Born on St Patrick's Day: Happy 115th Mary

They say that its good luck to be Irish, and that the luckiest of all are those who are born on St Patrick's Day. No doubt this is what was said the day that my great grandmother was born. However, her life was not necessarily filled with the good luck that the superstition had predicted. As much as she had a hard life, her life was also an "ordinary" one of a young British immigrant to Canada. Despite that, the simple life she led in youth was filled with fun. She embrace the changing times, new found freedoms, and innovations. Its the heirlooms from that chapter of her life that fascinate me the most because they show aside to her that none of my relatives knew - a woman who was happy. So today, I am going to share the side of her that one of those heirlooms tells. I have a small black autograph book that was hers.  At almost 100 years old, the book binding has all but disintegrated yet the leather cover is in near pristine condition and the partially bound pages are al
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WW1 and Canada's Conscription Crisis: How to tell if they served willingly

 As World War 1 waged on, Canada was faced with a major problem. The once constant stream of volunteers was drying up. The remaining men on the home front were hearing about the horrors of war and did not want to endure the same fate. Many of them had already experienced the loss of a brother, father, or friend. The government knew that they had to intervene if they wanted to keep supplying men to the front lines. They decided to enact forced conscription by passing the Military Service Act in 1917. This act allowed the government to force any man between the ages of 20 and 45 to report for active service. Some of these men were later deemed medically unfit, however the vast majority were pressed into service overseas. 

So the question is, how can you tell if your ancestor served willingly? The answer lies on their attestation papers. Depending on if they were conscripted or not, they were presented with a different set of attestation papers. Those who were not conscripted were presented with one that had a header reading "Attestation Paper Canadian Expeditionary Force". 

**As always, I have redacted some identifying personal information**



Those who were conscripted were presented with one that had a header reading "Particulars of Recruit Drafted Under Military Service Act". In addition to the fields on the regular attestation form, this version also featured a place to fill in the number from their conscription letter (line 4). This was comprised of six digits followed by two letters. 


Related Posts

How to find Canadian Military Records

Finding your Military Ancestors

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