The Royal Canadian Regiment and The First World War - 1914-1919One of the recurring details of regimental life that came to light through my examination of the Regiment's Part II Daily Order for the First World War was the number of soldiers who were identified as being under-aged and subsequently sent back from the front lines to England. Using available information from the Daily Orders and on-line attestation papers, I have examined the circumstances of service of a few of these young soldiers. The full article, which I have added to my website, is linked below.
"Transferred to England as a MINOR"Under-aged Soldiers of The RCR in the First World WarBy: Capt Michael O'Leary, The RCR
From surviving records, we can identity those under-aged soldiers who were themselves identified as such by the military. The details of those moments of realization, occurring through their individual admissions of youth – or possibly the receipt of a mother's letter by the Minister of Militia – and the handling of the requirement to remove them from the front line is recorded by a simple entry in the Daily Orders of the units in which they served. The Part II Daily Orders of The Royal Canadian Regiment, which recorded personnel changes within the overseas battalion, record 40 such soldiers as "transferred to England as a Minor."
It should be noted, however, that this is the number of underage soldiers that were identified. We shall never know how many others managed to remain undetected until they were of age, or the War ended, whichever came first. Of those unconfirmed soldiers of the Regiment, how many served out the War, or were buried overseas with their secret unrevealed to the Regiment?
Of the 40 that can be identified from the Part II Orders, each has their own story, and more details of their individual service will be recorded in their service records with the Library and Archives Canada. For a introduction to their stories, we can use the available information in their Attestation Papers and the Regiment's Part II Daily Orders to examine some of their experiences as soldiers of The RCR.
To read the full article -
"Transferred to England as a MINOR"
