Early Canadian Military Reports 1864-1925

As we are approaching Remembrance Day 2020 I wanted to share with you some lesser used Canadian Military resources that you can find without leaving your house.

This post covers the Department of Militia and Defence for the Dominion of Canada Report that date from 1864-1925. These are a wonderful resource, but you have to open each link and look at the pdf, not as easy as being able to do a name search but worth your time. I would suggest creating a spreadsheet as you go through the reports and make note of where you see the regiment you are interested in.

What will You Find

When I looked through I rarely found regular soldiers mentioned, you will find interesting items about different units and the Military Schools.

In 1873 mentioned in a report are the schools in Kingston, Quebec, Toronto, Fredericton, Halifax and Montreal, in 1873.

It’s like watching the growth of the Military in Canada. This resource is a great way to track what was happening in your soldier’s life, especially the pre WWI years.

This is a report of Inspections yet to happen for certain units of Military.

In pt. 3 of the report there is almost four pages covering “B” Battery. I would likely never have this amount of detail as to a year in my ancestors life without this type of record.

In the same report in 1873 there is a description given of the rooms located in Tete-du pont barracks in Kingston, Ontario

I hope this resource is of some help to you as we get closer to Remembrance Day and honouring all the sacrifices by those who came before us.