Canadian Units

[Bob Bedward]

Help and advice please.During research into village history I have come across 4 men listed on a “Role of Duty and Honour” Document listing the men from our Devon village who fought and died in the Great War.

Four have only the following descriptions of their units.

Canadian RFA,

4th Canadians

RE Canadians

Canadian Regiment

Would any one serving in a Canadian Unit have been recruited in Canada or could they have been drafted in from English Conscripts?

I have one other serving with the PPCLI who I know Attested in Canada.

Any advice very gratefully received

Thanks Old Jack

[Terry]

In my own collection I have a trio to a fellow from Maidstone who enlisted in the CEF on 19 Nov.,1914. There were seventeen infantry battalions in the First Canadian Contingent, but the 17th Bn was a fair bit understrength, so several hundred Englishmen joined that unit on the Salisbury Plain, possibly attracted by higher rates of pay.

My fellow was eventually drafted to the 15th Bn., one of the twelve battalions which became part of the 1st Division, and was captured at 2nd Ypres in April,1915.

[andy1400]

You could try the Canadian Archives. They have a great number of enlistment papers that can be viewed online and they also have most of the War Diaries.

Andy

[Canadawwi]

For the Canadian archives the search engine is here:

http://www.collectionscanada.ca/02/02010602_e.html

If you are looking for 1914 enlistments, and a lot of similar names come up on your search, try looking at the numbers with 4 digits.

[Bill Alexander]

As Terry indicates, many Britons enrolled in the CEF. They were not conscripts, and were not transferred between armies. To add some reasons for enrolling in the CEF, many Brits had friends or relations in the CEF, or they were in contact with the CEF in the UK.

[Guest geoff501]

I have found 3 Canadian Infantry men on 3 different UK war memorials. They had emigrated before enlisting in the CEF. Look for their attestation papers on the archive mentioned in a previous post.

[Bob Bedward]

Hi -

To all who have replied to my question. Thank you for your help. You have solved my delemma.

So thank you again.

Old Jack

THERE’S ROSEMARY, THATS FOR REMEMBRANCE, PRAY, LOVE, REMEMBER.

[Tony Lund]

Just a thought. If an Englishman managed to get into a Canadian unit while they were training in England, then presumably he would get Canadian army pay, which I believe to be a fair bit more than the British army were paying.

Tony.