Archives of Manitoba
The 100th anniversary of the First World War is now finished but the records will continue to be preserved at the Archives and accessible to current and future generations who want to know more about the time period. In addition, this blog will remain on our website as an additional resource.
September 2017 Posts:
- 25 September: Third Canadian Division Athletic Meet, September 21st, 1917
- 18 September: “This war must be won by the people at home.”
- 11 September: Russian Revolution and the HBC: A Refugee Crisis
- 5 September: Manitoban soldiers received support from British relatives
25 September 2017
Third Canadian Division Athletic Meet, September 21st, 1917
Many of our First World War records have come to us from family members and descendants of men who served. For some, including the pamphlet featured here, we have no record of when they came or who gave them to us.
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This pamphlet is for an athletic meet held “somewhere in France” on September 21st, 1917 by the Third Canadian Division. The event features numerous sporting events, including football, indoor baseball, foot races of several distances, boat races, a tug-of-war and ‘putting the shot’.
Search Tip: Search “First World War” in Keystone to find more records.
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18 September 2017
“This war must be won by the people at home.”
The Kiwanis Club of Winnipeg was established in May 1917 as a business and professional men's club aimed at furthering business through networking and promoting ethical business practices as well as community service and leadership.
On 18 September 1917, the Kiwanis Club of Winnipeg hosted a luncheon and talk by Major C. W. Gordon, a well-known Winnipeg minister who wrote novels under the pen name Ralph Connor. One hundred and fifty men attended the luncheon at the Fort Garry Hotel; the event is described in the Kiwanis Club’s minute book.
Major Gordon was introduced by Premier T. C. Norris and went on to speak about the responsibility of Canadians to do their utmost to help the war effort. During this time Prime Minister Borden was advocating conscription and the Military Service Act had been passed into law on 29 August 1917 making it possible to conscript men between the ages of 20-45.
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The Kiwanis Club’s summary of Major Gordon’s talk alludes to the contentiousness of the issue:
“We must give up everything for the successful prosecution of this war. To accomplish, what we are in honor bound to accomplish, if we are to keep our respect as Canadians, we must have unity in its broadest sense. The English-speaking Canadians must act in harmony with the French Canadians, and there must be no thought of civil strife. To bring about this union of forces the Major urged the necessity of unity of government.”
According to the Kiwanis Club’s account, Major Gordon’s speech was well-received:
“At the conclusion of the address the one hundred and fifty men present rose and gave three rousing cheers for Major Gordon, our Allies, the men at the front and democracy.”
Search Tip: Search “Kiwanis Club” in Keystone for more information.
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11 September 2017
Russian Revolution and the HBC: A Refugee Crisis
As the revolution in Russia persisted, the HBC’s agent in Archangel, H.A. Armistead, continued to report back to the Governor and Committee on the tumultuous situation in that country. Armistead worked closely with the French Ministry of Ravitaillement (Supply) and its director, Mr. LeBourgeois, overseeing the arrival and departure of HBC supply ships in Archangel’s harbour, commissioned by the French Government.
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In this copy of a letter dated 12 September 1917, Armistead reports:
“At Archangel we are more or less cut off from any source of reliable news, but the general feeling is that we are passing through very critical days.”
Armistead touches on the growing danger of being a foreigner in Russia. Steamers landing at Russian ports were being detained, and British subjects had been advised to stay away from Petrograd, the Russian capital at the time, for their own safety. Moreover, a refugee crisis was arising among expatriates living in Russia.
Armistead writes:
“A very considerable number of French refugees has arrived at Archangel, and are being despatched according to the accommodation on board the steamers in port. Mr. LeBourgeois has informed me that there is a great distress amongst many of these refugees, who not only lack the means for obtaining food, but in many cases also clothing. Some of the local French people have collected a small amount of money to assist those in distress, and I believe to have acted in your sense in sending to Mr. LeBourgeois a contribution in the name of the Hudson’s Bay Company of 500 roubles for this purpose.”
In this way, the HBC found itself involved in transporting refugees to safety through its shipping presence in Archangel.
Search Tip: For more information about HBC correspondence from Archangel, search “Records of Hudson's Bay Company representatives at Archangel” in Keystone.
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5 September 2017
Manitoban soldiers received support from British relatives
Records come to the Archives of Manitoba from a variety of different sources. Often family members donate records of a parent or grandparent. This has usually been the case with the letters and other records created by First World War soldiers. However, this is not how the records of Portage la Prairie resident Campbell Millar found their way to the Archives.
Millar’s records were acquired by the owner of The Curiosity Shop, Faye Settler, in the course of buying goods from estates for the shop inventory and were then donated to the Archives of Manitoba by Daryl Kuhl, the new owner of The Curiosity Shop, in 2005.
Campbell Millar was born in Portage la Prairie in February 1899 and enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in January 1917, just before his 18th birthday. He left for England in April 1917 and, after a year of training in England, departed for France in April 1918. Millar was in France when the armistice was declared and returned to Canada in March 1919.
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His letters to his parents, siblings and to Janet O’Brien, a school friend and the woman he married after the war, document his time in training camps and at the Front in great detail. Millar also served in the Second World War and again wrote home to his wife, Janet, and their children.
In a letter dated 9 September 1917, Campbell Millar writes to his mother about receiving a package from Mrs Jackson of Glasgow, his grandmother’s cousin. In many of the collections of letters of Manitoba soldiers held at the Archives there are mentions of this kind of support from relatives who live in Great Britain. Sweets were especially well-received!
“In the box was some Scotch Ginger bread and some chocolates. Maybe the Ginger bread wasn’t good Eh! It was dandy. Fresh as though it had been out of the oven a couple of hours.”
Search Tip: Search “Campbell Millar” in Keystone to find out more about Millar’s correspondence from the First and Second World Wars.
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