Canadian Freemasonry During the First World War (1914-1918)
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Canadian Freemasonry during the First World War (1914-1918) When you go home, Tell them of us, and say, For your tomorrow We gave our today (Inscription, British War Memorial, Kohima India) by Michael Jenkyns, FCF, Grand Historian (2009-2014) Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Canada in the Province of Ontario Canadian Freemasonry during the First World War (1914-1918) When you go home, Tell them of us, and say, For your tomorrow We gave our today (Inscription, British War Memorial, Kohima India) by Michael Jenkyns, FCF, Grand Historian (2009-2014) Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Canada in the Province of Ontario © Michael Jenkyns 2013 No part of this book or CD-ROM may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except for the purposes of review, without the prior written permission of the copyright holder. Published by: Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises Printed by: ASAP Print and Copy Systems, 215 Terence Matthews Cres., Unit 1, Ottawa, Ontario K2M 1X5 First Printing: Early 2014 ISBN (13) 978-0-9811693-2-3 CD edition $15.00 By the same author The Sovereign Great Priory of Canada of the United Orders of Malta and of the Temple 1855-2002: The Supreme Grand Masters; Published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises; Fall 2003; ISBN 0- 9732736-0-7. Central District (1858-1895) and Ottawa District 13 (1896-2003) Royal Arch Masons of Ontario: Then and Now; Published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises; Spring 2003; ISBN 0-9732736-1-5. Discontinuous Flight: A Canadian Pilot in the Royal Air Force 1939-1945, published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises; Fall 2003; ISBN 0-9732736-2-3. The Cryptic Rite in Ontario, The Grand Council of Royal and Select Masters of Ontario from 1871 to 2004; Published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises; Spring 2005; ISBN 0-9732736-4-X. Irish Masonic Lodges in the Province of Canada (1819-1858) and Masonic Independence; published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises, Fall 2006; ISBN (10) 0-9732736-5-8, ISBN (13) 978-0- 9732736-5-6. Royal Arch Masons in Eastern Ontario: Central District (1858-1895), Ottawa District 13 (1896- 2003) and District 13 (2003-present); Published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises; Fall 2008; ISBN 978-0-9811693-0-9. Ottawa District Then and Now: Freemasonry in Eastern Ontario 1855-2010; Published by Gryphon Jenkyns Enterprises; Fall 2008; ISBN (13) 978-0-9811693-1-6. CD-ROM edition only. Whence Come We? Volume II: A History of Freemasonry in Ontario 1998-2010; by Wallace McLeod, Past Grand Historian and Michael Jenkyns, Grand Historian, published by the Grand Lodge A.F. & A.M. of Canada in the Province of Ontario, © 2010. Printed by: RR Graphics, Mississauga, First Printing June 2011. ISBN 978-0-9694541-3-7. Table of Contents Preface Part I - Global Events ........................................................1 Overview ............................................................1 Abbreviated chronology of World War I Campaigns and Battles . 2 Size of the Conflict ....................................................7 The War Graves Commission ............................................7 War’s Aftermath ......................................................7 Part II - Canada ............................................................9 The Country and its People ..............................................9 Canada Mobilizes .....................................................9 The Canadian Expeditionary Force .......................................10 The War Years in Canada..............................................12 November 11, 1918...................................................13 The War Continues ...................................................13 The Cost to Canada ..................................................14 Canada’s World War I Victoria Cross Recipients . 15 Finale .............................................................15 Part III - Canadian Freemasonry at Home and in War . 17 Ontario ............................................................19 British Columbia and Yukon ............................................27 Alberta.............................................................33 Saskatchewan .......................................................39 Manitoba ...........................................................42 Quebec ............................................................48 New Brunswick ......................................................53 Prince Edward Island..................................................57 Nova Scotia.........................................................60 Newfoundland and Labrador ............................................64 Part IV - Freemasonry in Europe...............................................67 England ............................................................67 Scotland ...........................................................71 Ireland .............................................................73 Belgium ............................................................75 France.............................................................76 Loge Havre de Grace, No. 4, GLNIR, le Havre ........................76 How the Lodge furniture and other effects came to Canada . 78 Officers of the Lodge ......................................80 Part V - Military Lodges......................................................81 Sources..................................................................83 Appendix 1 Declarations of War and the status of belligerents by 1918/19 . 87 Appendix 2 Canadian Expeditionary Force Divisions, Brigades and Battalions . 89 Appendix 3 Canadian World War I Victoria Cross Recipients . 123 Appendix 4 Masonic Honour Roll - Ontario ......................................151 Appendix 5 Masonic Honour Roll - British Columbia and Yukon . 197 Appendix 6 Masonic Honour Roll - Alberta ......................................207 Appendix 7 Masonic Honour Roll - Saskatchewan . 213 Appendix 8 Masonic Honour Roll - Manitoba.....................................225 Appendix 9 Masonic Honour Roll - Quebec......................................235 Appendix 10 Masonic Honour Roll - New Brunswick . 241 Appendix 11 Masonic Honour Roll - Prince Edward Island . 245 Appendix 12 Masonic Honour Roll - Nova Scotia . 247 Appendix 13 Masonic Honour Roll - Newfoundland . 257 Appendix 14 Members of Loge Havre de Grâce . 261 Appendix 15 Canadian Founder Members of Lodge Havre de Grâce No. 4 . 285 Appendix 16 Havre de Grâce - Lodge Meetings . 291 Appendix 17 Abbreviations and Terms Used ....................................301 Preface August 4, 2014 is the centennial of Britain’s declaration of war against Germany and Austria: the commencement of World War I where millions of men and women would fight against each other. Freemasonry knows of no physical, religious or political boundaries: it is for many a philosophy, a way of acting and being, of being a good and reliable citizen of the country in which we live. For Canada (including Newfoundland) our population reached 7.9 million on July 1, 1914. An estimated 118,300 Freemasons met in lodges and within 5 years approximately 12,300 (10.4%) would have enlisted in the British and Canadian armed forces and almost 1,000 (9% of enlisted brethren or 1% of all masons) would have died serving the colours. In the twenty-first century, Canada means a country stretching from coast to coast to coast. For that reason a section is as equally devoted to Newfoundland (until 1949 this was a Dominion in own right) as it is to the other nine provinces. I also exercised the right as the compiler and author of this research project, as well as a proud Ontario mason, to talk about Ontario, first. Thereafter I have written about Freemasonry in the provinces as moving from West to East: British Columbia and Yukon, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. One challenging factor is that there are Masonic Lodges holding an historic authority from the Grand Lodges of England and Scotland in the provinces of Quebec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador. In developing this paper I have chosen to describe their activities as part of the political context of the province in which they exist. In Quebec and Nova Scotia they are active within the provincial context and their members are citizens of the province (and of Canada). Within Newfoundland and Labrador, the English and Scottish Lodges had their own local District Grand Lodges reporting back to London and Edinburgh. Although this situation changed in 1997 with the establishment of their own Grand Lodge, there is still a Scottish District Grand Lodge. With this project, as with many others I have undertaken, serendipity comes into play. In the course of reviewing Saskatchewan’s masonic servicemen we have discovered that Brother Lieutenant Robert Grierson Combe, a Scottish born Pharmacist who came to Saskatchewan and established himself in the town Melville where he became a proud member of Melville Lodge. He was a posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross for his actions at Vimy Ridge in early April 1917. I have been blessed with the help and assistance of a number of Masonic colleagues across the breadth of this country. V.W.Bro. Trevor W. Mckeown, Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon; R.W.Bro. George Tapley, PDDGM and Past Master of the Internet Lodge of Research GRA; M.W.Bro. Richard Brown, PGM and Acting Grand Secretary, Grand Lodge of Saskatchewan;