CEFRG – Canadian Expeditionary Force Research Group 1914-1919
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8th (90th Winnipeg Rifles) Battalion in the Great War
The Little Black Devils of Canada HOSTI ACIE NOMINATI ‘The Little Black Devils of Canada’, 8th Canadian Infantry Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles). The black devil carries a trident and offers a chalice. Preserves the legend that during the North-West Rebellion soldiers referred to by the opposing forces as ‘little black devils’. Because of their almost…
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Major George Anderson Wells, CMG, DD in the Great War
The Right Reverend George Anderson Wells, CMG, DD was the second Bishop of Cariboo. Wells was a fisherman, sealer, labourer, and a trooper in the South African War before continuing his education at various American institutions. During the Great War, appointed Senior Chaplain to the Canadian Corps on 27 December 1917. Early Life Born at…
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Private William Andrew Purcell in the Great War
Private William Andrew Purcell 223092 was born 5 July 1890 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Married to Mary Lenora Purcell. They had one child, aged 8 months. William was a barber. Enlistment Private William Andrew Purcell attested 1 November 1915 at Halifax, with the 85th (Nova Scotia Highlanders) Battalion. Standing 5′ 8″ tall, with fair complexion,…
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Canadian Battlefield Memorials in the Great War
At the end of the Great War, an IWGC committee awarded Canada eight battle sites — three in Belgium and five in France — on which to construct memorials. In the summer of 1922, the Canadian Battlefields Memorial Commission selected Vimy Ridge as the only site for Walter Allward’s winning memorial. The other battle sites,…
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St. Julien Canadian Memorial in the Great War
The Brooding Soldier Monument Unlike the Vimy Memorial, the St Julien Canadian Memorial designed by an architect serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War. However, Frederick Chapman Clemesha slightly wounded serving with the 46th Battalion, South Saskatchewan Regiment in 1918. Then, Clemesha returned to his Regina architectural practice for a short time…
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Captain William Henry Davis MC in the Great War
During the Great War, 524 clergymen served in the Canadian Chaplain Service. Of this number 447 served overseas, and a number of those chaplains served with distinction, such as George Anderson Wells, an Anglican priest, who finished the war as the most decorated chaplain in the British Commonwealth. Other chaplains who paid the supreme sacrifice,…
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Private Thomas Ricketts Royal Newfoundland Regiment in the Great War
Son of Mrs. Elizabeth Pittman of Sops Island, White Bay, Newfoundland. Private Thomas Ricketts 4020 Killed-in-Action on the same day Sergeant Thomas Ricketts 3102, also of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, earned the Victoria Cross. SS MISSANABIE Private Thomas Ricketts 4020 attested 21 October 1917. Embarked St. John’s on SS MISSANABIE 11 December 1917. Embarked for…
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Major General Malcolm Smith Mercer in the Great War
The Soldier’s General Major-General Malcolm Smith Mercer, the epitome of a Soldier’s General. During the period from 1 March 1915, until 10 November 1915 (when his Personal Diary ends), Mercer records 57 visits and inspections of trenches held by troops under his command. Mercer’s insistence on being close to the action would prove his undoing.…
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The Botterell Brothers in the Great War
Edward Simpson Botterell the elder of the Botterell brothers, enlisted as a Private in September of 1914 with the 48th Highlanders of Canada. Edward quickly rose in the ranks, promoted to Captain in May 1916. At this time, younger brother Henry John Lawrence Botterell on his way to England to serve as a Lieutenant in…
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Sergeant Masumi Mitsui MM in the Great War
The Canadian Japanese Association organized training for 200 soldiers who had volunteered between January and March of 1916 in Vancouver. However, their offer of service rejected in British Columbia. But, in Alberta, Issei and some Nisei volunteers joined Canadian battalions to fight. Fifty-four of these men did not survive the war, and another 92 wounded.…