Highlanders of Canada), Canadian Expeditionary Force
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Private Alfred William Turner (Number 23193) of the 15th Battalion (48th Highlanders of Canada), Canadian Expeditionary Force, having no known last resting-place, is commemorated in the stone of the Canadian National Memorial which stands on Vimy Ridge. (Right: The 15th Battalion wore a kilt of the Davidson tartan, the image of which is from the Collins Gem series of books.) (continued) 1 His occupation prior to military service recorded as that of a civil engineer, Alfred William Turner has left little behind him a propos his early life in St. John’s, capital city of the Dominion of Newfoundland, except that he had been a student at the Methodist College – later Prince of Wales College – as his name features among those from that institution who fell during the Great War. All else that can apparently be said with any certainty is that he was present in or in the vicinity of Camp Valcartier, Québec, during the month of September, 1914, for that was when and where he enlisted. There appear to be no of his journey there. According to a duplicate of his Medical History, Alfred William Turner enlisted on September 17 at Québec City and was taken on strength by the 8th Regiment “Royal Rifles” of the Canadian Militia. On or about September 22 the Regiment was transported to Camp Valcartier, the complex still in the throes of being established, to the north of the Quebec capital where it metamorphosed into the 12th Overseas Battalion*. *The Canadian Militia was largely organized in or about the year 1871 when the fledgling Dominion of Canada was to take responsibility from British forces for its own defence. As its reason was purely defensive, Militia units were prohibited by law from undertaking operations outside the borders of the country. However, on the outbreak of war, they were not precluded from recruiting on behalf of the newly-forming Overseas Battalions, and indeed Militia personnel were to comprise a majority of those recruits volunteering during the first months of the conflict. As for the medical examination in question, it had been undergone in Quebec City on September 8, and Alfred William Turner had been pronounced as…fit for the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force. His first pay records show that it was on September 22 that Private Turner was to be first remunerated for his services to the 12th Canadian Overseas Battalion and that it was only a single day later, on the 23rd, on which he was attested, his oath witnessed by an official of the Quebec Superior Court and by the Commanding Officer of the 12th Battalion. It was to be the same Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Harry Fulton MacLeod, who was to bring the formalities of Private Turner’s enlistment to a conclusion five days later again, on September 28, when he declared – on pater – that…A.W. Turner…having been final approved and inspected by me this day…I certify that I am satisfied with the correctness of this Attestation. After that, things began to happen fast as the first Canadian Contingent prepared for overseas service. Ships had been both requisitioned and chartered and on September 30, having made the short journey by train from Valcartier to the port of Quebec, the fifty-four officers and eleven-hundred fifty-nine other ranks of the 12th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force embarked onto His Majesty’s Transport Scotian, the vessel having been requisitioned as a troopship. (continued) 2 (Preceding page: The SS Scotian shown here leaving Southampton en route to Bombay (today Mumbai): After her employment as a troop-ship in 1914, she was used to house German prisoners-of war. – image from the Historical RFA (Royal Fleet Auxiliary) web-site) On the same September 30 a number of troop transports – some of them having spent days at anchor in Wolfe’s Cove, just upstream from Quebec City – had begun to slowly descend the St. Lawrence River to congregate on October 3 in the area of the Gaspé. From there on that night, the thirty-one passenger vessels and their five Royal Navy escorts began their journey in convoy across the Atlantic. Whether Private Turner was aware of it - or not - is not documented but, on October 5, as the formation was passing along the south coast of Newfoundland, the small Bowring Brothers’ steamer Florizel, carrying the First Five-Hundred of the Newfoundland Regiment overseas, sailed to meet it and to join it,. The convoy reached its destination, the English south-coast naval port of Plymouth- Devonport, on October 14. However, such was the poor organization of the port at that time, that some troops were to remain on board their ship for several days before disembarkation. In fact, the convoy had been sailing for Southampton but a submarine scare had brought about a change in plans and Plymouth-Devonport, undergoing refitting and renovations, was to be used – faute de mieux. Private Turner’s Battalion was not one of those to spend the longest amount of time in the harbour on board ship: however, seven days must have seemed more than long enough as the 12th Battalion was not to set foot on land until October 21, whereupon it was immediately transported by train from North Road Station, Plymouth, to the large military encampment on Salisbury Plain. The 12th Battalion War Diarist has concluded his entry of that day, then opened his entry for the next by noting that the subsequent journey of the first train was not to start until…7.10 p.m….and the second at 8.30 p.m. Both trains had arrived at Lavington Station by fifteen minutes before one in the morning but Pond Farm Camp, the unit’s destination, was yet two hours and some minutes’ march distant; and while the baggage was to travel by motor transport, the trek was to be undertaken on foot. Pond Farm Camp was reached at three in the morning of October 22 – and it had rained heavily all the way. (Right above: Some of the convoy carrying the Canadian Expeditionary Force shown at anchor in Plymouth Hoe on October 14, 1914 – from The War Illustrated) (continued) 3 The Army Regulations of the day were such that troops were to undergo some fourteen weeks of training from the time of enlistment; at that point they were to be considered as being fit for active service. Thus life at Pond Farm Camp was to become replete with physical drills, musketry and route marches. The newly-arrived Canadians were to spend the remainder of the month of October - and up until the first week of February, 1915 - in becoming proper Soldiers of the King – even if they were colonials. The King in question arrived to inspect his Canadian soldiers on the Salisbury Plain on November 4 – for a change it was a fine day. (Right: George V, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India – photograph from Bain News Services via Wikipedia) On February 4 the Canadian Division* marched to a review area where they were inspected by His Majesty King George V, and the War Minister, Lord Kitchener**. The next few days were spent in final preparation for departure before, on February 8, the infantry battalions of the Division boarded trains at Amesbury to take it to the west-coast port of Avonmouth. *Often designated as such until the advent of the 2nd Canadian Division when, logically, it became the 1st Canadian Division. **For whom the Canadian city of Kitchener was named in 1916 – it had been called Berlin until then. (Right above: Canadian troops during the autumn of 1914 at Bulford Camp, Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire – from The War Illustrated) However, neither the 12th Battalion nor Private Turner was to cross from England to France: on January 17, 1915, the 6th, 9th, 11th and 12th Battalions had been designated to form a reserve brigade and to remain behind in England to form the nucleus of a Canadian Training Depot. Soon also they were to move from the mud of the Salisbury Plain to the county of Kent. There, overlooking the Dover Straits and in the vicinity of the harbour and town of Folkestone, the Canadians were establishing a large military complex: Shorncliffe. One of its subsidiary camps was to be in the area of East Sandling and, by the time of Private Turner’s eventual departure for the Continent, it was to there that the 12th Battalion, now designated as the 12th Canadian Reserve Battalion, had been stationed. 4 (Preceding page: Little remains of Shorncliffe Military Camp today apart from a barracks occupied by Gurkha troops. The Military Cemetery almost alone serves as a reminder of the events of a century ago. – photograph from 2016) According to his pay records it was in the Month of April, 1915, that he was attached to the 15th Battalion, already serving in Belgium by then*. However, the same records do not provide us with the date on which he was physically transferred from East Sandling to the Continent. Nevertheless, it was likely on the night of April 3-4 of 1915 that this transpired as the 12th Battalion Diary notes a draft of two-hundred fifty other ranks being despatched to the 75th Battalion** – as well as other drafts sent elsewhere. *These records in fact state that it was the 16th Battalion which now became responsible for him, but this does not correspond to the remainder of his dossier which shows the 15th Battalion to be the unit by which he was taken on strength.