[[2]] The 3rd (Toronto) Battalion has now only five of its original officers serving with it; 85 officers have been on the strength of the Battalion at one time and another since its organisation. Of other ranks, about 240 of the original members of the Battalion are still with it.
CHAPTER VIII
PRINCESS PATRICIA'S LIGHT INFANTRY
Review in Lansdowne Park—Princess Patricia presents the Colours—South African veterans and reservists—Princess Patricias in the trenches—St. Eloi—Major Hamilton Gault—A dangerous reconnaissance—Attack on a sap—A German onslaught—Lessons from the enemy—A march to battle—Voormezeele—Death of Colonel Farquhar—Polygone Wood—Regiment's work admired—A move towards Ypres—Heavily shelled—A new line—Arrival of Major Gault—Regiment sadly reduced—Gas shells—A German rush—Major Gault wounded—Lieut. Niven in command—A critical position—Corporal Dover's heroism—A terrible day—Shortage of small arms ammunition—Germans' third attack—Enemy repulsed—Regiment reduced to 150 rifles—Relieved—A service for the dead—In bivouac—A trench line at Armentières—Regiment at full strength again—Moved to the south—Back in billets—Princess Patricias instruct new troops—Rejoin Canadians—A glorious record.
"Fair lord, whose name I know not—noble it is,
I well believe, the noblest—will you wear
My favour at this tourney?"
—TENNYSON.
On Sunday, August 23rd, 1914, on a grey and gloomy day, immense numbers of people assembled in Lansdowne Park, in the City of Ottawa, to attend divine service with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, and to witness the presentation to the Battalion of the Colours which she had worked with her own hand. The Regiment, composed very largely of South African Veterans and Reservists, paraded with bands and pipers, and then formed three sides of a square in front of the grand stand. Between the Regiment and the stand were the Duchess of Connaught, Princess Patricia, and their Ladies-in-Waiting. The Princess Patricia, on presenting the Colours to Colonel Farquhar, the Commanding Officer of the Regiment, said: "I have great pleasure in presenting you with these Colours which I have worked myself; I hope they will be associated with what I believe will be a distinguished corps; I shall follow the fortunes of you all with the deepest interest, and I heartily wish every man good luck and a safe return."
Not even the good wishes of this beautiful and gracious Princess have availed to safeguard the lives of the splendid Battalion which carried her Colours to the battlefields of Flanders; but every member of the Battalion resolved, as simply and as finely as the knights of mediæval days, that he would justify the belief in its future so proudly expressed by the lady whose name he was honoured to bear.
It is now intended to give some account of the fortunes of the Battalion since the day, which seems so long ago, when with all the pride and circumstance of military display, it received the regimental colours amid the cheers of the citizens of Ottawa.
The Princess Patricias, containing a far larger proportion of experienced soldiers than any other unit in the Canadian Division, was not called upon to endure so long a period of preparation as the rest of the Canadian Expeditionary Force; and at the close of the year 1914 they sailed from England at a moment when reinforcements were greatly needed in France, to strengthen the 80th Brigade of the 27th Division, and to take their part in a line thinly held and very fiercely assailed. For the months of January and February the Regiment took its turn in the trenches, learning the hard lessons of the unpitying winter war. A considerable length of trenches in front of the village of St. Eloi was committed to its charge. Its machine-guns were planted upon a mound which rose abruptly from the centre of the trenches.