Links
Here you'll find links to some useful sites which provide good sources of information, opportunities to hook up with researchers and also with battlefield tour guides in Ieper (Ypres). This is followed by a Bibliography containing a short list of books specifically mentioning the 4CMR. If you come across any other helpful links, books or publications, please do let me know and I'll share them here. If you find any broken links here, please do let me know.
Researchers
For Canadian Military or RCMP research you can do no better than Arnie Kay. Arnie has been of considerable help to me with 4CMR, 9th Mississuaga Horse and galantry medal research over the years. If you need somebody "in the know" to help with gaining copies of Canadian military records, citations, or for looking into specific matters of military research, Arnie is your man. Click Arnie Kay to email him.
George Auer is one of the researchers who has contributed a number of detailed and well researched articles to this site, and has been the link that has allowed many of the extended 4CMR family to stand beside their relatives. George is in the midst of compiling a book "Soldiers of the Soil/Grey County goes to War". I would like to support his efforts by requesting that if your 4CMR family member or research subject hailed from Grey County, Ontario, that you share with George any pictures, letters, diaries and oral histories that you may have on your relative. Please do email 4cmr.com via the Contact page, who will forward any contacts to George directly.
Research and Honourary Websites
The Governor General's Horse Guards perpetuates the 4CMR today as part of the 32nd Canadian Brigade Group.
Originally formed as a troop of dragoons in 1822, the troop became independant of its parent battalion in 1839, and was named the Governor General's Body Guard in 1866. The GGBG had an illustrious history to 1914, when along with the 9th Mississuaga Horse, the 2nd Dragoons and the 25th Brant Dragoons, 28 officers and 577 non-commissioned officers and men formed the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles. After WW1, the GGBG and the 9th Mississuaga Horse combined to perpetuate the 4CMR as The Governor General's Horse Guards in 1936. The regiment went on to see action in Italy and NW Europe in WW2.
The regiment has an active Association, so please do visit the GGHG website and that of the Association, to learn more about their history and current active service.
War Diaries of the First World War - Housed within the Library and Archives, Canada, the war diairies have been scanned in and are part of it's ArchiviaNet on-line resource tool. Principally covering Canadian regiments (there are a few British ones now), this is an invaluable source of information, if you have the patience to navigate its waters.
This link takes you right to the search page. Type in "4th Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles" for the 4th CMR diairies. Don't input a date or year, this just seems to confuse it. Hit submit query. The first reference covers the period 30th July 1915 to 28th February 1918. Dates before this are only covered in overview by the Regimental History. Other references listed cover small chunks of time after Feb 1918, up to dismissal of the men on 20th March 1919. Each page of the diary is listed (without description), even blank pages! A wealth of information is contained within each diary, so do take your time scanning the whole of the month concerned, and both the one before and after your target date, as there are some very interesting additional pages, including operations reports, and casualty lists and an occasional photo.
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The Books of Remembrance are available on-line through Veterans Affairs Canada, and contain the names of the Canadians who fought and lost their lives for their country. This link takes you to the First World War books. Just click on the year of your relative or research subject's loss, and the relevant page with their name on will be presented.
CEF Soldiers' Attestation Papers can also be accessed on ArchiviaNet. This searchable database provides digital images of a soldier's attestation papers. Unlike the CWGC (below) this is for ALL Canadian soldiers, not just those who were lost. If they signed on with the CEF, chances are you should be able to locate their attestation papers here.
Commonwealth War Graves Commission - doing immeasurably invaluable work to commemorate the war dead, through the building and maintenance of cemeteries and memorials around the word, and with the preservation of records. A searchable database is available to track down known individuals or general surname searches of those who died serving in both World Wars.
Maple Leaf Legacy Project (MLLP), receives a special mention here. As its goal it is to image every Canadian headstone of the 20th Century around the world. The project is run by Steve Douglas, who also owns and runs a great bookshop in Ieper that you must visit, The British Grenadier Bookshop, on Meensestraat - the main walk up to the Menin Gate - and the Salient Tours, battlefield tour company.
The MLLP's success is due to a large, multi-national volunteer force, which I have the pleasure being a part of. The project's website has a searchable database to help find an image of a particular Canadian headstone.
www.1914-1918.net is another cracking site - this one run by Chris Baker - which gives you a great spread of WW1 material. Rarely does a site go into specifics, but here Chris has produced an invaluable and in-depth information source on all aspects of the War. There is an enviably detailed account of the Battle of Mount Sorrel (listed separately below) which I urge you to explore in addition to the rest of Chris's site.
Battle for Mount Sorrel - is a very useful link to Chris Baker's www.1914-1918.net site, for a very detailed account of the Battle for Mount Sorrel; a devastating day in the history of the 4CMR.
Tom Morgan's Hellfire Corner is a fantastic site to get Great War news and information, and it also links into Tom's own superb on-line military books sales service. There are lots of specialist and general interest articles by many contributors, and this site is well worth a look-see in respect of its prominence and length of service in providing a point of focus for the Great War on the web.
The Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group is a website administered by Neil Burns, and brings together a group of enthusiasts interested in the widest range of aspects concerning the CEF in WW1. They run a very helpful Forum, where you will receive a warm welcome and an open door to reach people who want to help with any query you might have.
Duty & Valour, the Canadian Forces Wiki, is webmastered by Aaron Greyling and is an online encyclopedia and repository for all information about the history and current on-goings of the Canadian Forces. This is a worthwhile and building project, so do lend it your support by visiting the Duty & Valour website.
Matrix Project blogs. Richard Laughton manages the Matrix Project - formed by members of the Canadian Expeditonary Force Study Group - which creates blogs about men who served with the CEF in the Great War. A stunning body of work and collective research, which will be of great value and interest to anybody wishing to learn more about the men who served with the CEF.
BBC World War in-depth - World War One is a detailed and very informative website, taking a look at all aspects of WW1, and also includes a virtual tour of the trenches. There is a good deal of detail and subject focus for all levels of interest in the "war to end all wars".
Tour Companies
Salient Tours runs professionally organised and informatively guided tours in the Ypres and Somme areas, Salient Tours is dedicated to helping people understand the events of the First World War, whether through their guided tours, their specialist bookshops at Ypres and on the Somme, or simply through offering advice and information.
Bibliography
This is a list of books or publications (printed or web based), which specifically mention the 4th CMR. This list is fledgling, and I welcome your contributions to it.
4th Canadian Mounted Rifles - S. G. Bennett - Murray Printing Company Ltd, Toronto - 1926 - is a Regimental History, with a full and detailed account of the 4CMR from 1914 to 1919. A rare and expensive book. Grab it if you see it!
Alternatively, and of great news, is that this book is now available, free, on the web: 4CMR Regimental History will take you there. Select the 32mb .PDF option on the left of their page. This is a large download, so be patient with it. An invaluable development for 4CMR researchers.
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The Governor General's Horse Guards - Second to None - John Marteinson - RBS 2002 - is the story of Canada's senior militia regiment. A book containing rich narrative and plentiful in maps and photographs, this book has a depth of detail rarely found in "regimental histories". The book covers the period from the regiment's earliest roots to its activities as at 2001.
Relevant to the 4CMR is the extensive section on the First World War, with an in-depth focus on the darkest days of the regiment in Battle for Mount Sorrel in June, 1916, and its involvement in the pivotal actions on the Somme, at Vimy Ridge, Passchendaele, Amiens, and the final 100 days at Arras, Cambrai and when the Armistice was announced, at Valanciennes (8km from Mons). The 4CMR marched into Mons on November 12th, 1918. The war was over.
Whilst I am sure the book will be available through the 'Kit Shop' section of the GGHG's Association website in due course, for now any enquiries for the purchase of the book should be put through to the Kit Shop's email. This exceptional book is a MUST for 4CMR researchers at all levels.
Out of the Jaws of Hunland - McMullen & Evans - William Briggs, Toronto - 1918 - written by Cpl. Fred McMullen and Pte. Jack Evans, who both survived the Battle for Mt. Sorrel on June 2nd 1916, and were subsequently taken prisoner. An amazing tale of their survival of that awful day, their capture, life as POWs, their escape bids, and final escape into The Netherlands.
Captured - Lt. J. Harvey Douglas - McClelland, Goodchild & Stewart Ltd, Toronto - 1918 - written by Lt. Douglas, who also survived the onslaught of June 2nd 1916, and too was taken as a POW. He was held for the next 16 months, finally being interred in Switzerland before being repatriated in late 1917. This book is in contrast to that of McMullen & Evans, in that the life of an officer POW was somewhat different to that of the ordinary soldier.
An American Soldier - Houghton Mifflin Co, USA - 1918 - A collection of letters between Lt. Edwin Austin Abbey and his family. Lt. Abbey was assigned to the 4CMR in December 1916, following his return to the Front from England after being wounded. He fell at Vimy Ridge in April 1917. An interesting account of an American who, eager to join the war, does so via Canada and falls at the largest of the Canadian victories. Lt. Abbey appears in the third image in the 4CMR Gallery
Prisoner 5-1-11 - Norm Christie - CEF Books © 2006 - The personal recollections of 112079, Pte. Harry Laird's joining up, training, posting, life in the trenches, his survival of the Battle of Mount Sorrell on June 2nd, 1916, his wounding, subsequent capture, and life as a POW. This is an amazing account of that most horrendous of times for the 4CMR, and is told in vivid and often harrowing detail. It is clear from this account that those few who survived June 2nd, 1916, were indeed miracles in their own right. Written in 1919, this memoir is heavily laced with bitterness and overt jingoistic xenophobia. However, Harry Laird wrote it "like it was", and was honest to his feelings in that immediate post-war period. For Harry's picture of what June 2nd, 1916, was like, life as a wounded and slow to recover POW, and the sheer indignation that some soldiers felt about their treatment in captivity, you must read this book.
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Clarence McCabe - A Canadian Soldier of the First World War - through Blurb.com - This is a well written biography, giving a further and valuable insight into the lives of ordinay men joining up to fight in the Great War. McCabe's story is one of leaving farm home life and with the 4CMR enduring some of the most significant action in Europe, only to be lost to a most unfortunate accident. In 52 pages, this is a detailed and moving biography. 4cmr.com highly recommends this well researched book.