LIEUT.-COL. F. P. DAY.
It is a difficult task indeed to compress a history of the 185th Battalion into the space allotted for the purpose in this book. It is a difficult task, because, if we exclude those Battalions that saw active service as complete Units, the history of the 185th is longer than that of any other Nova Scotia Battalion. It is a difficult task because, through this long association and through the high standard of efficiency to which the Battalion attained, there grew up between all ranks a spirit of pride in their Unit and of affectionate regard for each other, which may be fairly said to be almost unique, and which deserves a monument much grander and more enduring than this sketch can hope to raise.
The origin of the 185th may be said to be in the 85th Nova Scotia Highland Battalion, recruited by Lieut.-Col. A. H. Borden in the autumn of 1915. The enthusiasm with which the people of Nova Scotia hailed the advent of the 85th Battalion engendered the more ambitious idea of a Nova Scotia Highland Brigade, and in the months of February and March, 1916, there was conducted in Nova Scotia a recruiting campaign for the raising of three additional Battalions, to form, with the 85th, a complete Brigade. The remarkable success of that campaign is now part of our Nova Scotian history.
The Island of Cape Breton was given the task of raising a Battalion, to be known as the 185th and to be under the command of Lieut.-Col. F. P. Day (then Major Day) of the 85th Battalion. Though Cape Breton had already given men to the colors, in numbers far in excess of her due proportion, nevertheless, the prospect of seeing active service with a Unit distinctly and entirely Cape Breton, so fired the imagination of the young men of the Island that in three weeks the Battalion was recruited to full strength.
The system of recruiting employed was well calculated to obtain the best results. First, the officers were selected. Some of them were Cape Bretoners, serving with the 85th Battalion, a few came from the Officers’ Training Corps of the Colleges, but the majority were drawn from the 94th, the Cape Breton Militia Unit. These officers were sent out into their own native districts to recruit men for their own Companies or Platoons, and the assurance was given that men from the same locality would be placed together in the same Company, Platoon, or Section as the case might be, and under an officer from that locality. That assurance was kept sacredly.
The motto selected for the Battalion was the same as that of the 85th—“Siol Na Fear Fearail”—“Seed of Manly Men.” That motto was highly appropriate, for the ranks of the Battalion were in large part filled by descendants of Highlanders—those manly men who peopled Cape Breton in late 18th and early 19th centuries. To the Highland element in the population of Cape Breton the 185th made its greatest appeal, for the promise had been given that the Battalion should wear Highland garb, and the prospect of joining a Unit which should be clad in that picturesque and historic dress undoubtedly touched the Highland imagination. But the other races did not lag behind. The French, Irish and English elements were well represented, and there were not a few recruits of Italian and Russian extraction.
“A” Company of the 185th came from the counties of Inverness, Victoria and Richmond; “B” Company from Glace Bay and New Waterford; “C” Company from North Sydney and Sydney Mines; and “D” Company from Sydney. Broughton, eighteen miles from Sydney, was chosen as a mobilization centre, and there the Battalion assembled during the first week of April, 1916.
At Broughton, three bands, Pipe, Brass and Bugle were organized. The citizens of Glace Bay, the Royal Cape Breton Yacht Club, the “Green Feather” Societies of North Sydney and Sydney Mines, and Mr. Thomas Cantley, of New Glasgow, each presented four pipes and three drums to the Battalion. Money for the purchase of instruments for the Brass Band was subscribed by the citizens of Sydney. For the Regimental March, the stirring Highland air, “A Hundred Pipers,” was chosen.
Broughton did not offer a suitable ground for advanced training; and so on May 26th, 1916, the Battalion entrained for Aldershot, N.S., where the Highland Brigade was to spend the summer of 1916, under the command of Lieut.-Col. A. H. Borden, who had recruited and commanded the 85th Battalion. The other Battalions of the Brigade were the 85th, 193rd and the 219th. During the summer the Brigade was reviewed by H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, Governor-General of Canada; by Sir Sam Hughes, Canadian Minister of Militia; by Major-General Lessard, Inspector-General for Canada. It was twice reviewed by Sir Robert Borden, Prime Minister of Canada. On the last visit of Sir Robert Borden, he was accompanied by Lady Borden, who presented colors to the Battalion. The colors are of beautiful design, rich material and elegant workmanship. They were received on behalf of the Battalion by Major Harrington and Lieutenants Purves and Livingstone, and were blessed by Capt. Michael Gillis, Roman Catholic Chaplain to the Battalion. (The colors were taken to England with the Battalion and after the War were returned to Canada, deposited in the Cape Breton County Court House at Sydney.)
On October 4th the Battalion underwent successfully at the hands of Major-General Lessard its last inspection in Canada. Preparations for embarking for England were begun and on October 11th the 185th bade good-bye to Aldershot and entrained for Halifax. That evening they marched on board “His Majesty’s Transport, 2810,” the war-time designation of the great steamship Olympic.