Regimental History: "Billy's Own"
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| City of Edmonton Archives (Loyal Edmonton Regiment Collection, A96-215, 49th Battalion Scrapbook). |
| Members
of the 49th Battalion Marching through Camp, Shorncliffe, Many of the original members of the 49th Battalion were of British origin. The parentage of the soldiers was especially important given that during the First World War, Canadian soldiers were entrusted with defending Great Britain against its enemies. |
My ambition is to take from Edmonton a regiment which will be the finest in the second Canadian contingent. My regiment will be commanded by Edmonton officers and pride in this city will be one of the predominating features in it.
Lieutenant-Colonel W.A. Griesbach, 4 January 1915
When the 49th landed at Plymouth, England, on 12 June 1915, the battalion was quite representative of the male population of military age in Edmonton and northern Alberta. Three quarters of the 1010 officers and men were British-born; most of the rest had been born in Canada with a handful of Americans and others making up the rest. Historians have often remarked on the predominance of recent British immigrants in the early contingents of the CEF. While the 49th was clearly no exception to this generalization, the Britishness of the original unit should not be exaggerated. Although most members of the 49th were happy to stress their English, Irish, or Scottish roots, a good many of those listed as British-born could have come to Canada as children. The 57 per cent who claimed previous regular military service is perhaps a more accurate indication of those who were returning to defend the "old country." One Canadian family certainly showed no reluctance to volunteer. Albert, Fred, William, and Robert, all the four sons of Mrs. John Whyte, joined the 49th. The original company commanders, like the rest of the officers, were composed of a fair cross-section of Edmonton's business and professional community. The commander of "A" Company, Major C.Y. Weaver, was a lawyer; Captain R.G. Hardisty, Captain H.E. Daniel, and Major J.D. Willson, commanders of "B," "C," and "D" companies respectively, had been in civilian life a businessman, an accountant, and a North-West Mounted Police officer.
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| The 49th took up residence at Shorncliffe Camp in June of 1915. The delays in getting organized and leaving Canada had been frustrating but there were compensations. Instead of living in tents through the cold and soggy English winter on Salisbury Plain like their predecessors in the 1st Division, the Edmontonians were housed in the relative comfort of permanent huts at Shorncliffe. The Forty-Niners also took advantage of the summer weather to take part in sports: baseball and football games against teams from other Canadian battalions and cricket matches against local English teams. The bands performed at various military and civilian venues, including the nearby seaside resort of Folkstone. |
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Training was more intensive but not much different in kind from what had taken place in Canada. Drill, route marches for conditioning, and musketry practices remained the staple activities. The Ross Rifle Mark III performed adequately in the relatively antiseptic conditions of the firing ranges (and remained the weapon of choice for snipers in the British army throughout the war). The machine gunners worked to become familiar with their heavy and temperamental Colt machine guns. Trench mortars, rifle grenades, and Lewis guns had yet to make |
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their appearance as infantry weapons, but courses in the new art of "bomb throwing" were established. Bomb was the First World War term for a hand grenade, a weapon that long-range rifles had made obsolete in the nineteenth century but that underwent a revival because of the close quarters of trench warfare. The regiment spent some time practising digging and repairing trenches, activities they would soon come to know only too well. In the summer of 1915, however, these duties were undertaken in a light-hearted spirit. A cartoon in the first issue of the Forty-Niner shows a very tall officer ordering a very short sergeant to dig a trench shoulder deep. The sergeant asks in reply, "Yours or my shoulders, sir?" |
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| City of Edmonton Archives (Loyal Edmonton Regiment Collection, A96-215, 49th Battalion Scrapbook). |
| Forty-Niners on a March, Shorncliffe, England, 1915 Originally to be included in Canada's 2nd Division, the 49th Battalion ultimately became part of a third Canadian division that was in the works by the middle of 1915. |
The 49th had been recruited on the expectation that it would form part of the 2nd Canadian Division, but Colonel Griesbach realized as soon as his men arrived in England that more battalions were available than the new division could accommodate. He was worried enough about the possibility of having his unit broken up for reinforcements that he wrote a letter to Hughes protesting in advance. Griesbach's fears were well founded as far as the 2nd Division was concerned; the 49th mounted guard while the division embarked for France in mid-September. Even as Griesbach was writing his letter, however, a third Canadian division was in the works and the 49th would be part of it. As summer drew to an end, signs were evident that the regiment would soon be leaving for France. The regimental colours were deposited in Canterbury Cathedral. Lestock the mascot found a new home in London's Regent's Park Zoo. New arms and equipment were issued, and the cooks began practising with their mobile active service kitchens. To move these and other items of equipment too heavy to carry, the regiment had its own horses, 79 in all. The care of these animals needed the services of 37 men.
| One of the realities of a wartime battalion was that its personnel was in a constant state of change even when it was not in line. Illness and accident (in training and elsewhere; the first editor of the Forty-Niner was put out of action by a London taxi) took their toll. Some soldiers were transferred to other units if they were not up to the physical demands of a rifle company or if they had skills that were in demand. In July and August, several dozen Forty-Niners left to take on duties elsewhere. Some took administrative jobs or served as drivers of mechanical transport (a skill more common in Canada than in England), while others left to join engineering units and the Canadian Army Medical Corps. An indication of the high quality of the original recruits can be gained from the fact that eight privates and NCOs from the 49th were given commissions in various British regiments during the summer. This was not a one-way street; in July, the 49th got three new lieutenants who had been serving as sergeants with the 19th Dragoons in France. The final indication of pending active service was the arrival of a large draft of 142 men from the 51st battalion to bring the regiment up to full strength. |
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