38th Battalion (Ottawa), Canadian Expeditionary Force in Bermuda

[aodhdubh]

The garrison of the Imperial fortress colony of Bermuda (often mistaken for part of the West Indies, the colony was part of British North America 'til left out of the confederation of Canada in 1867 as it was the most important British naval and military base in the Americas and the British Government did not desire to transfer control to the new Dominion government; prior to that point the Bermuda Garrison was actually part of the command of the British Army Commander-in-Chief in Nova Scotia...afterwards, it became a command in its own right, with the Lieutenant-General serving as Governor and C-in-C rated a GOC...in some documents a GOC-in-C) was normally made of regular, militia, and volunteer regiments regiments, companies and corps of the British Army (the Bermuda Militia Artillery and Bermuda Volunteer Rifle corps being locally recruited for local service). Regular infantry regiments generally spent three years in Bermuda before moving on to another station. Units or detachments from other corps might spend much longer in Bermuda. Normally only regular units from the Home establishment of the British Army (ie, depoted in the British Isles) were stationed in Bermuda, but during wartime there were sometimes exceptions: during the Second Boer War, the West India Regiment (normally only employed in the West Indies and Africa) was stationed in Bermuda in 1901...before the war there were normally two infantry battalions in Bermuda, but a third was added during the war as guards for Boer POW camps). During the Second World War, part of the Winnipeg Grenadiers was posted to Bermuda after the detachment of the 2nd Battalion of the King's Shropshire Light Infantry posted to Bermuda the year had to be hurried abroad. The Pictou Highlanders would also garrison Bermuda duting that war. Something similar also happened during the First World War. Budget cuts after the Second Boer War had seen the regular infantry in Bermuda reduced from two to one battalion. The 2nd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment had been posted to Bermuda for three years at the start of 1914, but with the declaration of war was withdrawn to be sent to the Western Front that September, and replaced by a succession of Canadian battalions, starting with the Royal Canadian Regiment (RCR), until the arrival of the 2/4th Battalion (Territorial Force...another unusual posting), East Yorkshire Regiment in November, 1916. One of these Canadian battalions was the 38th Battalion (Ottawa), Canadian Expeditionary Force, which replaced the RCR in August, 1915 (arriving on the 13th). With the headquarters and part of the battalion posted to Prospect Camp in the central military district (which was also Bermuda Command Headquarters), companies were also sent to St. George's Garrison and Boaz and Watford Islands in the eastern and western military districts. The battalion trained for the Western Front while in Bermuda and departed for the Western Front, with a number of new recruits who had enlisted in Bermuda, on the 31st of May, 1916, having been relieved by the 163rd Battalion, CEF. These photographs were taken of the 38th Battalion while in Bermuda, and show the battalion in the City of Hamilton, Pembroke Parish, marching up and down the hill of Queen Street, and back and forth on Front Street, at Prospect Camp, and evidently on the ranges at Warwick Camp, as well as showing soldiers, police and civilians at the wreck of the Pollockshields at Elbow Beach. The originals are held by the Regimental Museum of the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa.

[aodhdubh]

This cinematic film of the 38th Battalion in Bermuda also exists...for some reason the title page shows the date as 1932.

 

 

Edited 7 July , 2022 by aodhdubh

[FROGSMILE]

Interesting to see, thank you for posting.  Things that immediately struck me were the high quality marching drill (it’s not easy to keep the dressing in such an extended line), the officers wearing the white shirt and black silk tie that had originally been decreed for wear with both, drab SD and the new style blue patrols, only recently jointly approved in 1912 (and so a historical image for uniform buffs) and what appear to be Canadian government purchased Colt-Browning machine guns.

Edited 12 July , 2022 by FROGSMILE

[aodhdubh]

2 hours ago, FROGSMILE said:

Interesting to see, thank you for posting.  Things that immediately struck me were the high quality marching drill (it’s not easy to keep the dressing in such an extended line), the officers wearing the white shirt and black silk tie that had originally been decreed for wear with both, drab SD and the new style blue patrols, only recently jointly approved in 1912 (and so a historical image for uniform buffs) and what appear to be Canadian government purchased Colt-Browning machine guns.

 

Yes....and Ross rifles. I assume the Colt-Brownings were replaced in Europe with Vickers. I'm sure we all know the sorry story of the Ross on the Western Front.

 

The battalion was newly recruited, though I expect any volunteers with previous service were probably made NCOs more quickly (they actually picked up several recruits in Bermuda, mostly with previous service in the regular army of the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, i believe). Basic training, which doubtless concentrated on drill, was completed in Canada before deploying to Bermuda, where they trained in the skills required for the front. I pity the poor fellows digging trenches...Bermuda has about an inch of top soil in many places and then you his the limestone cap that covers the top of the volcanic seamount. Over most of the archipelago, this was broken down over millennia into sand, then re-solidified into sand stone...easier to cut through than granite, but digging a six foot trench in Bermuda would be very hard work (though the inland valleys often have deep soil, the military had much of its attention on the shores). It cannot be done with a spade. You'd need mattocks.

Edited 12 July , 2022 by aodhdubh

[aodhdubh]

Not part of the above batch, but other photographs of Canadian units in Bermuda, starting with two of Royal Canadian Regiment soldiers.

[aodhdubh]

No certain date or information on the units shown, other than Front Street, in the town of Hamilton, Bermuda during the First World War. The steamer is the Army Service Corps vessel Louise, probably preparing to move soldiers to board a ship at the Royal Naval Dockyard, or having landed them on Front street after bringing them from the Dockyard. Louise was used for transport about the archipelago, but the crown implies this was a special occasion. The serge tunics are Canadian pattern and the cap badges on the Service Dress caps look to be oak leaves. The soldiers in khaki drills with helmets could be Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps, or belong to a regular corps, probably other than infantry. I have seen these photos identified as the departure of one or other of the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps contingents to join 1st Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment on the Western Front, but even if the capbadges were not maple leaves, they are definitely not the BVRC badge. The BVRC also were issued 1908 carrying equipment. This is not the Royal Canadian Regiment, so must be one of the numbered CEF battalions stationed in Bermuda before proceeding to the Western Front.

Edited 25 September , 2022 by aodhdubh

[aodhdubh]

A 19th of September, 1914, article from The Royal Gazette.

[Visser]

Amazing photos!

 

I have not seen many photos from Bermuda outside of my great grandfather's collection. I have almost an Identical photo to the first route march you posted in front of American House Hotel. The lady in the white dress is even standing there. My photo is of C company, Your photo must be A, B, or D. 

[FROGSMILE]

8 hours ago, Visser said:

Amazing photos!

 

I have not seen many photos from Bermuda outside of my great grandfather's collection. I have almost an Identical photo to the first route march you posted in front of American House Hotel. The lady in the white dress is even standing there. My photo is of C company, Your photo must be A, B, or D. 

It must have been a long route as in both photos they have changed arms, a normal procedure to ease fatigue by shouldering alternately over the course of the march.

Edited 6 January by FROGSMILE

[aodhdubh]

I assume the march must have been from garrison recreation ground (today the 'national' stadium...territorial stadium would be more accurate) west of the barracks at Prospect Camp, via Happy Valley Road (still within Prospect Camp, which contained much of western Devonshire Parish and a sliver of Pembroke Parish), crossing King Street to the City of Hamilton in Pembroke Parish, along Church Street, past the COE Cathedral, to the Hamilton Hotel (a larger hotel, across Church Street from the American House, that burnt down in the 1950s and was replaced by the current City Hall and the neighbouring car park, turning down Queen Street (in front of the American House) to it's lower end at Heyl's Corner (a T-intersection with Front Street), eastward along Front Street to the lawn in front of what is now the Cabinet Offices (and the location of the Cenotaph after the war), then reversing that course to Prospect Camp. The video shows a much longer march through the western half of Bermuda.

 

In the 1931 photograph below, facing North-Eastish, the barracks at Prospect Camp can be seen on the high ground east of the city (Prospect Camp extended the the eastern boundary of the city, with King Street marking its edge...if you squint, you'll see Fort Hamilton, within the camp, on the high point to the immediate east of the city, close to the harbour)...The American House and Hamilton House at the intersection of Church Street and Queen Street are out of view to the left of frame...the COE Cathedral is visible....the lower end of Church Street meets Front Street at Heyl's Corner, the bend in Front Street inland from the bow of the Furness liner...and the lawn of the Cabinet building is plot that looks densely wooded on the inland side of Front Street behind the smaller freight ship.

Edited 7 January by aodhdubh