February to November 1916

On February 2nd 1916, Jack enlisted in the 180th Battalion CEF. The 180th Battalion was stationed in the Liederkranz Clubhouse on Richmond Street in Toronto. Called the Sportsmen battalion, it actively recruited men from Toronto's athletic community. Given Jack's prowess for hockey, it is not doubt he was attracted to this battalion. During the winter of 1916, there was a shortage of barrack accommodations, so the 180th still remained stationed in the Liederkranz clubhouse. For the trouble, the men received an extra sixty cents a day.

On May 16th, the battalion moved out to the barracks at the exhibition camp down at Toronto's west end. Two months later, they were uprooted and sent to Camp Borden. The conditions at Camp Borden had been described as "very primitive." The camp consisted of rough sawn shanties, dirt roads and tents. But there were some luxuries. The YMCA opened a canteen and there was a large wooden shed called the "Stand" that was used for theater productions. On July 11th, Major General Sam Hughes inspected the battalion.


Men at Camp Borden


Chow time

Between July and October 1916, Jack and the 180th trained to go to war. On October 24th, the battalion arrived in St John, New Brunswick. There they waited for ninteen days before leaving for Halifax. On November 13th, Jack and five thousand other men, boarded the Olympic. In the journal of Deward Barnes (180th Battalion) he describes the conditions of the trip to England.

"Some had to sleep on the floor, and some in hammocks which were hung over the dinning room tables after all the meals were over. We had to wear life belts when we went on deck, always. We had one pay on board and fire drill every morning. They had concerts every night just made up from the talent among the men. Bands played in the daytime. There were big dinning rooms and it was surprising what you could eat. Of course, you had your certain time to eat and I did not miss a meal"
From "It Made you Think of Home: The Haunting Journal of Deward Barnes, CEF: 1916-1919." By Bruce Cane. Dundurn Press (Aug 1 2004)

On November 21st, the 180th arrived in London. From there they headed to Witley camp, where they continued training.

Something I had not brought up before, is pay. As a Private in the CEF, Jack received a dollar a day, which was paid out in the local currency. When Jack left for England, he assigned half his pay to his wife, Alma, in addition she also received twenty dollars a month in separation allowance.

At the same time Jack was leaving for England, the Battle of the Somme was ending. This battle is mostly known for its first day (July 1st 1916) where 19,240 allied troops were killed. By November there were 623,907 allied casualties. Who knows what Jack and the other men thought upon hearing this news. Soon they would be in France and in a year he would find himself in an even worse place: Passchendaele

1892-1916

John Vincent "Jack" Dow was born January 6th 1892 in Frontenac County Ontario. His parents were George Dow, a Scottish immigrant and Mary Horrigan. The family resided in Port Hope Ontario, where George Dow was a Gardener. They had had another child besides Jack, a girl, named Beatrice, but it appears she died in early childhood.

I know nothing of Jack's childhood, except that he dropped out of school in grade two, presumably to start working to help his family out. The 1911 Canadian Census shows that Jack was still in Port Hope. By 1915, however, Jack had moved to Toronto were he took up the profession of a movie camera operator and general electrician.

On June 13 1915, Jack married nineteen year old Alma Kerr, daughter of Frank Kerr and Icy Leake. The couple lived at 219 Greenwood Ave, down in Toronto's East End.



In 1916, Jack Dow enlisted in 180th CEF "Sportsman" Battalion.

A Start

I guess I was influenced by the blog, WW1: Experiences of an English Soldier. Here, the author of the blog posts letters and pictures of his grandfather, Harry Lamin's time serving in the First World War.

I had posted a few things related to my great-grandfather, Jack Dow, on my blog, Ranting Owl. I decided to create this blog to tell his story and his experiences during the First World War. Another reason has to do with myself. In my family, my great-grandfather is an engima, not much is known about him. Even though my father and aunt where teenagers when he died, they weren't able to tell me much about him, especially about his time in the war. I've created this blog to discover these things about Jack Dow.