/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=3 where there are plenty of experts on the CEF who may have the answer. My limited understanding of reinforcing drafts is that they were often carved out of the home battalion before it went abroad, and were sent to France, and once in France they were assigned to other units according to need. But that does not seem to have happened to your man - perhaps he was held back as he had applied for a commission?

 

regards 

 

Richard

Edited 10 November , 2016 by richardgreen1908
Ommission

[Gardenerbill]

Thanks Sotonmate and Richard,

My question is partly answered, if the 47th went over to France in August 1916 then he didn't serve in France with them. I have his  MIC and ASC service record, he took up his commission in December 1915 so the only outstanding question I have is, did he come to England with the 47th or did he come over with other commission applicants? His CEF service record may be the only way to answer this. 

[Gardenerbill]

Sotonmate, just read your later edit looks like he came to England with the 47th in Novemeber 1915 just before he took up his commission with the ASC in December. Thanks again.

[Gardenerbill]

I have written a short biography of Lieutenant McCraith's war sevice, it can be found here on my website:

 

Lieutenant McCraith

[richardgreen1908]

Mark

 

McCraith's attestation paper has now been digitized. It does'nt really add much to what you already know, and unusually is only a single page, but here is the link anyway.http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/image.aspx?Image=134522a&URLjpg=http%3a%2f%2fcentral.bac-lac.gc.ca%2f.item%2f%3fop%3dimg%26app%3dCEF%26id%3d134522a&

 

Richard

 

[Gardenerbill]

Thanks Richard,

It's still nice to have a copy for the record, I also have the 1901 census for Nottingham when he was 19 and working as an Engineer along with a passenger list from 1910 when he emigrated to Canada.