4th Canadian Mounted Rifles

Welcome to the 4CMR website; a place of remembrance to those who served with the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles in World War 1.

This simple website is not intended to be a site of any expertise on the matter of the First World War, but to be a point of focus for anybody who had relatives or research subjects who served at any time with the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles.

The site came about following my discovery that a relative of mine, Cpl. Frank Forsdike, served and lost his life with the 4CMR. This discovery affected me deeply and more so when I found that his medals remained unclaimed because his wife and daughter could not be traced in 1920.

After 12 years of unsuccessfully trying to determine if Frank's family had perpetuated, and after almost three years of this website being in place, Bert Layton, trying to find information on his grandfather, Frank Forsdike, stumbled across this website and made contact. What a day that was! Please see Frank Forsdike's page for Frank's biography and for details on the subsequent and long overdue memorial ceremony, in which his medals were finally presented to his daughter, Florence, on May 10th, 2008. Frank's name was consequently honoured under Resolution 2609, in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly on May 12th, 2008!

This website, then, was instrumental in Frank's grandson, Bert, finding out about his gradfather, and for Florence to learn about the father she never knew. As it continues to aid people to find out about relatives who served in the 4CMR, pivotal to this website then is the In Memoriam page, where you will find a "Wall of Honour" to the memory of those who served with the Regiment. Just as importantly, standing alongside the names of the soldiers are the names of relatives or researchers who now represent those men today. So, if you have a relative, or research subject, who served with the 4CMR, please do let me honour their memory by adding their details to the In Memoriam page.

It is my hope to provide some tangible link to the men, the places and the memorials associated with the Regiment, and through this site we can say together that it was not “all for nothing”, and that whilst they are gone, they are not forgotten. I feel very strongly about that.

So, please, explore and enjoy the site, contribute (please), and do check the News page for updates as this is a work-in-progress. With our common bond I do look forward to hearing from you soon, as together “We will remember them”.

Best wishes, kindest regards,

Ian

Website © 2009 4cmr.comLast updated: 23 June 09