Thursday, January 7, 1915
In Camp, Lark Hill, Salisbury Plains
The Battalion War Diarist wrote for this day: “Address to officers 3rd Bde. by Gen. McCracken* on ‘Phases of War, and Discipline.” [1]
THIS DAY IN RMR HISTORY: “Salisbury, January 7., – Twenty-five hundred Canadians who have been engaged in trenching and in building huts and roads completed these operations today, and will begin hard drilling tomorrow.
Camp conditions are deplorable, owing to the unprecedentedly bad weather, but all the Montrealers and Winnipeggers are healthy. There is a possibility that the contingent will proceed to France shortly to finish training. This, or a large extension of billeting is apparently absolutely necessary, as owing to the heavy and unceasing rains and the overflow of the River Avon, the lower parts of Salisbury Plain have been rendered impossible of habitation. Several battalions of the Canadians have already been billeted in the surrounding villages.
At a meeting of the chaplains of the first Contingent, held at Lark Hill Camp, a resolution was passed recording the sense of deep loss sustained by the chaplains in the death of their colleague, Chaplain George Inglis, of the Queens Own Rifles.” [3]
* “Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick William Nicholas McCracken, KCB, DSO, (18 August 1859 – 8 August 1949) was a British Army officer who saw regimental service in Africa during the late nineteenth century, and later held senior command during the First World War. He commanded an infantry brigade in the British Expeditionary Force of 1914, was appointed to command 15th (Scottish) Division in the New Armies from 1915 to 1917, and then briefly commanded XIII Corps on the Western Front before being posted to a home command in the United Kingdom.” [4]
[1] War Diary, 14th Canadian Battalion, The Royal Montreal Regiment, Jan 7, 1915. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/e/e044/e001089686.jpg
[2] “Camps Flooded Out,” The Gazette, Montreal, Quebec, Friday, January 8, pg. 7, col. 1.
[3] Ibid
[4] Wikipedia contributors, "Frederick McCracken," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Frederick_McCracken&oldid=607456153 (accessed October 24, 2014).