RMS Olympic Troopship embarking in Canada

[TheAlgy]

Hi: I'm new to this, and am looking for any possible further embarkation details of the Canadian 88th battalion, which supposedly embarked from Halifax 2 June 1916 on RMS Olympic. I have a list of names of officers and men in the battalion, but suspect that an advance party of officer(s) and men left on an earlier ship.

Initially I would need a record of the 2/6/1916 sailing together with the names of officers on board (at least), so that if any were missing I could try to trace them on earlier sailings.

I am aware of records WO25/3549 and BT100/432 at the National Archives in Kew (thanks to an earlier related topic on this forum) but would be grateful if anyone can suggest any other records before I head for Kew on a goose-chase!.

My hunch is supported by strong DNA evidence, but the 2/6/1916 sailing is a month or two too late to match the birth date of my ancestor (18/12/1916), at least given the medical facilities available to a poor single mother at the time.

[KizmeRD]

Algy, what makes you so sure that your man would have sailed with the 88th Infantry Battalion? Assuming he originally enlisted with the Victoria Fusiliers it could well be that sometime before embarkation he might have ended up being transferred to another Canadian battalion. It was reported in the Daily Colonist on the 5th September, 1915 that the Fusiliers supplied the following:
– 45 percent of the officers and men of the 30th Battalion, C.E.F., including commanding officer Lieutenant-Colonial Hall. 
– 50 percent of the men and 35 percent of the officers of the 48th Battalion
– 105 men and 3 officers of the 62nd Battalion. 
(The Victoria Fusiliers were a significant recruitment unit attracting many former Brits who had moved to Canada).
MB

Edited 8 April , 2022 by KizmeRD

[TheAlgy]

Thanks, that’s another kettle of fish! I have the contingent tha supposedly sailed on the Olympic and I’m starting from there, at the moment. I’ll certainly look into your suggestion however!

[KizmeRD]

The 30 bn. embarked for Britain on 23rd February, 1915

the 48th on 1st July 1915

and the 62nd on 20 March 1916.

MB

[Broznitsky]

There appears to be no evidence of any advance party from the 88th Overseas Battalion leaving Canada prior to June 1916, at least under that nomenclature.

The 67th Battalion, which recruited on Vancouver Island, left in April 1916.  Several other battalions not from the Island left in 1916 prior to the 88th, like the 62nd and 72nd.

Do you have a name, or are you trying to match a possible date to a possible name?

[petwes]

You probably already have this information but here are some of the Olympics sailings in early 1916. Unfortunately I only copied the log for the first sailing in 1916 between Liverpool and Mudros. My photo obtained at TNA. 

 

Peter

[TheAlgy]

Thanks for that Peter: I think I’ve got enough to go on now guys! Thanks for thinking of me!!

[Simon Mills]

I probably can't add very much to the detail that you have already researched, but I can confirm that there were definitely elements of the 88th Battalion CEF on the Olympic's 2nd June  1916 voyage. The reason we know this is that the death of a Private Oswald Peto of the 88th Battalion is specifically recorded in the Olympic's log. The normal practice was to bury the dead at sea, but as Peto died the day before the Olympic reached Liverpool his body was instead landed for burial. This is the CWGC record of the burial: Private O K Peto | War Casualty Details | CWGC

SM.