|
|
|
The 247th
Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force was a unit
raised for service in the First World War.
History
The Battalion was mobilized at
Peterborough, Ontario in August 1916, and recruited in
Peterborough, North Hastings and Cavan Township.1
The first commanding officer was
Major W.D. Johnson, who resigned his command at the start of
November 1916.
Johnston was replaced by Charles
Haydn Ackerman, born in Port Perry in July 1888. Before the
war he served in the 57th Regiment of the pre-war Militia,
while working as a manufacturer for his father's business.
He enlisted in the CEF early in the war and served as
a lieutenant with the 2nd Battalion at Festubert in 1915
where he was wounded in the shoulder by a bullet, and in the
scalp by shrapnel. The 247th was absorbed by the 235th
Battalion before leaving Canada, and Ackerman was eventually
discharged as medically unfit in March 1918. He
unsuccessfully ran for Parliament in 1935, but served as
President of both the West Peterborough Unionist association
and the Ontario chapter of the Canadian Legion.2
On the same day that Ackerman
took command of the battalion, his brother, Lieutenant
Arthur Ackerman, was laid to rest in Peterborough after
dying from wounds received in France.3
The battalion had raised 240 men
by 4 April 1917 when it was officially disbanded and the men
absorbed by the 235th Battalion.4
Lieutenant-Colonel Ackerman was not shy about giving his
opinion on controversial matters. While in France he had
written a letter in support of the Ross Rifle directly to
the Minister of Militia and Defence, Sir Sam Hughes, while
frankly describing its problems which he attributed to poor
British ammunition.5 He assessed his inability to
recruit the 247th to full strength with the same frankness,
declaring it impossible to secure more recruits without
conscription.6
The unit was perpetuated by The
Peterborough Rangers in the 1920 Otter Commission
reorganizations.7 When that regiment was
amalgamated in 1936 to become The Prince of Wales' Rangers,
the perpetuation passed to that regiment.8
|
|
247th
Battalion, CEF |
|
 |
|
Raised:
August 1916 (GO 11/1917 and GO 48/1917)
Strength: approx. 240 men
Service: Disbanded in Canada
Disbanded: Official disbandment 4 April 1917
Perpetuated by:
The Peterborough Rangers/The Prince of Wales'
Rangers |
|
Insignia
The cap badge illustrated above appears
in the
Babin catalogue as E-247.
Notable Members
Captain James E. Belton served with the
247th Battalion and was invalided out of service in April 1917. He
had previously served in the British Imperial Yeomanry in the Boer
War, and after leaving Canada in 1917 obtained a commission in the
infantry of the U.S. Army. His death in 1928 was reported in many
Canadian newspapers.9
Lieutenant-Colonel J.C. Gamey, who
commanded The Midland Regiment in the Second World War, enlisted in
the Militia in 1912 and served in the 247th Battalion before going
to France and seeing action in the 247th Battalion.10
Battle Honours
No battle honours were awarded to the
247th Battalion, CEF.
Notes
-
Guide to Sources Relating to
Units of the Canadian Expeditionary Force Infantry Battalions (Library
and Archives Canada, Ottawa, ON, 2012)
p.676
-
"The
Ross Rifleman", Patriots,
Crooks and Safety-Firsters: Colonels of the Canadian
Expeditionary Force, accessed online at
https://matthewkbarrett.com/2015/01/23/the-ross-rifleman/
-
"Major Chas. Ackerman Succeeds Major W.D.
Johnson" The Gazette (Montreal), 9 Nov 1916 p.5
Other articles and sources spell the first CO's name "Johnson"
without the 't'.
-
"247th to Join 235th", The Ottawa
Citizen, 6 Apr 1917, p.15
-
"The Ross Rifleman", Ibid
-
"247th to Join 235th", Ibid
-
Love, David W. A Nation in Making: The Organization and
Administration of the Canadian Military During the First World
War (Service Publications Ltd., Ottawa, ON, 2012) ISBN
978-1-894581-72-1 Volume II, p.332 as well as "Guide to
Sources", Ibid
-
"Guide to Sources", Ibid
-
"Captain J.E. Belton Dead in New York", The
Gazette (Montreal), 3 Apr 1928, p.10
-
"Many School Teachers in Midland Regiment",
The Ottawa Citizen, 15 Apr 1941, p.14
Archival Holdings
The following holdings at Library and
Archives Canada may be useful for further research on this unit:
|
