Recruiting, Training and Reinforcements in the Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1918
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Western University Scholarship@Western Digitized Theses Digitized Special Collections 2011 FILLING THE RANKS: RECRUITING, TRAINING AND REINFORCEMENTS IN THE CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE 1914-1918 Richard Gottfrid Larsson Holt Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses Recommended Citation Holt, Richard Gottfrid Larsson, "FILLING THE RANKS: RECRUITING, TRAINING AND REINFORCEMENTS IN THE CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE 1914-1918" (2011). Digitized Theses. 3362. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/digitizedtheses/3362 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Digitized Special Collections at Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digitized Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FILLING THE RANKS: RECRUITING, TRAINING AND REINFORCEMENTS IN THE CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE 1914-1918 (Spine title: Filling the Ranks: Manpower in the CEF 1914-1918) (Thesis format: Monograph) Volume I by Richard Holt Graduate Program in History A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy The School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies The University of Western Ontario London, Ontario, Canada ©RichardHolt 2011 c THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO SCHOOL OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES CERTIFICATE OF EXAMINATION Supervisor Examiners Dr. Jonathan Vance Dr. Andrew Iarocci Dr. Brock Millman Dr. Vivian McAlister, ; Dr. Geoffrey Hayes The thesis by Richard Gottfrid Larsson Holt > Entitled: . .......... Filling the Ranks: Recruiting, Training and Reinforcements in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1918 Is accepted in partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Date_______ ___________ __________ _______;________ _______ ___ Chair of the Thesis Examination Board li ABSTRACT This dissertation deals with the evolution of manpower management in the Canadian Expeditionary Force from 1914 to 1918: recruiting, entry-level training and the provision of reinforcements from Canada to England and England to France. The central theme is the increasing professionalism in the Canadian Forces with the development of an efficient and comprehensive system of recruiting, training and reinforcing units at the 'front.- This work argues that from first to last, the government did not appreciate the need to husband manpower although the Canadian Forces made continual efforts to manage the pool by altering recruiting criteria and seeking alternative sources for recruits. Training was based on British army programs that were well-suited to conditions on the Western Front. However, training in Canada was largely a waste of time because of obsolete equipment and by the end of the war, depot units were responsible only for recruiting and forwarding men to the reserve units. Initially the reinforcement structure was based on British army policies but these did not accommodate the structure of the Canadian Forces. However, with the creation of the Ministry of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada, was rationalized and modified to suit Canada’s needs. This dissertation relies on extensive primary sources in both Canada and Great Britain to conclude that by 1918, Canada had developed an efficient and comprehensive system for managing the national manpower pool. The dissertation also notes profound changes in both the state and society. Key words: Canadian Expeditionary Force, manpower, training, reinforcements ill Acknowledgements Producing this dissertation has not been easy and without advice and encouragement from a large number of people, it is possible it may never have been : ; completed. I owe a great deal to all those who helped and they have my sincere and heart- felt thanks. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Jonathan Vance of The University of Western Ontario, for his incredible patience as well as his understanding and tactful guidance. Without him, this project would have come to naught. I am also grateful to him for giving me the opportunity to explore other venues as well. For everything, thank you. / I would also like to thank an old soldier, Professor Emeritus Jack Hyatt, also of The University of Western Ontario, who tipped me off to the Edwin Pye Fonds at the Directorate of History and Heritage, a rich source that has been largely unexplored since Colonel Nicholson wrote his one-volume official history in 1962. I am grateful, not only for his advice, but for the occasional well-deserved back-hander as well. Another old v soldier who assisted was the late Professor S.F. Wise of Carleton University who not only encouraged me in my studies but also challenged my perceptions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Dr Tim Cook of the Canadian War Museum has been a mainstay over the last few years and I would like to express my gratitude for his help and encouragement as well as his assistance with other matters. I would also like to thank Dr Bill Rawling of the . Directorate of History and Heritage for his advice and comments. on my study, of Canadian Engineer Battalions in 1918. IV - Fellow graduate students at The University of Western Ontario provided considerable advice and assistance. In particular I would like to acknowledge Wes Gustavson, whose forthcoming dissertation on the Imperial War Graves Commission will shed light on the melancholy aftermath of the Great War. Thanks are also due to Stephanie Potter for sharing her work on the Canadian Cavalry Brigade, a force that ùp until now has been largely ignored by Canadian historians. Other graduate students that should be acknowledged include, in no particular order, Andrew Ross, Adrian Ciani, Forrest Pass, Steve Burgess-Whiting and Andrew Theobald. ; The staff at Library and Archives Canada, The National Archives at Kew, Directorate of History and Heritage, Archives of Ontario, the Imperial War Museum, Peterborough Centennial Museum and Archives, the Royal Canadian Regiment Museum, Woodstock City Museum, the Elgin Military Museum, the Archives and Research Collections Centre of the University of Western Ontario and the St Marys Museum all went out of their way to help me. Thanks also to the Reference Room of the Saskatoon Public Library for providing a photocopy of part of Roy McLellan’s privately-published memoirs from what appears to be the only copy available in Canada. I am also grateful to Jennifer Holland, the reference librarian at The University of Western Ontario Law School, for her assistance in tracking down U.S. legislation relevant to thè British- Canadian Recruiting Mission. Thanks also to the ever-helpful staff at the D.B. Weldon Library, in particular Anne Morris, who answered impossible questions, and David Murphy, who was able to finesse a number of seemingly impossible inter-library loans. Thanks also to Goodenough College in London for providing accommodation during my stay in England. V; - A note of thanks goes to Chris Speed, the Graduate Assistant of the Department of History for her always cheerful and invariably efficient administrative support. Much of the discussion in Chapters 6 and 9 makes use of a data base listing more than 29,000 reinforcements posted to nine select infantry battalions. The data base was taken from printed nominal rolls published in regimental histories supplemented by data drawn from embarkation rolls, sailing lists and Daily Routine Orders Part II for reserve battalions in England. I am grateful to my son, William, for devising a program to handle this data and for taking the time from his busy schedule to scan some of the rolls from the regimental histories into Excel format. Thanks also to my youngest son, Thomas, who has been of more help than he ; realizes. A special thanks goes to my parents, both of whom unfortunately have passed on: Major Leonard Holt, C.D., RCAMC, and Lieutenant Gerda Larsson, RCAMC. Their love and encouragement of my interest in history will be with me for always. I regret very much that they are not here to see the finished product. Lastly, I would like thank my wife, Victoria Holt. Her love, support and encouragement have meant the world to me. For the last eight years she has lived with an absent-minded husband oblivious to everything but the Great War and without her patience, good humour and willingness to put up with a house cluttered with books, f . photocopies, notes and reference cards, none of this would have been produced. vi Table of Contents Certificate of Examination ii Abstract iii ^ Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents ’ -- ■ ' : ^ ; vii List of Tables ,ix: List of Figures XV Abbreviations xvii Preface 1 Chapter 1 Militia Roots 15 y Chapter 2 Manpower and the Canadian ■ 64 Expeditionary Force Chapter 3 Recruiting Structures 1914-1918 118 Chapter 4 Recruiting Criteria 162 Annex Pre-enlistment Chronic Conditions 208 Chapter 5 The Manpower Pool v 228 Annex Health: Canadian-born and Immigrants 283, Chapter 6 Training 287 Annex A Training Syllabi 361 Annex B Training Standards 377 Annex C Characteristics of weapons 388 and ammunition Annex D Weapons Holdings 397 Chapter 7 Reinforcements: Policy, 404 vii Procedures and Wastage Chapter 8 Reinforcements: Canada to England 429 Chapter 9 Reinforcements in England and France 472 Annex A Statistics: Reinforcements 551 Annex B Organization ofShomcliffe 1916 558 Annex C Organization of Headquarters Overseas 559 Military Forces of Canada 1917 Annex D 3 rd Canadian Division syllabus for partially 562 trained Reinforcements 1916