Fighting for the old country

First World War Audio Archive

Fighting for the old country

Transcript

The majority of chaps in the first contingent, a good sizable

Soldier at attention in front of steps.

majority, were immigrants or the immediate offspring of immigrants from the old country. That includes England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales - all four of them. Of course, Ireland at that time was still replenishing a tremendous number of fine troops to the British Commonwealth, to the expeditionary force. And as far as the other enlistments are concerned, they would be nearly all native born Canadians, with a sprinkling of a few chaps that came over from the old country, such as myself.

Three soldiers on bicycle.

I came here in 1912, a month after the Titanic went down. And my parents had been here about 18 months prior. They left me behind to finish school over in England. So I came out here and I joined a boys club at St. John’s Norway. That’s on Kingston Road and Woodbine Avenue. And we were mostly English boys, English born, as a matter of fact. We didn’t rush to enlist right off the bat, because we didn’t know whether the war would be over very shortly But when it started to drag on, we thought, “Well, we’d better get cracking.” And our main reason, one of our main reasons for joining was that the things that we had been taught to revere were being threatened. This was our churches, our schools, our friends, the population in general, our beautiful countryside

Soldier with cane, standing in front of a door.

in England - the whole of the British way of life was being threatened. So that we thought it was about time we try and do something about it, as little as it might have been.

Description

Mr. Ellis discusses the demographics of enlistment in Canada, and gives his personal reasons for enlisting.

Wilfred Dancy Ellis

Wilfred Dancy “Dick” Ellis was born in Surrey, England, on September 10,1895. Mr. Ellis emigrated to Canada in 1912, joining his parents who had left him in England to finish school. He became active in the local boys club and Home Guard, and finally enlisted in the 4th Division, Canadian Bicycle Battalion, because, in his words, he wanted to preserve his British heritage. This group, nicknamed the “Gas Pipe Cavalry”, was a highly mobile support battalion which could quickly move into reinforcing positions. The events described by Mr. Ellis took place at Vimy. In addition, he was wounded at Lieven on the Lens Front. After the war, Mr. Ellis wrote a Battalion history entitled, Saga of the Cyclists in the Great War, 1914-1918. He was employed with the Bank of Commerce for 48 years and involved with the Canadian Corps of Commissionaires. Mr. Ellis died, aged 100, on August 14, 1996, leaving behind his wife of 75 years, Gladys (nee Loram), and two children.

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