Tag Archives: soldier

Canadian fish sent to England, an opportunity for Newfoundland

Archival Moment

January 29, 1915

In the early days of the First World War, Newfoundland businessmen began to look for opportunities, especially opportunities to expand the fish trade.

With the declaration of war in 1914 the North Sea, the traditional fishing ground for England was closed. The local papers reported:

“The North Sea fishing fleet has been badly hampered and almost put out of action this season through the menace of mines and the result has been a serious depletion of the fish supply so large a part of the food of the British people.”

The famine assumed such dimensions that Cardinal Francis Bourne, the leader of the Catholic Church in England, granted a dispensation to the Catholics of England allowing they may eat meat on Fridays and Fast Days, the Cardinal explained that the step was necessary because of the high price of fish.

The first group to respond to the famine being experienced in England was the fish merchants of the Pacific Coast of Canada. The Canadians were well placed strategically because just months previous the grand trunk Pacific Transcontinental Railway line had been completed allowing fish from Prince Rupert, British Columbia access to markets in Eastern Canada and the United States.

In an experiment to help feed the British three Canadian express refrigerator cars carrying thirty tons of halibut taken from the waters of the Pacific Ocean off Prince Rupert passed through the city of St. John, New Brunswick, where the fish was then shipped by the steamship to the British market. The fish would be carried over 6,500 miles before it reaches the consumer.

The Evening Telegram in St. John’s reported:

“ A trial shipment of 20,000 pounds of halibut proved to be successful, when opened in England it was found to be in first class condition leading to the placing of other large orders. “

Newfoundland fish merchants, aware that “large orders” for fish were being demanded by the British people, saw an opportunity. They knew immediately, “that great development in this new trade will continue till the end of the war.”

The new trade resulted in an economic boom, wartime conditions kept prices high, and Newfoundland merchants continued to supply their traditional markets in Europe, the Mediterranean, Brazil and the Caribbean. The boom lasted until 1920.

Recommended Archival Collection: From your home visit the website, The Great War: http://www.therooms.ca/regiment/part1_entering_the_great_war.asp This site contains the military files of over 2200 soldiers ( we have another 4000 on microfilm) from the Royal Newfoundland Regiment who served in the First World War. These files are searchable by name or by community and will therefore provide invaluable information for all viewers, but will be of particular interest to those who are conducting either family or community research.

Recommended Exhibit: Pleasantville: From Recreation to Military Installation. Level 2 Atrium Pleasantville before the First World War was the site of the St. John’s cricket grounds. With the declaration of war, Pleasantville quickly emerged as a tent city, the home of the storied “First 500”. It was here that the First Newfoundland Regiment recruits began preliminary military training during the months of September and October of 1914. This exhibition highlights some of the activities and training of the Blue Puttees up to their embarkation on the SS Florizel for overseas service.

Recommended Museum Exhibit: Flowers of Remembrance: Level 2 Museum Vitrine: A number of flowers are associated with the First World War by Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, including the familiar forget-me-not and poppy. Such commemorative flowers and their role in the collective memory of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians are profiled. Using artifacts and period imagery relating to The Great War commemoration, The Rooms staff explore the significant role these flowers played across the last century.

A cake sale for the benefit of the soldiers

Archival Moment

November 27, 1914

Newfoundland women made cakes that they posted to their son’s in the trenches of France.

It was for many Newfoundlanders living in the United States disappointing that their ‘new’ country remained neutral during the first couple of years of the First World War, 1914 -1918. It was particularly difficult for the Anglophile Newfoundlanders that supported the notion of ‘King and Country’ and their British heritage.

A number of women, born in Newfoundland but in 1914 were newly minted American citizens wanted to do some small part to support the old country. The local St. John’s newspaper The Evening Telegram wrote: “Although being American citizens their sympathies are still with Old England and they express the earnest wish that success will soon crown the efforts of the allied forces.”

In Everett, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, a number of women originally from Newfoundland decided that they wanted to do something constructive; they decided to hold “a sale of pies and cake” at a local convenience store Booth’s Cash Market. The proprietor, Mr. Boot, an Englishman, was very accommodating.

It was announced that “the proceeds of the sale, will be devoted, to the European War Suffers Fund.”

The choice of the phrase “European War Suffers Fund” was quite interesting. From 1914 – 1917 America as part of its neutrality propaganda used the phrase ‘European War” the rest of the World was using the phrase “Great War.”

The ladies who were all making the cakes and pies for sale were all originally from Harbour Grace; among their lot were Mrs. A. W Parsons, Mrs. Edward Tuolls, Mrs. J. Sheppard and Mrs. A. Sheppard.

The Newfoundland ladies of Everett, Massachusetts, “carried on the affair most successfully”, doing brisk business, declaring at the end of the day “a very successful sale.”

The success of the sale was almost guaranteed, the Harbour Grace ladies would have likely been supported by the many other Newfoundlanders that were living in Everett, Massachusetts and the general Boston area. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts census for 1915 reports that there were 13, 269 Newfoundlanders in the Boston area.

The United States’ entry into World War I came in April 1917, after two and a half years of efforts by President Woodrow Wilson to keep the United States neutral during World War I.

The sentiment for neutrality was gradually abandoned, driven in some small part by these Newfoundland born women who were very aware of the great effort that the people of their home country, Newfoundland, were giving to the effort.

The American people were eventually swayed to join the fight after news of atrocities in Belgium in 1914, and the sinking of the passenger liner RMS Lusitania in 1915 in defiance of international law began to prick the conscience of America.

Newfoundland War Cake Recipe 1914-1918

During the First World War women in Newfoundland would bake and post their “War Cake” to loved ones on the front lines. Some traditional cake ingredients were hard to come by. The “War Cake” recipe that was encouraged by the Women’s Patriotic Association (WPA) of Newfoundland and approved by the Food Control Board including the following:

Ingredients

Mix

1 cup of sugar

1 ½ tablespoons of salt

1 teaspoon of cloves

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

1 teaspoon of mace

2 cups of boiling water

Boil five minutes and cool

Add 1 ¾ cups of flour

I teaspoon of soda

Add I cup of seeded raisins

Bake in a moderate oven.

Give the recipe a try !!

Recommended Archival Collection: From your home visit the website, The Great War: http://www.therooms.ca/regiment/part1_entering_the_great_war.asp

This site contains the military files of over 2200 soldiers from the Royal Newfoundland Regiment who served in the First World War. These files are searchable by name or by community and will therefore provide invaluable information for all viewers, but will be of particular interest to those who are conducting either family or community research.

Recommended Exhibit: Pleasantville: From Recreation to Military Installation. Level 2 Atrium Pleasantville before the First World War was the site of the St. John’s cricket grounds. With the declaration of war, Pleasantville quickly emerged as a tent city, the home of the storied “First 500”. It was here that the First Newfoundland Regiment recruits began preliminary military training during the months of September and October of 1914. This exhibition highlights some of the activities and training of the Blue Puttees up to their embarkation on the SS Florizel for overseas service.

Recipe Books: Do you have any Recipe Books and or recipes that have some connection to the Newfoundland Regiment and the First World War?

More than a pair of socks

Archival Moment

July 9, 1918

More than a pair of socks, knitting for their soldier boys.

On July 9, 1918 the local paper, The Twillingate Sun, published a letter under the caption “Thanks for the Socks”. The letter was one of hundreds that would have been printed in local Newfoundland newspapers, it was a thank you letter from a young soldier (Edward G. Noftall) “Somewhere in France” thanking a young woman (Miss Clarke of Twillingate) for a pair of socks that she knit for him.

The letter gives considerable insight into a ‘home front’ war time activity.

In the early days of the First World War, the Patriotic Association of the Women of Newfoundland (W.P.A.) was formed with a mandate “to assist in aiding the British Empire in the present crisis by providing the necessities needed by our soldiers at the front.” The necessities that were identified were knitted socks, helmet liners, scarves, mittens and waistcoats for the men overseas. In every corner of Newfoundland and Labrador women were knitting for their ‘soldier boys.’

Many of these women decided to add a personal touch to the product that they had knitted inserting into the sock or mitten a note wishing the soldier well with their name and home address. Typically the sentiment of the note was “Into this sock I weave a prayer, That God keep you in His love and care.”

In May 1918, Edward Noftall, age 19, originally from Rocky Lane, St. John’s, Regimental #83 (one of the First 500) received a pair of socks from a Miss Clarke of Twillingate. Upon receiving the socks he felt compelled to write a note of thanks. He wrote:

Dear Miss CLARKE: – Just a note thanking you for the socks which were very nice indeed and in such a place as France. I know the people in Twillingate must work hard working for the soldiers of Nfld. I don’t know if I know any of your friends out here, but I can tell you that all the boys that are here at present are feeling well. My address is 83 E.G. NOFTALL, 1st Royal Nfld. Regt. B.E.F., France.

Your friend, Ted.

Some young soldiers upon receiving their knitted socks with notes inserted while they were in the trenches in France were not content with sending a note of thanks, some resolved when they returned to Newfoundland that they would visit the young woman who had knit their socks. Several cases have been documented anecdotally of young soldier boys returning, seeking out their knitter and in some cases, they developed romantic relationships and they married. (If you are aware of such a case please let me know. I would like to document as many cases as possible.)

Edward (Ted) Noftall was never to meet his Miss Clarke in person. This young man who had marched with the First 500 from Pleasantville to The Florizel, had seen action at Gallipoli in 1915 had been hospitalized several times for injuries in the trenches died of appendicitis at the 3^rd Casualty Hospital, Belgium a few short months after he wrote his letter of thanks.

Miss Clarke and the thousands of other women knit many socks and wrote many comforting notes that they inserted in the heels. It is estimated that between 1914 and 1916, the women produced 62,685 pairs of socks, 8,984 pairs of cuffs (mittens with a trigger finger), and 22,422 mufflers.

For some they were simply a pair of grey socks, for the young soldiers in the cold trenches, the socks were a connection with home, the socks reminded the soldiers that at home in Newfoundland they were loved and remembered.

A Pair of Grey Socks

A woman is knitting most all the day

A sock that shapes from a ball of grey,

Her fingers fly, and the needles click,

Fast grows the sock so soft and thick.

“Why do you knit at such a pace,

Dear woman, with patient face?

Is it for tireless little feet,

Or covering warm for the huntsman fleet?

“Or maybe for fisherman strong and bold,

Who fights the sea when the winds blow cold.

Or perhaps for the strong brave pioneer,

Who faces new worlds with dauntless air?”

“No, no, my child, ’tis for none of those

That I patiently knit in endless rows;

’Tis for nearer and dearer” — then a broken pause,

“For those who are fighting their country’s cause.

“For those who sailed on the ocean wide,

To do their bit ’gainst a lawless tribe.

Thus, I do for my country a woman’s part,

Who give the pride of their mother’s heart.”

“But what means the white row I see right here,

Is it a sign to make the pair?”

“No, that marks the socks for the slender youth,

Who does his part for the cause of truth.

“The red is the sign for the hardy man,

At the height of his strength in life’s short span;

But young and old alike do the same,

For life or death, for honour or fame.

“Blue in the sock is the medium size,

The colour dear to the sailors’ wives,

So in the grey socks, red, white and blue

Form our colours so bright and true.

“And that is why all the livelong day,

I sit and knit in the same old way;

And into each sock I weave a prayer

That God keep our boys in His love and care.”

Recommended Reading: “A Pair of Grey Socks. Facts and Fancies. Lovingly dedicated to the boys of the Newfoundland Regiment. And to every woman who has knitted a pair of grey socks. By Tryphena Duley. Verses by Margaret Duley.”

Recommended Archival Collection: Distinguished Service: the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in the Great War, this on line exhibition documents the lives and experiences of the province’s soldiers and aims to encourage interest in research on the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. This on line exhibit focuses on the World War I service records of the Regiment, available at the ARCHIVES on microfilm. Some of the service records are on line at: http://www.therooms.ca/regiment/part1_entering_the_great_war.asp

Knitting Socks: Demonstration: Sock Knitting: In just two years, the women of Newfoundland and Labrador knit 62,685 pairs of socks for the troops in the First World War. Come to the Collecting the Great War: Enlisting Your Help exhibition to watch a pair of grey socks being made, using the original pattern, and try your hand at knitting. Demonstrations are ongoing every Thursday from 2 – 4pm on Level 2 at The Rooms.

“White feathers for the slackers… “

Archival Moment

July 1916

For King and Country, I Offered.

In the early days of the First World War a new word began to slip into the everyday language of Newfoundlanders especially in our poetry and song. The word was “slackers” commonly used to describe someone who was not participating in the war effort, especially someone who avoided military service.

Corporal Vincent S. Walsh of St. Mary’s, St. Mary’s Bay, Newfoundland, Regimental # 1958 in a poem that he penned while on furlough in Weybridge, Surrey, England in 1916 was among those to use the term. He wrote: “Now I pity the poor slackers. When they are forced to go … “

Walsh’s poem was typical of the day, full of patriotic fervor, written with the intention of encouraging (some would say) shaming the young men who had not signed up, to sign up to fight for ‘King and Country.’

The pressure to sign up would have been considerable. One author went so far as to write “There are three things in this world that Tommy hates: a slacker, a German; and a trench-rat; it’s hard to tell which he hates worst.”

In Newfoundland, the determination to identify “slackers’ took the form of shaming the young men. Women would hand out or mail “white feathers” the symbol of cowardice, to men not in uniform. The purpose of this gesture was to shame “every young ‘slacker.’

The practice became so so common that the Editor of the St. John’s newspaper, The Evening Telegram, on 29 November 1916 pleded with the “young women and others” to carefully consider what they were doing.

The young ladies or others who are sending through the mails, white feathers to the young men who they believe are “slackers” should be very careful that the young men in question are justly entitled to receive them , as we know of a number of cases where quite an injustice has been done,. The victims in some cases are so deformed that it is apparent to the average person that they would not be permitted an examination let alone the privilege of wearing a “rejected” badge.

In Newfoundland and other countries in order not to be “called out as a slacker”special lapel pin were created that read “For King and Country, I Have Offered” or “I Have Volunteered” or “Rejected” Upon seeing the lapel pin on the young men the general public knew that this man was not a slacker but had been refused service because of some medical condition.

The enthusiasm for war was so great that even the women in Newfoundland were determined that they would do their bit for fear of being called ‘slackers’. Women in every corner of the province joined knitting and sewing circles or volunteered with various groups involved in patriotic endeavors.

Sybil Johnson of St. John’s wrote in her diary “that she could not bear to be a slacker” so in December 1916 left St. John’s for England where she joined the Volunteer Aid Detachment (VAD’s). She was one of the many young Newfoundland women who received a few weeks of nurse’s training and were then assigned to the casualty and battlefield hospitals in England and on the continent.

The enthusiasm of the war and determination to sign up was the theme of much of our poetry and songs of the First World War such as the poem written by Vincent S. Walsh were typical of the day. He wrote:

A Soldier’s Song

Once I was a policeman

With a billy in my hand,

And little were my thoughts then

of leaving Newfoundland.

Then my King and Country called me,

So I said that I should go

And learn how to use a rifle

To fight the German foe.

Ten thousand have responded,

Their country for to save,

They are the kind of men we want

For there are none so brave.

Now I pity the poor slackers

When they are forced to go,

To cross the foaming ocean,

To fight the German foe.

Now I hope they will take warning

By what I am going to say,

Don’t put of enlisting for another day,

Go over to your J.P. and have

You name put down,

The get aboard the Portia bound

for St. John’s town.

They will be there to meet you

If you have pluck enough to go,

They will bring you up and train you

How to fight the German foe.

Recommended Archival Collection: Distinguished Service: the Royal Newfoundland Regiment in the Great War, this on line exhibition documents the lives and experiences of the province’s soldiers and aims to encourage interest in research on the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. The World War I service records of the Regiment are available at the archives on microfilm. Many of the service records are available on line: http://www.therooms.ca/regiment/part1_entering_the_great_war.asp

COLLECTING THE GREAT WAR ENLISTING YOUR HELP: The Rooms needs your help to tell the stories of the men and women who served overseas and at home during the First World War and the impact that the war had here. The Rooms staff will be available to collect stories and document photographs and artifacts. Help us preserve stories of the First World War before they are lost. The information gathered will be used to develop a new permanent exhibition on The Great War to open in 2016. More Information: http://www.therooms.ca/firstworldwar/default.asp

Newfoundland soldier, actor and face of the British Legion

Archival Moment

October 25, 2013

Cassisy Little is originally from Newfoundland

Lance Corporal Cassidy Little who grew up in Newfoundland is one of the faces of the British Legion’s Remembrance Programs, in particular, their poppy program.

Lance Corporal Little is the son of St. John’s business woman Elaine Hann, owner – operator of St. John’s Executive Apartments. Cassidy originally went to London, England in 2004 to pursue a career in acting; he opted instead to join the Royal Marines in 2005, completing his first deployment in Afghanistan shortly after.

He was retrained as a commando medic and, during his second tour of Afghanistan in 2011, Lance Corporal Little, while on patrol, was injured in a deadly IED explosion that resulted in multiple casualties and two deaths.

Since then, Lance Corporal Little has undergone extensive rehabilitation and joined Hasler Company – the Royal Marines unit for injured personnel.

Little is known for his sense of humor. Asked what he said as he lay injured after an IED attack in Afghanistan, he said: “I woke up and asked if the leg was still there. And the guy said, ‘no, sorry it’s gone, taken clean off.’ And so I said, ‘there goes my dancing days.”

Life for Little has gone full circle. Having gone to London to explore an acting career he now finds himself back on the stage.

Little participated in a theatre project run jointly by the Royal British Legion and The Theatre Royal Haymarket Masterclass Trust to aid the recovery of wounded, injured and sick Service personnel, playing the lead role in the ‘Two Worlds of Charlie F’, an original play created through the project and based on the real experiences of the personnel.

Cassidy said: “The theatre project funded by The Royal British Legion was a turning point in my recovery. While the medical teams put my body back together, taking part in the play ‘Two Worlds of Charlie F’ gave me back my self-esteem and confidence when it was at its lowest ebb.”

The play starring Cassidy and other real-life British soldiers tells the story of their experiences fighting in Afghanistan. Mirvish Productions in Toronto announced last week that, The Two Worlds of Charlie F — the little play that turned into a big phenomenon — is coming to Toronto next year. It will run Feb. 25 to March 9 at the prestigious Princess of Wales Theatre. The play has been described as “literally changing lives.”

Listen and watch Cassidy Little tell his story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imrJ4s1N9uU

Recommended Website: To learn more about the British Legion’s Remembrance Programs.: http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/news-events/news/poppy-appeal/national-poppy-appeal-launch

“Forget-Me-Not” before the Poppy

Archival Moment

July 1: In Newfoundland and Labrador is Memorial Day.

Forget me Not. The Flower of Newfoundland soldiers.

Legend has it that when God was naming flowers that a plant called out to God saying ”Forget-me-not, O Lord!” God replied, “That shall be your name.”

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the “Forget-Me-Not” was used to commemorate “our nation’s dead” those who had died in WWI or WWII. The small flowers were pinned in the same way that the poppy is used on Remembrance Day. In Newfoundland and Labrador the tradition of wearing a ‘Forget Me Not’ is still in limited use today. Following Confederation with Canada the tradition of wearing the ‘Forget Me Not” was displaced by the poppy.

The “Forget-Me-Not” are used internationally to remind people to reflect over something worthwhile that has been given.

Recommended Song: “Little Blue Forget Me Not” written and performed by Bud Davidge; music by Sim Savory http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrfWQl_n28w

Recommended Action: On July 1 wear a ‘Forget Me Not’.

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