Canadians land in England

On the morning of 15 October 1914, at the naval dockyard of Devonport in Plymouth, the first Canadian soldiers stepped ashore in England. The convoy, which had sailed from Gaspé Bay on 3 October, had reached England the day before. Unloading more than 30,000 men, thousands of horses and huge quantities of equipment was, however, to take over a week.

14 or 15 October?

The convoy was to have put in at Southampton, but on the evening of 13 October, after a German submarine appeared off the Isle of Wight, the Admiralty diverted it to Plymouth. The first two transports entered the roads at seven in the morning on 14 October, and the rest came in one after another over the following hours. In a rough sea they waited outside the breakwater until pilots could be found for them. Only on the evening of 15 October could the Admiralty report that all the Canadian transports were in Plymouth. This is why some chronicles record the arrival of the Canadians under 14 October and others under 15 October.

Late on the evening of 14 October, aboard the transport Franconia, command of the contingent was taken over by the British general Edwin Alderson, a veteran of the Boer War, in which he had already commanded Canadian units. Disembarkation began the next morning.

Ovations and chaos

The people of Plymouth received the Canadians enthusiastically. As the Canadian official history noted, they realised that the arrival of the first troops from overseas was a historic event. Church bells rang, crowds lined the quays, and dockyard workers chalked “Well done, Canada!” on the armour plates of warships under construction. The soldiers marched from the docks to the station amid cheers, showered with cigarettes, drinks and copies of the New Testament.

The disembarkation itself was difficult. The British had prepared a three-day plan for Southampton, and Devonport had far fewer quays and railway sidings. On top of this, the chaotic loading at Quebec meant that many units had sailed on several ships, while their equipment and horses had ended up on yet others. The horses, weakened by three weeks standing in the holds, first had to rest. The Admiralty estimated that the disembarkation would take six days. The last units did not get ashore until 23 October, after nine days in port.

To Salisbury Plain

From Plymouth trains carried the soldiers to stations in Wiltshire, among them Amesbury. From there they marched a dozen or so kilometres to tented camps on Salisbury Plain. The contingent was quartered in four main camps: Bustard, West Down North, West Down South and Pond Farm.

Together with the Canadians came the steamer Florizel with volunteers from Newfoundland. They landed on 20 October and went to Pond Farm camp. At the beginning of December the Newfoundlanders were moved to Scotland for further training. Most of the Canadians spent the whole rainy winter on Salisbury Plain, until they left for France in February 1915.