Maps: Chas. E. Goad, Co., Civil Engineers. Atlas of the City of Montreal and Vicinity in Four Volumes, from official plans – special surveys showing cadastral numbers, buildings & lots. Montreal: Chas. E. Goad, Co., Civil Engineers, 1912-1914. Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, https://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/2244204
Quebec Recruits: By the Numbers
Over the course of the war, some
620,000 men enlisted
in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF).
We know that roughly
88,000 enlistments occurred in Quebec
(concentrated heavily in Montreal)
and that roughly
67,000 enlistees were born in Quebec
but these are not sufficient proxies for residence. Due to how information was collected at attestation, no such figures have been tabulated to date.
From our collection, we have identified
60 men who were residents of Quebec
While this is an imperfect sample, it nevertheless offers us insight into a number of dynamics at play among Quebec’s recruits.
On average, these recruits were
27 years old at the time of their enlistment,
a figure not far removed from the CEF average of 26 years old.
Generally speaking, the men of combat units were younger than this figure while those of auxiliary units were older, but there are exceptions to this trend in both directions.
For example, 41-year-old James Bowen fought with the 14th Battalion from May 1917 until Armistice. He suffered an abdomen wound during the Battle of Hill 70 in 1917 and would die in 1924 of complications related to it. By comparison, Henri-Julien Boucher, more than 20 years Bowen’s junior when he enlisted, served with the No. 6 Canadian General Hospital because he was deemed medically unfit for a combat unit.
Image: Memorial Cross, Pte. James Bowen, 14th Bn.
A Memorial Cross was issued to the widows and mothers of Canadian servicemen who died during the war or whose later death was attributable to their wartime service.

Image: “This Is Your Flag. It Stands For Liberty. Fight For It. Join the 207th Overseas Battalion.” Library Archives Canada, Item Number 3635561.
Imagery such as the Union Jack and John Bull, as well as appeals to defend Britain, featured regularly in wartime propaganda such as recruitment posters. Their prominence (and recurrence) speaks to the extent of Imperial ties among large segments of Canada’s population.
Two-fifths of our recruits
40% (24 of 60)
were born in the British Isles
a rate comparable with the overall enlistment rate of British-born men. Though the amount of time elapsed since their emigration varied, it is fair to suppose that these men maintained ties to Britain which motivated them to serve. Imperial ties could also influence those born in Canada, however this is harder to trace.
At no point in the war did attestation forms record a recruit’s mother tongue; consequently, attempts to identify spoken language are speculative.
French names are typically used as a proxy for language spoken and when supplemented by other information such as religion, place of residence, and unit, can offer tentative figures.
Using this methodology, it appears likely that 12 recruits of our sample (20%) spoke French as their mother tongue. Evidently, such rough calculations cannot account for bilingual recruits, nor can they correct for the anglicization of French names in attestation forms among many other possibilities.
Image: Cap Badge, 22nd Battalion, CEF. Collections CCGW.
(hover to flip to the back)
The 22nd Battalion was the only officially francophone unit of the CEF. However, French Canadians could be (and were) found outside of its ranks. Many were assigned to other units which drew their reinforcements from Quebec (such as the 14th and 24th Battalions) while those who lived in French speaking exclaves across Canada would serve in units drawn from their respective provinces.
A Soldier's Experience
While a quantitative approach offers insights into general tendencies, an exploration of the wartime service of some of the men of our sample illustrates the diversity of their experiences. Highlighted here are 10 stories, drawn from the CCGW collections.
Scroll to the next slide and select a location on the map to reveal a soldier’s experience.

Montreal Area
7 soldiers' stories
Ste-Agathe-des-Monts
Story of Valerien Gagnon
Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu
Story of Louis Adelard Savoie
Sherbrooke
Story of Joseph Antoine Elphège Marcotte
Trois-Rivières, QC
Story of James Ashworth
Knowlton
Story of James E. Ball
Weedon
Story of Jean Louis Patry
St. Fabien
Story of Arsène Bélanger