August 4th, 1914 - A Day in Palmerston
August 4th, 2014
I have spent what seems like countless hours over the past few weeks working on creating a post to commemorate the centenary of Canada entering the Great War and like all of my research endeavours I was pulled in a thousand different directions finding more detail on one area and then having to refocus onto my primary goal.
My ultimate challenge is to paint you a picture of what the reaction in Palmerston was like in those first few weeks leading up to and shortly after war began. The difficulty behind such a feat is the fact that there are very few actual primary sources from Palmerston and surrounding areas at that time. Most that remains is either at the National or World level. However, there are enough snippets to make a fairly educated guess!
The summer of 1914 itself was nothing out of the ordinary, the weather was warm and humid much like this particular summer. Average temperatures ranged from 20-33 degrees Celsius. Daily life in the town would have been challenging to say the least. The combination of the dirt streets and bustling train yard would have made keeping anything clean an impossible task. Boardwalks and Lime were used to keep your feet somewhat clean while walking the streets but the mud and coal dust would have gotten into everything. The community was still in the honeymoon period of its state-of-the-art water and waste system installed just a few years earlier, however the smell of the by product from the main form of transportation (the horse) would have added to the accoutrement of the town streets. Cars would still have been a novelty, only three years earlier had the first been introduced to the daily community hustle.
The weeks leading up to the announcement would have been extremely busy with farmers rushing about to care for their crops and livestock. Product would be flowing regularly in and out of the rail yards and the town kids would have been enjoying their days at the creek or swimming in the mill pond.
Local news from the Palmerston Spectator operated by H.E. Byewater would have been focused on the summer events and the upcoming Gala Day long weekend. Events in Europe were a world away and likely passed with little attention aside from an occasional remark about the "little Kingdoms" and their ongoing squabbles. Nothing could match the British Empire! Palmerston was home to many proud patriotic subjects of the crown, so the thought of a war in Europe seemed like a minor skirmish that wouldn't have any bearing on the community.
If war was to be declared perhaps a few would leave, but they would be back shortly and life would go on, just like the last war in South Africa. Maybe one or two of the boys would go off and march around with the militia, but they likely would never actually go anywhere exciting.
July 28th came around and the first meaningful fighting words started between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and life went on with little regard. At this point things were heating up but still in Palmerston the news would have trickled in slowly and been posted or mentioned as an aside. Surely the local market prices had a more prominent spot on the news board at the Spectator!
Not until August 3rd would talk have started getting a bit louder, it was a holiday Monday so news would be travelling quickly around town as people socialized. With Germany declaring war on Belgium it was just a matter of time for Great Britain to step in and say enough is a enough. Likely all the squabbling would quiet down and this would be another international event to be forgotten. But until that point it was a game of who would blink first and like any good sporting match the loyal servants from the Dominions would gladly cheer on their team.
On August 4th, 1914 I would like to envision a crowd gathering in front of the Spectator office on Main Street, growing so large that traffic had to detour around! Or even at the train station, filling the platform so passengers from out of town had no way to catch their train on time. People shoulder to shoulder and children trying to squeeze their way to the front of the crowd. But alas I can only imagine that. It is likely something of this nature happened at one of the locations of a telegraph in town, but we may never know for sure.
At 8:55pm local time the confirmation came in, Great Britain and its Dominions were at war! While we tend to think news was slow and cumbersome a hundred years ago, it was in fact very fast and efficient, with the announcement being read aloud to the crowd in the streets and word of mouth racing through the small town like wild fire, everyone would have known within an hour or two of the announcements. Many communities talk of the singing and cheering, in Palmerston it was likely no different. It was said that in 1918 an effigy of the Kaiser appeared on the Armistice Day and was carried through downtown Palmerston where it was burned, it quite possible that may have happened that warm August day as well.
No doubt like many other communities, Palmerston under the leadership of Mayor Seth Mathers, would have sent a telegram to the King expressing their loyalty and willingness to serve just as they did again in 1939. The King responded to all of his subjects with this message:
"I desire to express to my people of the Overseas Dominions with what appreciation and pride I have received messages from the respective governments during the last few days. These spontaneous assurances of their fullest support recall to me the generous, self-sacrificing help given by them in the past to the mother country.
I shall be strengthened in the discharge of the great responsibility which sets upon me by the confident belief that in this time of trial my Empire will be united, calm and resolute, and trusting in God."
What happened immediately after is once again difficult to say, without a proper armouries at the time (the post office/armouries was finished in 1915) there was nowhere for the "rush of eager adventure seekers" to go. In fact the first week after declaring war was really a time of uncertainty because even the Canadian government didn't know what to do. It wasn't until August 10th that Prime Minister Borden announced the call to arms for 25,000 men. At this point the most likely circumstance is that there was a meeting of experienced military men in which 5 have been identified, and they would have worked on making arrangements to leave home for an undetermined amount of time. These five men quickly reported for duty at their respective militia regiments. Charles Buck (29th Waterloo Regiment) Hugh Wilford (Dufferin Rifles), Daniel McCaughrin, Robert Muir and William Watt (30th Wellington Rifles). Buck was the first according to records to have reported for duty on August 12th. Muir even had to leave his only daughter behind with her Grandparents while he was away for what I'm sure he hoped wouldn't be long.
After the call to arms the race was on for militia units across Canada to be the first to arrive in the newly built Valcartier Camp 25 km north of Quebec City. This rally point was to house and train the 1st Contingent of Canadian soldiers headed overseas. While the call was for 25,000 men, closer to 36,000 arrived in the first month including all 5 men listed above. After a rigorous yet hasty training regimen the 1st Contingent was ready to ship out. Muir at age 40 was the only one of the 5 to sail on October 3rd, 1914 and be the first Palmerston "Boy" to go overseas to what became the Great War.
Of the original 5 to leave only Muir and Watt saw home again, McCaughrin and Wilford both died in 1915 less than a year after answering the call and Buck made it to 1917.
While at the time it may have seemed like an exciting adventure and I'm sure the original 5 were cheered on while stepping onto those trains in 1914, little did they know that it would be 4 grueling years that would take its toll on the community, nation and world. At the community level they certainly weren't prepared for what was to come. But that will be a whole other story to tell.
Statistics:
1914 - 28 men with connections to Palmerston enlisted (worked, lived or born in)
6 of those 28 never saw home again.
401 men and women with a connection to Palmerston have been identified to have enlisted in the Canadian forces between 1914 and 1918
29 of the 401 never saw home again.
169 men and women who resided in Palmerston enlisted between 1914-1918.
38% of the eligible male population living in Palmerston enlisted between 1914 and 1918
I have spent what seems like countless hours over the past few weeks working on creating a post to commemorate the centenary of Canada entering the Great War and like all of my research endeavours I was pulled in a thousand different directions finding more detail on one area and then having to refocus onto my primary goal.
My ultimate challenge is to paint you a picture of what the reaction in Palmerston was like in those first few weeks leading up to and shortly after war began. The difficulty behind such a feat is the fact that there are very few actual primary sources from Palmerston and surrounding areas at that time. Most that remains is either at the National or World level. However, there are enough snippets to make a fairly educated guess!
The summer of 1914 itself was nothing out of the ordinary, the weather was warm and humid much like this particular summer. Average temperatures ranged from 20-33 degrees Celsius. Daily life in the town would have been challenging to say the least. The combination of the dirt streets and bustling train yard would have made keeping anything clean an impossible task. Boardwalks and Lime were used to keep your feet somewhat clean while walking the streets but the mud and coal dust would have gotten into everything. The community was still in the honeymoon period of its state-of-the-art water and waste system installed just a few years earlier, however the smell of the by product from the main form of transportation (the horse) would have added to the accoutrement of the town streets. Cars would still have been a novelty, only three years earlier had the first been introduced to the daily community hustle.
The weeks leading up to the announcement would have been extremely busy with farmers rushing about to care for their crops and livestock. Product would be flowing regularly in and out of the rail yards and the town kids would have been enjoying their days at the creek or swimming in the mill pond.
Local news from the Palmerston Spectator operated by H.E. Byewater would have been focused on the summer events and the upcoming Gala Day long weekend. Events in Europe were a world away and likely passed with little attention aside from an occasional remark about the "little Kingdoms" and their ongoing squabbles. Nothing could match the British Empire! Palmerston was home to many proud patriotic subjects of the crown, so the thought of a war in Europe seemed like a minor skirmish that wouldn't have any bearing on the community.
If war was to be declared perhaps a few would leave, but they would be back shortly and life would go on, just like the last war in South Africa. Maybe one or two of the boys would go off and march around with the militia, but they likely would never actually go anywhere exciting.
July 28th came around and the first meaningful fighting words started between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and life went on with little regard. At this point things were heating up but still in Palmerston the news would have trickled in slowly and been posted or mentioned as an aside. Surely the local market prices had a more prominent spot on the news board at the Spectator!
Not until August 3rd would talk have started getting a bit louder, it was a holiday Monday so news would be travelling quickly around town as people socialized. With Germany declaring war on Belgium it was just a matter of time for Great Britain to step in and say enough is a enough. Likely all the squabbling would quiet down and this would be another international event to be forgotten. But until that point it was a game of who would blink first and like any good sporting match the loyal servants from the Dominions would gladly cheer on their team.
On August 4th, 1914 I would like to envision a crowd gathering in front of the Spectator office on Main Street, growing so large that traffic had to detour around! Or even at the train station, filling the platform so passengers from out of town had no way to catch their train on time. People shoulder to shoulder and children trying to squeeze their way to the front of the crowd. But alas I can only imagine that. It is likely something of this nature happened at one of the locations of a telegraph in town, but we may never know for sure.
At 8:55pm local time the confirmation came in, Great Britain and its Dominions were at war! While we tend to think news was slow and cumbersome a hundred years ago, it was in fact very fast and efficient, with the announcement being read aloud to the crowd in the streets and word of mouth racing through the small town like wild fire, everyone would have known within an hour or two of the announcements. Many communities talk of the singing and cheering, in Palmerston it was likely no different. It was said that in 1918 an effigy of the Kaiser appeared on the Armistice Day and was carried through downtown Palmerston where it was burned, it quite possible that may have happened that warm August day as well.
No doubt like many other communities, Palmerston under the leadership of Mayor Seth Mathers, would have sent a telegram to the King expressing their loyalty and willingness to serve just as they did again in 1939. The King responded to all of his subjects with this message:
"I desire to express to my people of the Overseas Dominions with what appreciation and pride I have received messages from the respective governments during the last few days. These spontaneous assurances of their fullest support recall to me the generous, self-sacrificing help given by them in the past to the mother country.
I shall be strengthened in the discharge of the great responsibility which sets upon me by the confident belief that in this time of trial my Empire will be united, calm and resolute, and trusting in God."
What happened immediately after is once again difficult to say, without a proper armouries at the time (the post office/armouries was finished in 1915) there was nowhere for the "rush of eager adventure seekers" to go. In fact the first week after declaring war was really a time of uncertainty because even the Canadian government didn't know what to do. It wasn't until August 10th that Prime Minister Borden announced the call to arms for 25,000 men. At this point the most likely circumstance is that there was a meeting of experienced military men in which 5 have been identified, and they would have worked on making arrangements to leave home for an undetermined amount of time. These five men quickly reported for duty at their respective militia regiments. Charles Buck (29th Waterloo Regiment) Hugh Wilford (Dufferin Rifles), Daniel McCaughrin, Robert Muir and William Watt (30th Wellington Rifles). Buck was the first according to records to have reported for duty on August 12th. Muir even had to leave his only daughter behind with her Grandparents while he was away for what I'm sure he hoped wouldn't be long.
After the call to arms the race was on for militia units across Canada to be the first to arrive in the newly built Valcartier Camp 25 km north of Quebec City. This rally point was to house and train the 1st Contingent of Canadian soldiers headed overseas. While the call was for 25,000 men, closer to 36,000 arrived in the first month including all 5 men listed above. After a rigorous yet hasty training regimen the 1st Contingent was ready to ship out. Muir at age 40 was the only one of the 5 to sail on October 3rd, 1914 and be the first Palmerston "Boy" to go overseas to what became the Great War.
Of the original 5 to leave only Muir and Watt saw home again, McCaughrin and Wilford both died in 1915 less than a year after answering the call and Buck made it to 1917.
While at the time it may have seemed like an exciting adventure and I'm sure the original 5 were cheered on while stepping onto those trains in 1914, little did they know that it would be 4 grueling years that would take its toll on the community, nation and world. At the community level they certainly weren't prepared for what was to come. But that will be a whole other story to tell.
Statistics:
1914 - 28 men with connections to Palmerston enlisted (worked, lived or born in)
6 of those 28 never saw home again.
401 men and women with a connection to Palmerston have been identified to have enlisted in the Canadian forces between 1914 and 1918
29 of the 401 never saw home again.
169 men and women who resided in Palmerston enlisted between 1914-1918.
38% of the eligible male population living in Palmerston enlisted between 1914 and 1918