From Nicholson's "Official History of the Canadian Army: Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919": (we have completed a full transciption of this text - click here for details) [quote="Nicholson Chapter 2, page 19] While the troops for the first contingent were being recruited, the British Government had “gratefully accepted” an offer of four additional Canadian units of a thousand men each.7 The proposal had been enthusiastically, if somewhat prematurely, relayed to London by the Governor General after attending a meeting of the Cabinet during which the Minister of Militia referred to offers received from three Provinces to provide battalions. These failed to materialize, Sir Robert Borden reporting to the Acting Canadian High Commissioner in London, Mr. George Perley: “New Brunswick entirely repudiates having made any such offer and Manitoba and Calgary find themselves financially unable to undertake what was suggested rather than offered.”8 The proposal that stood was that by Captain A. Hamilton Gault, a Montreal veteran of the South African War, to raise an infantry battalion of ex-soldiers and to contribute $100,000 towards the cost. The battalion, named Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry after Her Royal Highness, the daughter of the Governor General, was speedily recruited in Ottawa, its ranks being filled by veterans from all parts of Canada. [/quote]
Hi Richard ! I was interested to see that there was a big contingent in Quebec ! I thought this maybe of use to somebody ! According to the Canadian Military Heritage Project, approximately 32,000 men initially assembled September 04 1914 at Valcartier Quebec as a response to England's acceptance of help. CFB Valcartier was originally erected as a military training camp in August 1914 as part of the mobilization of the Canadian Expeditionary Force at the onset of World War I. The name Valcartier comes from the town of St. Gabriel de Valcartier, of which a large section was expropriated in order to create the military training camp. Due to its proximity to the port of Quebec, Valcartier became the largest military camp on Canadian soil, including some 32,000 men and 8,000 horses http://www.pbalkcom.com/Cassin Pages/HistoryValcartier.htm
I have not been here for a while but I see there have been a lot of changes! Many changes at our Canadian site as well, as we brought the site home from the USA (http://cefresearch.com) to Canada (http://cefresearch.ca). We have upgraded the Forum to phpBB3 and added a new WIKI site as well. The MATRIX continues to grow with the help of many from around the world.
