Canadian Veterans and the Aftermath of the Great War
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Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 4-7-2016 12:00 AM And the Men Returned: Canadian Veterans and the Aftermath of the Great War Jonathan Scotland The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Robert Wardhaugh The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in History A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Jonathan Scotland 2016 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Canadian History Commons, Cultural History Commons, Military History Commons, and the Social History Commons Recommended Citation Scotland, Jonathan, "And the Men Returned: Canadian Veterans and the Aftermath of the Great War" (2016). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 3662. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/3662 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract The Great War was a formative event for men who came of age between 1914 and 1918. They believed the experience forged them into a distinct generation. This collective identification more than shaped a sense of self; it influenced understanding of the conflict’s meaning. Canadian historians, however, have overlooked the war’s generational impact, partly because they reject notions of a disillusioned Lost Generation. Unlike European or American youths, it is argued that Canadian veterans did not suffer postwar disillusionment. Rather, they embraced the war alongside a renewed Canadian nationalism. This generation was proud of their nation’s wartime achievements, notably those of the Canadian Corps, but the conflict’s meaning was rooted in more than battlefield history. Its validity was inseparable from the postwar life for which veterans believed they had fought for. Yet, despite hopes to return home to a ‘square deal’, economic and international instability marred life in interwar Canada, dashing the generation’s confidence in the future. This discontent is obscured by histories heavily focused on memory and a corresponding reliance on cultural sources, such as war books, to explain the conflict’s social history. While an important part of the war’s legacy, retrospective focus on commemoration is a poor guide to the lived realities of the postwar present. In the war’s aftermath many young veterans struggled to find work. Combined with the prospect of renewed war in Europe, their unemployment added to a growing list of postwar grievances, including failure to secure adequate assistance for wounded and traumatized veterans. These unresolved complaints about the pension system, the soldier settlement schemes, and the mishandling of postwar canteen funds (particularly in Ontario) more than undermined the war generation’s belief in the war, it left them deeply disillusioned with its meaning. Keywords Great War, First World War, Canada, Ontario, generation, disillusionment, Canteen Fund, veterans. Dedicated to Audrey and Donald Scott Acknowledgments This project was assisted financially by a Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada Doctoral Fellowship, two Ontario Graduate Scholarships, and funding from Western’s Lynne-Lionel Scott Fellowship. It could not have been completed without the help of archivists and librarians at Library and Archives Canada and the Archives of Ontario. At the latter, Jeff Mokler was particularly helpful in assisting me with the numerous freedom of information requests required to make sense of Ontario’s Canteen Fund records. The staff at several university archives, including Columbia University, the University of Manitoba, Dalhousie University, and Queen’s University also deserve praise. At Western and the University of Toronto, I’d be remiss if I did not single out both Elizabeth Mantz and Loryl MacDonald for special mention for their support. My supervisor, Robert Wardhaugh, believed in my topic from the beginning and I have benefitted tremendously from his keen editorial and argumentative guidance. My second reader, Jonathan Vance, along with my entire doctoral committee, also deserves thanks for their comments and suggestions. I would similarly like to mention Peter Neary, Alan MacEachern, Robert MacDougall, and Francine Mackenzie, whose guidance and conversation I continue to value. Many friends and colleagues helped with the completion of this study. In Winnipeg, Stephen and Carissa Grandpre welcomed me into their families and their homes. Closer to home, Chris Tyrell secured me a much- needed copy of the Canteen Fund Act. ‘The Elite’ also had my back. Adam Haeussler accompanied me on countless research trips, as did Daniel Heidt, who kindly discussed much of my work along the way. Peter Kikkert saw this dissertation evolve from the outset and went above and beyond by critiquing a draft in its entirety. Edward Soye also discussed this project from its inception and was another who took time out of his busy schedule to read the entire manuscript. His comments and advice improved it significantly. My grandparents, Audrey and Donald Scott, to whom this dissertation is dedicated, helped spark my love of history and I am forever thankful for their encouragement. Bruce and Susanne, my parents, as well as my brother Brendan and his wife Joanne, provided significant financial, moral, and intellectual support, not least by enduring lengthy discussions about arcane points of Canadian history. The same should be said of my parents-in-law, Danny and Grace. Together, my family kept me grounded and helped me see this project to completion. None of what follows could have been possible without the love and support of Cassandra. Our lives have changed dramatically over the course of this project and her unceasing encouragement has made all of this possible. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgments v Table of Contents vii List of Tables xiii List of Figures ix List of Appendices x Introduction 1 Chapter 1: A Generation of Men 18 Chapter 2: A Silent Generation? 70 Chapter 3: The Postwar Disillusioning of Canada’s War Generation 113 Chapter 4: Unemployment and the Problem of the Returned Man 149 Chapter 5: In Search of a ‘Square Deal’ 180 hapter 6: Returned Men and the Promise of the Canteen Funds 231 Chapter 7: “Right Up Against It”: The Canteen Funds and Ontario’s War Generation 266 Conclusion 311 Appendix I 318 Appendix II 322 Acronyms 323 Sources 325 Curriculum Vitae 359 List of Tables Table 1. Age Distribution of Unemployed Men, Toronto 160 Table 2. Provincial Distribution of Canteen Funds, 1925 268 List of Figures Figure 1. Canadian Soldiers by age at enlistment, aged 18-49 25 Figure 2. Visual representation of data in Appendix II 103 Figure 3. Visual representation of data in Appendix II 103 Figure 4. DSCR Poster advertising employment 150 Figure 5. Ontario Canteen Fund Ballot 273 Figure 6. Age of Ontario Canteen Fund Users 276 Figure 7. OCF Users and Total funds distributed, 1928-1939 277 List of Appendices Appendix I 318 Appendix II 322 1 Introduction On 3 June 1916, private A.Y. Jackson huddled in a trench with shells exploding all around. He was a member of the 60th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF). The future Group of Seven member was witnessing the battle of Mount Sorrel, near Ypres. The day before, the German army detonated four mines under the British lines and the result was chaos. By morning, a “hurricane of fire” erupted in the trenches that left the Canadians stunned, deaf, and unable to retaliate.1 Major-General Malcolm Mercer, commander of the newly formed Canadian 3rd Division, was killed, along with most who held the front lines. Reserve and communication trenches were in disarray. There were conflicting messages about whether the battalion should proceed and the German shelling made it “impossible to get the men in position.”2 Jackson’s battalion formed part of the Canadian counter-attack. “They just simply plastered us,” he recalled, as the remaining troops were forced to advance among the 1 Tim Cook, At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the Great War, 1914-1916 (Toronto: Viking, 2007), 350. 2 Library and Archives Canada (LAC), RG 9, III-D-3, Vol. 4942, 60th Battalion War Diary, 3 June 1916. 2 corpses. He further remembered how “You’d look down and see a little kid of about fifteen.”3 The shellfire increased. Suddenly another barrage came crashing down, covering the troops with “dirt, dust, and pieces of brick.” A shell burst a few feet away with a “wicked sound,” followed by a “green yellow ball of smoke.” Next came the “cries and groans.” Jackson’s lieutenant turned pale and fell “in a huddled heap.” A comrade looked “in dismay at a great spurt of blood coming from his arm, which was only hanging by a few shreds of flesh.”4 By day’s end, Jackson was wounded with a shrapnel ball in his shoulder. The fighting left A.Y. Jackson disillusioned. With little desire to return to the front, he wrote his cousin, Florence Clement, telling her that he had lost all “illusions” about war. “I don't care how long I take to get ready for the trenches,” he confessed. He would do as ordered “but not much more.” In Jackson’s mind, the war had become mass slaughter. There was no place for individual distinction. “Glory and decorations are not for the private soldiers,” he wrote. He commented to Florence that individual men were less important than “a box of jam.”5 Ironically, the average 3 LAC, RG 41 [Hereafter Flanders’ Fields], Vol. 16, 85th Battalion (misfiled), A.Y. Jackson, tape 3/3. 4 LAC, MG 30, D 111 [Hereafter MacDonald papers], Vol. 1, folder 2, Jackson to MacDonald, 10 September 1916. 5 LAC, MG 30, D 351 [Hereafter Jackson papers], Vol.