Ontario

The Fatalist

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

Lieutenant Colonel E. W. Jones, D.S.O. †
21st (Eastern Ontario) BattalionJones

I have a presentiment that I am going into this fight probably to be killed.

(Lieut.-Col. Jones to W. R. Givens, Renfrew Mercury, 6 Sept 1918)

Elmer Watson Jones was killed in action on 8 August 1918 during the first day of the battle of Amiens. He had succeeded Brigadier General W. S. Hughes as commander of the 21st Battalion on 18 July 1916. A native of Brockville, Jones was born on 23 March 1874. He had served for eight years in the 41st Regiment and joined the 21st Battalion in charge of “A” company. He received a field promotion to second-in-command in January 1916.

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The Grand Master

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Lieutenant Colonel Milton K. Adams
155th (Quinte) BattalionMKAdams

Officer states that he is completely deaf in right ear and that in damp weather he has considerable pain and tenderness in ear. He complains of a constant foul and unpleasant discharge from antrum, discharge often abundant.

(“Medical History of Invalid,” 10 Sept 1918)

Milton Kerr Adams was an Orangeman, Grand Master of the Loyal True Blue Association and commanding officer of the 16th Regiment. He was born in South Marysburgh, Prince Edward County, Ontario on 29 July 1872. After the outbreak of the Great War, Adams became treasurer of the local Patriotic Fund. He resigned this position in November 1915 when he was authorized to raise the 155th based in Picton. At a recruitment rally in April 1916, ninety-two year old former Prime Minister Sir Mackenzie Bowell delivered an address to encourage enlistment.

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The Coach

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Lieutenant Colonel Archie Earchman, D.S.O.
228th (Northern Fusiliers) BattalionEarchman

Col. Earchman was the most popular officer ever connected with a hockey club, and he drilled it into his men to play that game. They carried this out at all times. The best wishes of every player, fan and citizen go with the Battalion.

(Porcupine Advance, 21 Feb 1917, 6)

When Archibald Earchman began organizing the 228th Battalion in early 1916, he was as much interested in putting together a championship hockey team as he was an effective military unit. In total, he recruited over sixty semi-professional and amateur players. Earchman entered a team into the 1916/1917 season National Hockey Association but they were forced to withdraw when the battalion was ordered overseas in February 1917.

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The Druggist

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Lieutenant Colonel Alex Wilson
33rd (London) Battalion

A sordid story of graft was told by witness after witness at the inquiry into the affairs of the 33rd Battalion at the Armories to-day. One after another admitted trafficking in the stores of the battalion, and on top of these confessions… there came revelations of what one of the court characterized as a “liquor supply depot.”

(Toronto Globe, 17 Nov 1915, 3)

Born on 17 November 1855 in Seaforth, Canada West, Alexander Wilson was a pharmacist with thirty-five years’ experience with 33rd Huron Regiment. A noted marksman, Wilson was a five-time member of Canada’s Bisley team and won several Dominion Rifle Association awards.

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The Doc

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Lieutenant Colonel T. C. D. Bedell
156th (Leeds and Grenville) BattalionBedell

Well the old 156th Battalion has been broken up having suffered the fate of other battalions… We have some doctor now and all of the new ones from the 156th were given a strict medical examination. Eighty, including myself, were turned down out of less than three hundred. He didn’t examine my eyes but that ‘bum’ toe of mine got me. I did not cry when he told me that I would get a hospital job but I told him “that was what I enlisted for.” He told some of the boys that if he had the doctor here who passed us he would ‘string him up and shoot him.’

(Pte. John Ford to Mrs. Ford [Mother], 25 Nov 1916)

Born on 20 April 1874 in Hillier, Ontario, Thomas Casey Dorland Bedell was a physician in Merrickville and commanding officer of the 56th Regiment. In August 1914, Bedell gave up a lucrative medical practice when he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He embarked for England in October 1914 attached to the 2nd Battalion. He proceeded to France with the 15th Battalion in March 1915.

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The Divorced

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Lieutenant Colonel A. P. Allen
254th (Quinte’s Own) BattalionAPAllen

WHEREAS Arthur Percival Allen, of the city of Belleville, in the province of Ontario, coal merchant, has by his petition alleged, in effect, that on the eleventh day of September, A.D. 1906, at the said city, he was lawfully married to Mabel Aleen Vermilyea; that she was then of the said city, a spinster; that his legal domicile was then and is now in Canada; that since the said marriage she has on divers occasions committed adultery; that he has not connived at nor condoned the said adultery; that there has been no collusion, directly or indirectly, between him and her in the proceedings for divorce; and whereas by his petition he has prayed for the passing of an Act dissolving his said marriage, authorizing him to marry again, and affording him such other relief as is deemed meet; and whereas the said allegations have been proved and it is expedient that the prayer of his petition be granted.

(Senate Journals, 7 June 1922, 265)

Arthur Percival Allen was born in Stella, Ontario, on 6 March 1880. He was a Belleville coal merchant with twenty years’ experience with the 18th Regiment. He had limited success in recruiting for the 254th Battalion from Hastings and Prince Edward Counties and sailed to England with only 250 men in June 1917. Allen was quickly deemed surplus to requirements and returned to Canada.

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The Military Scientist

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Lieutenant Colonel James Ballantine, D.S.O.
76th and 109th BattalionsBallantine

They have got a new Col. in this battalion since we came to it. His name is Ballantine, he has been to France twice, and this is his third battalion to command so he has had a little experience anyway. He seems to take a great interest in the work of the men. He says he don’t care what kind of officers he has as long as he has good N.C.O.’s and men, all that the officers are good for is figure heads in his mind.

(J. H. Bennett, 109th Bn. to Garnet Bennett [brother], 22 Nov 1916)

Born on 3 September 1876 in Georgetown, Ontario, James Ballantine was a member of the 20th Halton Rifles and received military training at Toronto, Hayland Island, Hythe and Aldershot. He fought in the Boer War and was awarded the Queen’s Medal for gallantry.

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The Ross Rifleman

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Lieutenant Colonel C. H. Ackerman
247th (Victoria & Haliburton) BattalionAckerman

Officer is troubled with insomnia. There is also a history of nervous symptoms following his wounds. This nervous condition is referred to in previous boards. Officer is slight in build but fairly well nourished and up to his normal weight, no organic disease.

(Ackerman, “Medical History of Invalid,” Kingston, 12 Mar 1918)

While fighting with the 2nd Battalion at Festbuert in June 1915, Lieutenant Charles Haydn Ackerman suffered a gunshot wound to the shoulder and shrapnel injuries to the scalp. Born in Port Perry on 28 July 1888, Ackerman was a manufacturer in his father’s firm and member of the 57th Regiment. He was evacuated from the trenches to England, where he was treated for his physical injuries and mental overstrain.

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The Steeplechaser

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Lieutenant Colonel L. H. Nelles, D.S.O.
4th (Central Ontario) BattalionLHNelles

Colonel Nelles never became the popular idol that Thomson had been; but as the months went by and he showed that in addition to this bent for smartness he had tactical ability far beyond the average, a sense of justice, and (more important still) his full share of personal bravery a better feeling grew.

(Lieut. Pedley, Only This, 1999, 18)

Lafayette Henry Nelles was the last commanding officer of the 4th Battalion. He was born on 5 December 1890 in London, Ontario. In November 1914, the twenty-three year old enlisted with 12th Reserve Battalion. When an enemy sniper killed Lieutenant Colonel A. T. Thomson on 20 November 1917, Nelles took charge of the 4th Battalion. Nelles received the Distinguished Service Order in June 1918 and remained in command until demobilization.

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The Unforgotten

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Lieutenant Colonel A. T. Thomson, D.S.O., M.C. †
4th (Central Ontario) Battalion Thomson

The fourth will not forget him
Although his stay was short,
For he proved to be a soldier
Far above the average sort.
His ways were very quiet
But in action he was strong;
He was absolutely fearless
And his judgment was seldom wrong.
To the men he was a leader
Whom they were proud to serve,
Never say a word against him
Or you’ll regret that word.
He is gone but not forgotten
By those who knew him best,
For we know that safe in heaven
He has found eternal rest.

(4th Bn. Scout Section, 1917)

Born on 27 February 1888 in Port Credit Ontario, Alexander Thomas Thomson was a member of the 36th Peel Regiment. He was assigned to the 10th Battalion at the rank of lieutenant when the First Contingent assembled at Valcartier in August 1914.

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