1st Reserve Battalion

The 1st Reserve Battalion was formed January 4, 1917 by absorbing the 30th Reserve Battalion, which had been acting as a reserve battalion since April 29, 1915, and the 158th Infantry Battalion which had been used as a reinforcing unit/depot until it reported to the 1st Reserve Battalion on January 7, 1917 with 26 officers and 623 other ranks. The battalion’s regimental designation was the British Columbia Regiment and received Canadian drafts from 1st Depot Battalion, British Columbia Regiment which served M.D. No.11. The battalion was based in Upper Dibgate, Shorncliffe until March 8th, 1917 when the 1st Reserve Battalion was re-located to Seaford with an establishment of 50 officers and 604 other ranks. 

During its existence the 1st Reserve Battalion reinforced a variety of units: 

	Reinforced the 7th Battalion from January 1, 1917 to demobilization, (C.R.O. 271)
	Reinforced the 29th Battalion from January 1, 1917 to demobilization, (C.R.O. 271)
	Reinforced the 47th Battalion from May 20, 1917 to February 18, 1918 (C.R.O. 1434) when the duty passed to the 4th Reserve Battalion. During this period the battalion sent a minimum of 19 officer’s and150 other ranks to the battalion.
	Reinforced the 72nd Battalion from May 20, 1917 to demobilization, (C.R.O. 1434)

On May 20, 1917 the battalion absorbed the 24th Reserve Battalion taking an additional 92 officers and 1143 other ranks on strength and assumed the responsibility for reinforcing the 47th Battalion. On August 23, 1917 the 54th and 102nd Battalion’s under the 16th Reserve Battalion “were placed at the disposal of this battalion for drafts.” The war diary makes no further mention of these 2 battalions and any drafts sent to these battalions in France are not specifically listed. Furthermore these battalions do not list the 1st Reserve Battalion as a reinforcing source, listing the 16th, 2nd and 8th and the 16th and 8th Reserve Battalions respectively.

The war diary gives an indication of numbers of men sent to France and other units to the fall of 1917. The 7th Battalion received 6 officers and 701 other ranks, the 29th Battalion was reinforced with 24 officers and 551 other ranks while the 72nd received 5 officers and 115 other ranks. Troops were also sent to other units during this period. The Machine Gun depot at Crowborough received 46 O.R.s, Canadian Railway Troop Depot 6 Officers, the 6th Railway Battalion 86 O.R.’s, Forestry Depot 1 officer and 44 O.R.’s, Signal Corps 21O.R.’s and units such as C.A.M.C., 1st Labour Battalion, C.A.S.C Depot, 3rd C.E. Depot, Chinese Labour Corps, Signal Corps, 50th Battalion and 202nd Battalion received drafts of 10 men or less of all ranks. After the fall of 1917 the diaries make little reference to individual units. 

On February 15, 1918 the 1st Reserve Battalion absorbed the 16th Reserve Battalion and the following month shows 107 officers and 2162 other ranks on strength, the highest totals of the war. During 1918 the battalion received a number of drafts from Canada which were housed at Segregation Camp, Otterpool, for an average stay of 10 days, before joining the battalion. On April 28, 1918 a draft of 3 officers and 347 other ranks arrived, August 31 a draft of 361 other ranks, September 11 a draft of 611 other ranks and on October 11 a draft of 236 other ranks. 

The 1st Reserve Battalion was commanded by the following officers. 

	Lieutenant-Colonel J. H .D. Hulme, from January 2, 1917 to May 21st, 1917, then transferred to London for duty with the Demobilization Committee.
	Lieutenant-Colonel G. S. Pragnell, from May21st, 1917 to July 6, 1917.
	Major J. L. R. DeMorinni, from July 6, 1917 to July 31, 1917.
	Lieutenant-Colonel G. S. Pragnell, from July 31, 1917 to February23, 1918
	Lieutenant-Colonel C. B. Worsnop, from February 23, 1918 to demobilization.

During the existence of the 1st Reserve Battalion it absorbed the 30th Reserve Battalion and 158th Infantry Battalion during its’ creation, the 24th Reserve Battalion and the 16th Reserve Battalion. It reinforced the 7th, 29th and 72nd to wars end and briefly reinforced the 47th until early 1918. The 1st Reserve Battalion did not absorb or train any individual newly arriving infantry battalions after its formation and only absorbed existing reserve battalions. 

Various authorities list a number of battalions as being absorbed or trained by the 1st Reserve Battalion. David W. Love in A Call to Arms includes the 2nd, 143rd, 158th and 231st, as being trained by the 1st Reserve and correctly identifies the November 1918 reinforcing establishment as the 7th, 29th and 72nd. (pg.92) 
The 2nd Battalion is listed as absorbed because of his misidentification of Meeks badge, the second variant of the 30th (Reserve) Battalion badge as the second battalion. The 231st Battalion was absorbed by the 16th Reserve Battalion and officially disbanded by April 11, 1918. The 143rd was absorbed by the 24th Reserve Battalion and disbanded by January 5, 1918. 

Furthermore page 93 of Love indicates the 14th Reserve Battalion was absorbed by the 1st instead of the correct battalion, the 11th Reserve Battalion. Meek in Over the Top and Taboika in Military Antiques and Collectibles of the Great War correctly identify 30th Reserve Battalion as being absorbed to form the 1st Reserve Battalion. Taboika includes the 54th Battalion as using the 1st Reserve Battalion as a reinforcing unit. The 54th Battalion ceased using the 16th Reserve Battalion for reinforcements by August 9, 1917, a full six months before it was absorbed by the 1st Reserve Battalion. 

Bibliography: 

War Diary 1917/01/04-1919/02/08 

Appendix I, Officers Serving Overseas Units, Canada in the Great War Vol.VI, United Publishers of Canada Ltd. Toronto, 1921, pgs. 315-372 

Meek, John F. Over The Top; The Canadian Infantry in the First World War, John F. Meek, 1971 

Taboika, Victor, J., Military Antiques and Collectibles of the Great War; A Canadian Collection, Service Publications, Ottawa, 2007 

Love, David W. A Call to Arms; The Organization and Administration of Canada’s Military in World War One, Bunker to Bunker Books, Winnipeg and Calgary, 1999 

Duguid, Colonel A. Fortesque , D.S.O., Official History of the Great War 1914-1919, General Series, Vol.1, Aug.1914 –Sept. 1915, Appendices and Maps, J. O. Patenaude, I.S.O., Kings Printer, Ottawa, 1938 

Administrative Histories; C.E.F. Battalions 1-260, Canada, Department of National Defence, Directorate of History, reference number unknown.