Canadian Expeditionary Force Study Group

Love agrees with the report from Stewart.  He also reports it was raised in Military District #11 and mobilized in Comox, British Columbia.  

Meek notes that the unit was initially called the "North British Columbians" but that it was renamed the 102nd (Central Ontario) Battalion in August of 1917.  The unit was in Canada from November 3, 1915 to June20, 1916 and in England from June 29, 1916 until August 11, 1916, at which time it moved to France until May 3, 1919.  The 102nd returned to Canada on the Mauretania on June 1, 1919.

Nicholson reports on the 102nd Infantry Battalion on the following pages (see the Matrix Nicholson Transcriptions):

Somme 190, 192: Regina Trench Attacks of October 1916 (Sketch 34 & 35)
Hill 145 259, 260: The last unit of the 11th Infantry Brigade on its objective, April 1917
Beaucourt Wood 405: Amiens in August 1918, 160 Germans are captured (Map 11)
Other References: 134, 228, 281, 446, 449, 452 and 477

See also Livesay's text "Canada's Hundred Days" for details of the unit in September and October 1918.

From Library and Archives Canada:

The 102nd Canadian Infantry Battalion was organized in November 1915 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel J. W. Warden under authorization published in General Order 151 of 22 December 1915. The battalion was mobilized in Comox and recruited in northern British Columbia.

The battalion embarked at Halifax 20 June 1916 aboard EMPRESS OF BRITAIN, disembarking in England on 28 June 1916. Its strength was 37 officers and 968 other ranks. The battalion arrived in France on 11 August 1916, becoming part of the 4th Canadian Division, 11th Canadian Infantry Brigade. It was later reinforced by the 16th Canadian Reserve Battalion. The battalion returned to England on 4 May 1919, disembarked in Canada on 6 June 1919, was demobilized on 14 June 1919, and was disbanded by General Order 149 of 15 September 1920.

The battalion supported a brass band. The battalion colours were deposited in Christ Church Cathedral, Vancouver. The 102nd Canadian Infantry Battalion was perpetuated by The North British Columbia Regiment.

For additional information please see the Internet site for the 102nd Battalion as prepared by Sergeant Leonard McLeod Gould, who was a Victoria, B.C. journalist.  Here are the first few words to entice you to look at the book in detail (13 Chapters are on the web site -plus a great selection of images).

The official date for the mobilization of the 102nd Canadian Infantry Battalion, whose adventures in Canada, England, France and Belgium during the days of the Great War it is the object of this book to chronicle, is given as November 3rd, 1915, on which date authority was issued to Lieut.-Colonel John Weightman Warden, formerly of St. John's, N.B., but then of Vancouver, B.C., to raise a battalion for service overseas, this battalion to be raised in Northern British Columbia and to be styIed the102nd (Comox-Atlin) 0verseas Battalion. A newspaper story, which may or may not have some foundation in fact, states that the inauguration of the unit was the outcome of a wager laid between Mr.H.Clements, M.P. for Comox-Atlin, and one of his colleagues in the Federal House, the latter having jestingly challenged him to produce a unit from his barren constituency. If there be any truth in the yarn it certainly affords an excellent example of the adage that from small beginnings great things do grow.

and in Chapter 2:

.... it was not until we reached Ottawa that any event occurred to break the usual monotony of a long train journey. At the Capital the battalion was reviewed by H.R.H. the Duke of Connaught, then Governor-General of Canada, accompanying whom was General Sir Sam Hughes, then Minister of Militia. On the same day the journey was resumed and on Sunday afternoon, June 18th, we reached Halifax and embarked on the C.P.R. S.S. "Empress of Britain," which pulled out into the fairway on the same evening, but did not leave Halifax until the morning of June 20th, when, with H.M.S. "Drake" as escort, she started off upon her submarine infested course.

The Fourth Division was expected to proceed to France very shortly and we had to do in six weeks what our sister battalions had taken months to accomplish. Musketry, of course, was our first and most pressing need and as soon as we had been issued with rifles many days were spent at Whitehill in passing the various tests. Then there were long hours to be spent on bayonet fighting and on musketry drill, but before the end of the month our musketry was over and we left Bramshott to take up our place by the side of the three battalions with whom we were to be associated for so many arduous months abroad, the 54th (Kootenay) Bn.; the 75th (Toronto) Bn., and the 87th (Montreal) Bn.. The remaining days at Bramshott were spent mostly in continuous drill, the only leave obtainable being two short week ends, one of which was cut shorter by the desire of Sir Sam Hughes to inspect the 4th Division before his departure to Canada.

The last few days passed quickly, and finally, on a sweltering hot day, August 11th, 1916, the 102nd Bn. marched from Bramshott to Liphook, where it entrained for Southampton. Arrived there we boarded the small cross-channel transport "Connaught" and awoke on the morning of the l2th to find ourselves in the harbour of Le Havre. Just five months from mobilization in Comox and we were standing on the threshold of our ambitions. How those ambitions were fulfilled the succeeding chapters will relate.