Updates
So I've put a pdf into my Archives folder called Unit List and CEF Guide. The CEF Guide is just a visual I cobbled together from a couple of books and sites, a diagram of how the Canadian Expeditionary Force was organized (ie, what's bigger, a battalion or a brigade? What Division was the 62nd Battery part of?) and lists of all the units active overseas as of November, 1918. This is mostly for my own reference, but I thought I'd share it in case anybody else was interested! The Unit List names and records the activities of militia and CEF units that were mobilized in Victoria, or drew recruits from Victoria, or both, according to Library and Archives Canada. Unfortunately, their records are missing a few details - they do not have places of mobilization or places of recruitment for every unit they describe. The CEF units listed are just those that are recorded in their CEF unit guides as having been mobilized in Victoria and/or formed, at least in part, of Victorian recruits. It goes without saying that not all of the men who joined these units were from Victoria, but there's also a good chance that there were Victorians who signed up with units not listed here. There's got to be a way to find them too, though...
I have to apologize for the sparseness of the information related to the militia units I list - I am honestly not sure how many militia units were in the city during the war years. I couldn't find any lists of wartime militia units from reputable sources, nevermind a list that determined each unit's city of origin. I'm really sorry about this, but I will try to find out more about Victoria's militia once I get back to Victoria and into the collections of the Princess Mary's and the 5th Regiment.
When it comes to tagging, at this stage we could enter every unit as a tag and see how much we find - as I said, some of these units recruited in Victoria but mobilized elsewhere, so it's quite possible that the soldiers left nothing behind but an attestation paper or two before they shipped out. From what I've seen so far, there's a fair bit to be found on the 88th Regiment Victoria Fusiliers, the 30th Battalion, the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles Regiment, the Gordon Highlanders/50th Regiment of Foot, and the 5th BC Regiment Canadian Artillery. Tags will have to take into account the fact that some units changed names and designations during the war; we could use slashed tags to indicate this (as in, 48th Battalion/3rd Pioneer Battalion) or just make two separate tags and apply them to every item we have pertaining to both the original unit and the renamed unit. I'll leave the decision up to Ashley and Jim!
If anybody finds any problems in the unit list or CEF guide, please tell me! I'll be tweaking them as I learn more, and would be grateful to know of any mistakes I've made!
