1st Battalion marching on Talbot Street, St. Thomas

Publication: Published in St. Thomas: 100 Years a City 1881-1981, p. 130.; Published in the St. Thomas Times-Journal Bygone Days feature, and on the Archives flickr site, August 22, 2014: https://www.flickr.com/photos/elgincountyarchives/14995319191/in/photostream/.

Scope and Content: 1st Battalion marching on Talbot Street, St. Thomas, August 22, 1914. The recruits were marching east along Talbot Street enroute to the London & Port Stanley Railway Station at Kains Street, where they would board a train bound for London, Ontario and onward to Valcartier, Quebec. This was the first contingent of Elgin County men sent overseas during the First World War (left Canada on October 7, 1914). Lieutenant G.A. Metcalfe, shown here leading the contingent, was an assistant principal at Myrtle Street School, St. Thomas and was the first fatal officer casualty from Elgin County in the First World War, killed in action at Givenchy, France, June 20, 1915. The men shown marching in civilian dress are St. Thomas veterans of the Fenian Raids of the 1860s. Marching in civilian dress at right is F.W. Wright, Mayor of St. Thomas, 1897-1898. View shows Talbot Street, St. Thomas, north side, looking west from Holy Angels Church. View includes Journal Building (including the original domed tower), Home Bank Building (25th Regiment clubroom located on the second floor), Dowler's Men's Wear, W.E. Maxwell Dry Goods, Jos. McAlpine pianos, G.W. Armitage billiards and bowling. File includes:; glass-plate negative; glass lantern slide; Down the Street to Yesterday Zone 28 (Mary to Hiawatha); Down the Street to Yesterday Zone 29 (Hiawatha to Mondamin)

Website / Street View Notes: For contemporary view see Google Street View, accessed August 19, 2014.