Cameron Bartlett Independent Historical Researcher and Consultant

While I am still in the beginning stages of growing my business, I am currently looking for clients. If you know of anyone who is need of a capable researcher to work on a project, I am currently available to take on such work. Future clients should know that by hiring me, they can count of a high quality of work that includes researching, writing and editing. I would appreciate it, if everyone could please share this, as it would help me spread the word about my business.

Thank you

Sharing some work I did for the Great War Group recently.

What has a photo of a bus garage depot in south-east London got to do with the Great War? Cam Bartlett’s part 4 of his story of the Canadian Forestry Corps explains why:-

By the beginning of September 1916, the first draft of reinforcements to the Canadian Forestry Corps, requested in May by Lord Kitchener had arrived in Britain (Kitchener met an untimely fate while traveling to Russia onboard H.M.S. Hampshire after it struck a mine on June 5th, 1916). With an estimated 2500-3500 soldiers now under his command, Lt Col. MacDougall continued to expand the 224th battalion’s operations across Britain as well as into France as Kitchener had originally suggested.

Anticipating that the Canadians would be deployed to France, MacDougall arranged a tour of the Western Front, during the summer, so he could survey the conditions that his men would have to work in. Details of MacDougall’s trip are scarce, though he did note that the Royal Engineer forestry units were still struggling to cope with the BEF’s demand for timber. MacDougall concluded that the situation could only be remedied by close cooperation between the British and French.

Eventually, the British and French decided, in September, to hold a conference to formalize a joint system of timber procurement that would help to end the constant jockeying for prized plots of timber in France. The Conference was attended by Col. MacDougall (promoted in mid Sept), his deputy Maj. Hepburn, R.F.S. Balfour (Home Grown Timber Committee representive) and French General Chevalier, Directeur de Genie, Ministre de la Guerre (Minister of War) and his subordinates.

The conference began on September 29th with a discussion on how timber resources would be shared amongst the British and French. While the French had no objections to the British harvesting timber from their forests, they did object to British/Canadians forestry practices. Unlike the British, the French had regulations that prohibited the clear cutting of forests. According to documents from Library and Archives Canada and the Corps history, French forests were “worked on scientific principles, according to which thinning to a definite extent only is permitted” (Bird and Davies, Forestry Corps, pg. 35).

MacDougall vocally opposed such restrictions, because in his opinion, clear cutting was the most efficient method of obtaining timber in large enough quantities to satiate the BEF’s timber requirements. However, in the spirit of cooperation, MacDougall relented and agreed to abide by French regulations despite his obvious displeasure with them. The conference also served to formalize the plans, for the deployment of the 238th and the 242nd battalions to France starting in early November. MacDougall appointed the commander of the 238th battalion, Lt. Col John Burton White as the director of Forestry Operations France.

Soon after his appointment, Col. White received orders to set up his headquarters in Paris, which he soon thereafter established at 59 Rue de Mathurins. Later on, a technical warehouse was established in LeHarve, that housed a storage facility and a machine shop. This made shipping, manufacturing and repairing the Corps equipment much easier than it had originally been in London, where MacDougall was again forced to acquire further storage space in Battersea and at a London Omnibus depot in Catford (the former site of the depot is a 20-minute walk from Catford Bridge Station).

With the deployment of the 238th and 242nd battalions arranged, MacDougall set about addressing other matters including another request for further forestry soldiers (another draft of 5000 soldiers) that had arrived in Ottawa in November. The newly appointed Militia Minister Andrew Kemp (Kemp replaced Sir Sam Hughes in October 1916 because Hughes’ handling of the ministry had become erratic) agreed to provide the reinforcements but faced with declining numbers of voluntary recruits, finding reinforcements was a difficult task.

However, the problem was already being addressed; starting in September 1916, Lt. Gen Sir Richard Turner (former commander of the 2nd Division CEF) was appointed as the commander of Canadian Forces Overseas, replacing the cartel of squabbling generals that had preceded his appointment. One of Turner’s first duties was the reorganization of the base depot system; Turner had been tasked by Kemp to comb the ranks of each base depot for soldiers who were fit for duty behind the lines. These men would then take the place of able-bodied soldiers who were desperately needed on the front lines.

Turner’s efforts were successful, especially for the CFC, as hundreds of men began arriving at the base depot in Sunningdale by the end of the year. However, as I will discuss in more detail in my next post, the men who were arriving at the base depot were predominately Ukrainian and Eastern European immigrants as well as Indigenous men. As well, 665 soldiers of No. 2 Construction Battalion-the only all Black battalion in Canadian history- also served with the CFC, arriving in the summer of 1917 in France.

Officially, the military stated their transfers were due to their poor English language skills, though this is disputed because of soldiers such as Sgt. Kronwall V.C. who acted as interpreters for their units. While it was not possible to supply enough interpreters to all battalions, their presence is enough to cast doubt on the military’s excuse. As, I will out line in the next post, it is my opinion that these men were racially discriminated and confined to units such as the CFC because the Canadian Government did not trust them to fight on the front lines.

I recently had an article published by the Laurier Centre as part of a digital conference series. I wrote a short article on the history of the Canadian Forestry Corps during 1917. I hope that you will take the opportunity to read the article. Link below.

Shoring up the Supply Lines: The CFC in the First World War | Canadian Military History by Cameron Bartlett – Canadian Military History Colloquium Web Series. Discussion Open until September 25th…

Hello, while it may not seem like much now, I am hoping in the coming weeks to turn this into not just a research business but a place where I can show some of the work that I have completed for other clients-ones I met prior to creating this page-with their permission of course. My aim is to use the skills I learned while completing my masters to assist others with historical research, whether it be examining an ancestors past military service or research for a graphic novel.