Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group

The 40th Battery, CFA was recruited in Hamilton, Ontario late in 1915, and consisted primarily of men from that city and Orillia, Ontario. The Battery was initially part of the 8th Brigade, CFA, but later transferred to the 10th Brigade, CFA and remained a part of this unit until the end of hostilities. This page, for the time being, is devoted to the period during which the Battery was recruited in Canada, and the men who originally joined it.

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Further Information

The only full-length account of the 40th Battery was authored by A. L. S. Nash, and was published in 1972 as The Story of the 40th Battery, CFA, CEF: 1915-1919. It is now quite scarce, but there are copies owned by the Toronto Public Library and Trent University. Albert H. Peart also penned a brief (24 pages) account of his service with the Battery: In France and Belgium with the Late Major G. H. Southam, 40th Battery, CEF. A copy is owned by the Toronto Public Library. As both of these sources are difficult to gain access to, the best source of information on the 40th Battery are the War Diaries for the 8th and 10th Brigades, CFA, which the National Archives now have them available on-line via ArchiviaNet. Also of interest is I Want One Volunteer by Ernest Garside Black. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Black was attending law school in Toronto when he enlisted with the 41st Battery, CFA. He later transferred to the 30th Battery, CFA, and served with this unit through to the end of the war. Written some fifty years following the war, I Want One Volunteer tells the story of the war from the perspective of the ordinary gunner. The book (undeservedly) seems to have been largely forgotten, and is also not all that common; the last I checked (December 6, 2004), there are only sixteen copied available on Abebooks.

This Page Last Updated On:

Tuesday January 29, 2008 01:16:54 PM -0800