Update: Valcartier 1914

Lt-Col. Malcom S Mercer

Lt-Col. Malcolm S. Mercer, The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada

The number of officers identified in the Valcartier panoramic photograph has doubled thanks to the keen eye of Matt Barrett, a historian, animator and caricaturist. Matt publishes Patriots, Crooks and Safety-Firsters, an excellent blog containing caricatures, photos and stories on Colonels of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Lt-Col.

Lt-Col. Archibald C Macdonnel, LSH

In addition to identifying Lt-Col. Malcolm S. Mercer (#275) of The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada he also picked out Lt-Col. Bartholomew Robson (#357) of the 26th Middlesex Light Infantry and Lt-Col. Archibald C Macdonell (#397) of Lord Strathcona’s Horse.

Matt tentatively identified two other officers which I think are strong candidates as well and so I’ve included them in the List of Identified Officers. They are Lt-Col. Donald M Grant (#404) of the 35th Regiment (The Grey & Simcoe Foresters) and Major Allan A Magee (#412) of the Canadian Officers’ Training Corp. Tell us what you think by adding a comment or by contacting me directly. The gallery below includes photographs provided by Matt for comparison purposes.

I’m also adding new Valcartier pages to help aid in identification of these officers. I’ve created tips pages, providing close-ups of cap badges and/or individuals, for photograph Section 1, Section 2 and Section 3. I will be adding similar pages for Sections 4, 5 and 6 shortly. I’ve also received some very helpful information from Hamilton Slessor that should help with identification of officers from the Montreal regiments that formed the 14th Battalion, CEF. I will be publishing this information in my next Valcartier update.

I thank Matt and Hamilton for their help and encourage others to get involved.

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