pferguson | June 26, 2021

Canadian Artillery in Action Canadian war artist Kenneth Forbes was all to familiar with service on the Western Front. Born in Toronto, Canada Forbes, prior to the Great War, studied art in the United Kingdom and had twelve of his portraits exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, England. In 1914 Forbes joined the British Army’s […]

Category: Inspired By a True Story | No Comments »
Tags: 16th Battalion CEF (Canadian Scottish), Canadian Artillery in Action, Canadian Field Artillery, Canadian War Memorials Fund, Honours and Awards, Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire (IODE), Kenneth Forbes, Lord Beaverbrook, Military Medal, Phillip Henry Button, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI), War Artists, William Metcalf VC MM and Bar

pferguson | January 10, 2020

16th Battalion C.E.F. Prisoners of War (Part 3) Every two years (in January) I have returned to my 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion Prisoner of War research project. To my surprise the battalion does not appear to have had any service personnel captured during 1917. Of particular interest in this the third and final installment are […]

Category: Remember Them Well | No Comments »
Tags: 16th Battalion CEF (Canadian Scottish), Arras, Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Charles Margetts, Cuvillers, David Clelland MC, Escape, Haynecourt, James Rodolphus Jenkins (Escaper), John Clarence Scott, Kingsley Gower Poole, Military Cross, Military Service Act 1917, Mons Communal Cemetery, Niederzwehren War Cemetery, Norman Hough, Parvillers, Parvillers-Schwetz Wood, Prisoners of War, Quiévrain Communal Cemetery, Royden Percival Patton, Royden Percival Patton (Escaper), Sidney James Smith, Tells of Stirring Incidents at Front, Valenciennes (St. Roch) Communal Cemetery

pferguson | January 20, 2018

16th Battalion C.E.F. Prisoners of War (Part 2) …the enemy opened a heavy bombing attack against the left flank. Sergeant Slessor was wounded and captured – he died three days afterwards. His post was overwhelmed. Only after hard fighting was this onslaught stopped and the block retaken. (Urquhart, The Sixteenth, page 183) See also Behind […]

Category: Snapshots of the Great War | 3 Comments »
Tags: 16th Battalion CEF (Canadian Scottish), 1916, Amputation, Arthur Beaufin Irving (image), Barbed Wire, Brussels Town Cemetery, Died of Wounds as Prisoner of War, George H. Slessor, Hamburg Cemetery, John Albert Smith (image), Porte de Paris Cemetery, Prisoners of War, Prisoners of War Veteran's Organizations, Robert Balfour, St. Souplet British Cemetery, Thomas Edward Boyle (image), Vimy Memorial

pferguson | October 21, 2017

The 16th Battalion C.E.F. (The Canadian Scottish) at Passchendaele Ridge In mid-October 1917 the Canadian Expeditionary Force was ordered to move towards Passchendaele Ridge, Belgium in relief of troops from Australia and New Zealand. The first attack, by Canadians at Passchendaele, occurred 26 October 1917. By mid-November when the Ridge was captured by the C.E.F. they […]

Category: Remember Them Well | No Comments »
Tags: 16th Battalion CEF (Canadian Scottish), Crest Farm, Duisans British Cemetery (France), For Bravery in the Field, Gallantry, Grafenstafel Ridge, Honours and Awards, Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery (Belgium), Military Medal, Passchendaele, Passchendaele Memorial, Passchendaele Ridge, Third Battle of Ypres, Waterfields, Zonnebeke

pferguson | October 7, 2017

Before and For All Time On a rainy day towards the Somme, we stop at Beaumont-Hamel and Thiepval before heading a short distance to Adanac Military Cemetery, to observe the day at the graveside of Piper James Cleland Richardson VC. Although we have been before, time and time again, our observances here strike a new […]

Category: Pipers of War | No Comments »
Tags: 16th Battalion CEF (Canadian Scottish), 9 October 1916, Adanac Military Cemetery, Beaumont-Hamel, Piper James Cleland Richardson VC, pipers, Thiepval War Memorial