by Mark Zuehlke
1st Division set up at the city of Huy, midway between Namur and Liège. The Canadian Scottish cared little for their new billet in the nearby village of Antheit, which most agreed was “a ’ell of a ’ole, everything mud, Belgium at its worse.” But the inhabitants took the soldiers into their hearts and would do almost anything to ensure their comfort. The truth of this was realized on February 19 when RSM James Kay staggered off the parade ground “dazed with fever, and died the same night.” It soon became evident that the RSM had been suffering influenza throughout the German occupation period, but refused all entreaties that he report to the medical officer for examination and treatment. His death was a serious blow, but the men were touched when Antheit’s burgomaster appeared with a delegation of citizens and requested that Kay be buried in the village cemetery where they planned to erect a memorial to the men of their Commune who had fallen in the war. Permission for Kay to be interred there was quickly granted. Years later it would be reported to members of the battalion in Winnipeg that the villagers had decided from the outset that Kay’s grave would “ever be cared for and kept in repair. It is always covered with flowers,” they were told.40
Despite the generosity of the villagers, Antheit remained a gloomy waypoint on what the Canadians considered a drawn-out journey home. The demobilization process seemed needlessly protracted. There was resentment, too, over a decision by Currie that 3rd Division would be the first returned. Logically, the 1st Division should have been first to go, for it had the longest record of service, and then 2nd Division. But these had ended up in the vanguard of the Rhine occupation force and so the order of return ended up jumbled. It helped little that many men in 3 rd Division were conscripts with comparatively little overseas service.
Finally, on March 19, 1st Division began embarking at Le Havre for passage to England. The Canadian Scottish boarded a train on March 22 for the port city. Everyone was happy to be one step further along. For the officers the task “of killing time and keeping the men interested in the awful period of waiting to go home” was becoming an unwelcome burden.41 The British transport King Edward carried the battalion across the Channel on March 26 and arrived late the next day at the ill-named Bramshott Concentration Camp. Here they lingered another month, enduring medical board examinations to determine whether men qualified for various disabilities and taking what periods of leave were granted. At long last, at 0300 hours on April 26, the battalion travelled by train to Liverpool. By 1845, the men were aboard the Empress of Britain and the ship sailed that night for Canada. On Sunday, May 4, Empress of Britain entered harbour at Quebec. Cyrus Peck stood on the wharf, greeted his men ashore, and assumed their command for the journey westward.
Although the Canadian Scottish had been a mongrel composed of men from regiments that hailed from Hamilton, Winnipeg, Vancouver, and Victoria, the army had decided in 1917 to designate the 16th Battalion as a Manitoba-based unit. So it was in Winnipeg that the Canadian Scottish mustered at 0951 hours on May 7, 1919, for its final march and disbandment. Few of the local citizenry turned out. Several battalions that had been entirely raised by local militia regiments had already returned and been disbanded here. A great deal of tension also prevailed, with talk of a general strike in the air. The arrival of more soldiers only increased the anxiety that restive labour and local government authorities might be headed for a showdown.
Accordingly, noted the battalion’s official historian, the reception was “only lukewarm. After detraining [the Battalion] marched out of the Canadian National station on to Main Street and along the wide thoroughfare to Portage Avenue. It turned up Portage, passed and gave the salute to the District Officer commanding; and afterwards, at a point clear of the city’s traffic, without being given the opportunity of saying one word of final goodbye, Col. Peck was ordered by a staff officer to halt his battalion on the street, and give it orders to right turn, and dismiss.”
Most of the men simply trailed off at that point down the Winnipeg streets while just sixty officers and men remained in formation. These were men from British Columbia, who boarded a train the next day and headed “via Prince George, Prince Rupert and Vancouver to Victoria, men dropping off as they reached their homes. This group was hailed with honour as returning conquerors at all of the points mentioned.
“Reaching Victoria, the few still left of the group dispersed to their homes. The career of the 16th Battalion (The Canadian Scottish), Canadian Expeditionary Force, in the flesh, was at an end.”42
There is a postscript to this story. Within weeks of its disbandment, various officers and men began quietly corresponding and occasionally meeting. They had a single objective. “The Battalion must not die” was their watchword. Several of the most outspoken and influential lived in Victoria, which had two regiments—the 50th Gordon Highlanders and the 88th Battalion. By 1920 these two regiments had been convinced that the Canadian Scottish legacy—the 50th Gordons having furnished many of the battalion’s originals and several reinforcement drafts thereafter—could be preserved as a single Victoria regiment. On March 15 of that year, General Order No. 30 reorganized the two militia regiments into the Canadian Scottish Regiment. Precisely seven years later the regiment became allied, per Canadian militia tradition, with a British regiment—the Royal Scots (The Royal Regiment). Then on April 24, 1930, Princess Mary was appointed her Colonel-in-Chief and it was formally designated the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Princess Mary’s).
And so it remains today, one of only a small number of World War I battalions whose identities were preserved. During World War II, the Canadian Scottish was in the leading wave of troops to storm ashore on June 6, 1944, at Juno Beach. It served with distinction through the remainder of the war, gathering up one battle honour after another. As a reserve regiment, the Canadian Scottish has since provided personnel for service on most army overseas deployments. The young men and women who serve in its ranks today are acutely aware of the regiment’s historical roots and remain faithful to its motto: Deas Gu Cath (Ready for the Fray).
Endnotes
Prologue: Make Every Sacrifice August 1914
1 H. M. Urquhart, The History of the 16th Battalion (The Canadian Scottish) Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War, 1914-1919 (Toronto: The MacMillan Company of Canada, 1932), 367-68.
2 G. W. L. Nicholson, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 (Queen’s Printer: Ottawa, 1964), 5.
3 Ibid, 6.
4 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 369.
Chapter One: “Ready, Aye, Ready!” August 1914—February 1915
1 H. M. Urquhart, The History of the 16th Battalion (The Canadian Scottish) Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War, 1914-1919 (Toronto: The MacMillan Company of Canada, 1932), 370.
2 G. W. L. Nicholson, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 (Queen’s Printer: Ottawa, 1964), 18.
3 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 6.
4 Nicholson, 21.
5 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 9.
6 Ibid, 84.
7 Ibid, 14.
8 Kenneth Radley, We Lead Others Follow: First Canadian Division, 1914-1918 (St. Catharines, ON: Vanwell Publishing Limited, 2006), 46.
9 J. L. Granatstein, Canada’s Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002), 57.
10 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 14.
11 Ibid, 15.
12 Nicholson, 25.
13 Ibid, 24.
14 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 17-18.
15 Ibid, 24-25.
16 Ibid, 25-26.
17 Ibid, 25.
18 Ibid, 32.
19 Nicholson, 35-36.
20 16th Infantry Battalion War Diary, December 1914, Library and Archives Canada, 1.
21 16th Infantry Battalion War Diary, January 1914, Library and Archives Canada, 2.
22 Ibid
23 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 30.
24 Ibid
25 16th Infantry Battalion War Diary, December 1914, 2.
26 Nicholson, 38-39.
27 Ibid, 27-28.
28 Tim Cook, At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting The Great War, 1914-1918 (Toronto, Viking Canada, 2007), 78.
29 Nicholson, 27-28.
30 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 40.
Chapter Two: Learning War—February-April 1915
1 16th Infantry Battalion War Diary, February 1914, Library and Archives Canada, 2-3.
2 H. M. Urquhart, The History of the 16th Battalion (The Canadian Scottish) Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War, 1914-1919 (Toronto: The MacMillan Company of Canada, 1932), 41.
3 Ibid, 41.
4 16th Infantry Battalion War Diary, February 1914, 3.
5 H. M. Urquhart personal diary, University of Victoria Special Collections, 60.
6 16th Infantry Battalion War Diary, February 1914, 4.
7 Urquhart, diary, 60.
8 G. W. L. Nicholson, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 (Queen’s Printer: Ottawa, 1964), 45-46.
9 16th Infantry Battalion War Diary, February 1914, 4.
10 Ibid, 5.
11 Urquhart, diary, 56.
12 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 96.
13 Urquhart, diary, 62.
14 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 44.
15 Nicholson, 49.
16 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 45.
17 Urquhart, diary, 64-65.
18 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 45.
19 16th Infantry Battalion War Diary, February 1915, 7.
20 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 46-47.
21 16th Infantry Battalion War Diary, March 1915, n.p.
22 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 48.
23 Urquhart, diary, 70.
24 Nicholson, 51.
25 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 49.
26 Nicholson, 51.
27 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 47.
28 Nicholson, 53.
29 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 49.
30 Urquhart, diary, 72.
31 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 50.
32 Ibid, 405.
33 Urquhart, diary, 77.
34 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 50.
35 Nicholson, 54-55.
36 Urquhart, diary, 80.
37 Ibid, 83-84.
38 Ibid, 83-85.
39 Urquhart, diary, 85.
40 Nicholson, 56-57.
41 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 55.
Chapter Three: Baptism—April 22- May 4, 1915
1 G. W. L. Nicholson, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 (Queen’s Printer: Ottawa, 1964), 58.
2 Daniel G. Dancocks, Welcome to Flanders Fields: The First Canadian Battle of the Great War: Ypres, 1915 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1988), 107.
3 Nicholson, 60-61.
4 Ibid, 56.
5 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade War Diary, April-May 1915, Appendix A, Library and Archives Canada, 8.
6 H. M. Urquhart, The History of the 16th Battalion (The Canadian Scottish) Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War, 1914- 1919 (Toronto: The MacMillan Company of Canada, 1932), 55.
7 H. M. Urquhart personal diary, University of Victoria Special Collections, 86.
8 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 55.
9 16th Battalion War Diary, April 1915, Library and Archives Canada, n.p.
10 3rd Brigade War Diary, April-May 1915, 8.
11 Lyn Macdonald, 1915: The Death of Innocence (London: Penguin Books, 1997), 193.
12 Nicholson, 61-62.
13 Macdonald, 195.
14 Urquhart, diary, 86.
15 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 56.
16 Urquhart, diary, 86-87.
17 16th Infantry War Diary, April 1915, n.p.
18 Nicholson, 64.
19 Ibid, 63.
20 Dancocks, 122.
21 16th Battalion War Diary, April 1915, n.p.
22 Dancocks, 125.
23 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 57-58.
24 Urquhart, diary, 87.
25 William Rae, “Letter to Mother, April 28, 1915,” Col. H. M. Urquhart Fonds, Correspondence-1915-1980, Box 22, File 18, University of Victoria, Special Collections, 3.
26 Urquhart, diary, 87.
27 Rae, 3.
28 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 58-59.
29 Rae, 3-4.
30 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 59.
31 Urquhart, diary, 86-87.
32 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 60.
33 Urquhart, diary, 87.
34 Dancocks, 130.
35 Urquhart, diary, 88.
36 16th Battalion War Diary, April 1915, n.p.
37 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 61.
38 Ibid, 61.
39 Ibid, 62-63.
40 Urquhart, diary, 88.
41 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 64-65.
42 Nicholson, 92.
43 Rae, 1.
44 Urquhart, diary, 89-90.
45 Ibid, 92.
46 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 84.
47 Ibid, 405.
Chapter Four: Blown To Hell—May 14-June 13, 1915
1 H. M. Urquhart, The History of the 16th Battalion (The Canadian Scottish) Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War, 1914- 1919 (Toronto: The MacMillan Company of Canada, 1932), 73.
2 G. W. L. Nicholson, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 (Queen’s Printer: Ottawa, 1964), 93-96.
3 Ibid, 97.
4 Ibid, 97-98.
5 H. M. Urquhart personal diary, University of Victoria Special Collections, [as of May 6, 1915, Urquhart started numbering his pages from one forward again without explanation of the reason], 5.
6 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 75.
7 Ibid, 76.
8 Urquhart, diary, 5.
9 Ibid, 5-6.
10 Ibid.
11 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 78.
12 Ibid.
13 Urquhart, diary, 5-6.
14 16th Battalion War Diary, May 1915, Library and Archives Canada, n.p.
15 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 79.
16 Urquhart, diary, 7.
17 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 79-80.
18 Urquhart, diary, 7-8.
19 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 405.
20 Nicholson, 103-04
21 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 81.
22 Ibid, 81-82.
23 16th Battalion War Diary, June 1915, n.p.
Chapter Five: Trench Warfare Drudgery—June 1915-March 1916
1 H. M. Urquhart, The History of the 16th Battalion (The Canadian Scottish) Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War, 1914- 1919 (Toronto: The MacMillan Company of Canada, 1932), 88-89.
2 Ibid, 95.
3 Ibid, 97-98.
4 H. M. Urquhart personal diary, University of Victoria Special Collections, 36-37.
5 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 99-100.
6 G. W. L. Nicholson, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 (Queen’s Printer: Ottawa, 1964), 109-15.
7 Urquhart, diary, 34.
8 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 101-02.
9 Ibid, 103-04.
10 Urquhart, diary, 35.
11 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 105.
12 Nicholson, 115.
13 Ibid, 120-21.
14 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 111-14.
15 Urquhart, diary, [as of November 24, 1915, Urquhart started numbering his pages from one forward once again without explanation of the reason], 3.
16 Ibid, 2.
17 15th Battalion War Diary, December 1916, Library and Archives Canada, n.p.
18 Kenneth Radley, We Lead, Others Follow: First Canadian Division, 1914-1918 (St. Catherines, ON: Vanwell Publishing Limited, 2006), 65-66.
19 Urquhart, diary, 8.
20 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 114.
21 Radley, 81-82.
22 14th Battalion War Diary, December 1915, Library and Archives Canada, n.p.
23 Urquhart, diary, 8.
24 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 115.
25 Ibid, 122.
26 Andrew Godefroy, “Portrait of a Battalion Commander: Lieutenant-Colonel George Stuart Tuxford at the Second Battle of Y
pres, April 1915,” Canadian Military Journal, Summer 2004, 55-56.
27 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 123.
Chapter Six: Return to the Salient—March 28-August 9, 1916
1 Winston Groom, A Storm in Flanders: The Ypres Salient, 1914-1918: Tragedy and Triumph on the Western Front (New York: Grove Press, 2002), 67.
2 H. M. Urquhart, The History of the 16th Battalion (The Canadian Scottish) Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War, 1914- 1919 (Toronto: The MacMillan Company of Canada, 1932), 123-24.
3 Groom, 138-39.
4 G. W. L. Nicholson, Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919 (Queen’s Printer: Ottawa, 1964), 133-13.
5 Ibid, 138.
6 Groom, 144.
7 Nicholson, 139.
8 Ibid, 140-41.
9 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 125.
10 http://www.greatwardifferentcom/Great_War/British_Front/Hills_01.htm , accessed August 16, 2007, reproduction of text from The War Illustrated, 11 May, 1918, Lovat Fraser, “The Epic Battles for the Hills,” 3.
11 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 125.
12 Ibid, 127-28.
13 Ibid, 126-27.
14 Nicholson, 142-44.
15 Ibid, 145-47.
16 Roland H. Hill, “Holding the Salient, 1916,” Canada in the Great War, Vol. 3 (Toronto: United Publishers of Canada Limited, 1919), 257.
17 Jack Granatstein, Canada’s Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002), 88.
18 Nicholson, 148.
19 Ibid, 147-151.
20 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade War Diary, June 1916, Appendix 35: First Operation, 2 to 7 June, 1916, Library and Archives Canada, 1.
21 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 135.
22 3rd Canadian Infantry Brigade, Appendix 35, 1.
23 Urquhart, 16th Battalion, 136-37.
