Site last updated: 9th February 2024   

  Welcome


This website is a place of remembrance dedicated to all who served with the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles in the First World War.


Being a respectful and honouring point of focus for those having relatives or research subjects who served at any time with the 4th CMR, the website has grown out of discovering that my great-grandfather's brother, Cpl Frank Forsdike, served and died with the Regiment. As such, I do invite you to click on About to read the amazing story behind the incredible events that eventually led to Frank's previously unclaimed medals being presented to his daughter, 92 years after Frank's loss.


Pivotal to this website are the In Memoriam pages. There you will find the names of all of the men currently known to have served with the Regiment - some 4,521 in all - and the opportunity to remember and represent these men today, whether you are a relative, a researcher or just feel the need to step up in an act of remembrance. Please do make Contact and together let us honour their memories by adding our names to symbolically stand alongside theirs in remembrance and thanks for their service.


It is my hope to provide some tangible link to the men, the places and the Memorials associated with the Regiment. So, please, explore and enjoy the site (no costs are involved anywhere on this site), feel free to contribute a biography, and do check the 'Latest News' panel at the bottom of this page and the News page for updates, as this website is most certainly a work-in-progress project.


Through this website, which is optimised for PC web browsers, though not yet for mobile devices, let us come together and say that whilst they are gone, they are not forgotten. I feel very strongly about that.


With our common bond I do look forward to hearing from you soon, as together "We will remember them."


Best wishes


Ian






Featured pages


Demographic breakdown: this page provides a demographic insight into the real lives of the Regiment's full numbers (4,521). Data includes age at attestation, where attested, occupation, religion, place of birth / nationality of origin, prior military experience and height statistics. Also included are overviews of the most common first name, hair colour and eye colour. Other interesting facts are included, which will tell us how many pairs of brothers, and twins, signed up, marital status, and the youngest and oldest to sign up.


The culmination of several years of detailed research, using the regimental nominal roll, coupled with the material digitised in the Library & Archives Canada databases, the demographic breakdown provides an interesting insight into the social backgrounds of the men of the Regiment.


The Demographics page was last updated on 10th March, 2023.







Medals awarded to men of the 4th CMR: between 1914 and 1919 some 220 medals (207 medals plus 13 Bars) were awarded to 192 men who had served with the 4th CMR at some point in the war.


This page shares the stories of many of these men, from a 15 year old who had lied about his age at sign up and had, by the age of 17, been awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM), to the 4th CMR's only Victoria Cross in action (another was awarded to a 4th CMR man who received it for actions with the unit he was subsequently transferred to).



Research is ongoing in this section, and was last updated on 5th January 2024.



Featured books




Written by Canadian author Darrell Duthie, the five book WW1 fiction series takes us on an intriguing and wholly captivating journey, following Canadian Intelligence Officer Captain and latterly Lieutenant Malcolm MacPhail's service through the First World War.



A smooth blending of historical fact with engaging fiction gives us a first-hand experience of the trials, tribulations, losses and victories of trench warfare in WW1, all through the eyes of Malcolm MacPhail. Strong characters, engaging action and sound story lines put us into the thick of the Canadian Expeditionary Force's action in the mid to final stages of the war. Darrell does a fantastic job of maintaining the pace and tension of action at the Front at that time, leaving us feeling we'd actually been there ourselves!


The extent of the research is breathtaking, as is evident in the locations, the command hierarchy and it's politics, and the detail of the actions described, made all the more captivating by the brief appearances of the 4th CMR in each of the novels. If you enjoy WW1 fiction, these books are for you, and would also make excellent gifts for somebody you know who is interested in the First World War.


More in-depth reviews of each of these books and purchase details (including a Kindle format), can be found on the Links > Bibliography page on this website.

Latest News: 8th February 2024


Thanks and warm welcomes are extended to Marguerite and Michael & Pauline O'Neill for providing details for 3033834 Pte Frank Sims Wilton, and to Alex Clayton for providing details for brothers 111095 Pte Ernest Clayton and 111096 Pte. Joshua Clayton.


12th October 2023


A warm welcome is extended to Sean Maas-Stevens, who has provided a biography for 334232, Pte. Curtis Walker. Orginally a 63rd Battery C.F.A. man, Curtis was transferred to the 4th CMR in in May 1917, and served without incident until he was wounded by a gas shell three days before the Aristice. Thankfully he survived for a full life in the USA thereafter. Thank you, Sean, for standing alongside Curtis.


19th September 2023


Thanks are extended to long term contributor and 4CMR researcher, David Kavanagh, for providing a biography for 113371, Pte. Harry Loxley. Orginally an 8th CMR man, Harry was transferred to the 4th CMR in the divisional restructuring of January 1916. Surviving the 4th's blackest day, the 'Battle for Mount Sorrel' on June 2nd 1916, Harry, taken as POW that morning, was not repatriated until two weeks after the end of the war.


10th March 2023


A warm welcome to Ann Henderson, who steps up alongside her grandfather, Lt Frederick Watt, a former 111th & 35th Battalion man, who was transferred to the 4th CMR in late November 1916. Though wounded at Vimy and subsequently discharged, Frederick did survive the war and was previously represented here by his late daughter, Joann. Thank you, Ann.


Also welcome to Scott Bradley, who represents his great uncle, 109149, L/Cpl Stanley Longmoor, who as a 4th CMR "original" signed up in November 1914. Sadly, Stanley was lost in the 'Battle for Mount Sorrel' in early June 1916. Thank you, Scott.


17th December 2022


A warm welcome is extended to Leo Belval, representing 144993, Pte Andrew Mesick, who served as Pte Howard Martin. Originally assigned to the 77th (Ottawa) Battalion, Andrew was transferred to the 4th CMR in March 1916, but sadly was lost on 2nd June of that year on the 4th's blackest day, in the 'Battle for Mount Sorrel', near Ypres (now Ieper), Belgium.


28th November 2022


Thanks are extended to 4CMR researcher David Kavanagh for representing Croix de Guerre medal recipient 109699, Sgt. Arthur Yeates. Arthur was a Barnado's Boy, sent overseas to Canada from England for a better chance at life. He was a farm labourer at aged 15 and when he signed on was amongst the original intake for the 4CMR. He quickly rose through the ranks from Private to Sergeant. Though with ill health after returning home, Arthur survived the war.


13th June 2022


A warm welcome is extended to Roy Sullivan for representing 400907, Pte. John Hatch, a former 33rd Battalion man who was transferred to the 4th CMR on 26th May 1916, only to be lost exactly a week later in the 'Battle for Mount Sorrel', near Sanctuary Wood, Ypres (now Ieper), Belgium.



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Site last updated: 9th February 2024