Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve | |
---|---|
Active | 1900-1921 |
Country | Newfoundland Colony (1900-1907) Dominion of Newfoundland (1907-1921) |
Type | military reserve force |
Role | naval |
Part of | Royal Naval Reserve |
Garrison/HQ | St. John's |
The Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve was a military reserve force founded in 1900 in what was then the Newfoundland Colony, a part of the British Empire. [1] From 1900 to 1902, approximately 50 members of the reserve trained each winter with the North American and West Indies squadron of the Royal Navy until a steam and sail powered training ship, HMS Calypso, was provided by the United Kingdom in 1902 for local drills before at-sea training with the NA and WI squadron. [2] The reserve had 375 members by late 1903 and then between five and six hundred reservists until the start of World War I, growing to over 1000 in 1915. 1,964 Newfoundlanders served with the Naval Reserve in World War I, suffering 192 fatalities. [3] The Reserve disbanded in 1920-1921. Calypso, having been renamed HMS Briton, was sold as a storage hulk and was burned for salvage near Lewisporte, Newfoundland and Labrador.
The Naval Reserve was established in 1900 with the government paying for the expenses of men who came to St. John's for 28 days of training on board HMS Calypso. The vessel was to have been berthed at Argentia, but Sir Cavendish Boyle, the governor, suggested that most people, crew and citizens alike, would appreciate having the ship docked in St. John's. [1] After their training, the men were to be available for service for five years. Similar Reserves were formed in other countries and colonies of the British Empire.
When World War I began Walter Edward Davidson, the governor of Newfoundland, committed to increasing the Reserve to 1000 men, and to do so relaxed some of the age and health requirements for joining. In less than a year that number was exceeded. Unlike the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, which served as an intact unit, the men of the Naval Reserve were dispersed throughout the Royal Navy. [3] A list of those who served with the Naval Reserve between 1914 and 1918 is available on-line. [4] The members of the Naval Reserve are represented by a sailor holding a spyglass on the west wing of the Newfoundland National War Memorial in St. John's. Members of the Reserve who died during the war are honoured at the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial in France. [5] Sir Winston Churchill remarked that the Newfoundlanders were "the best small boat men in the world". [3]
The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve, created in 1859, and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR), created in 1903. The Royal Naval Reserve has seen action in World War I, World War II, the Iraq War, and War in Afghanistan.
HMS Newfoundland was a Fiji-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. Named after the Dominion of Newfoundland, she participated in the Second World War and was later sold to the Peruvian Navy.
The Royal Naval Reserve are a part of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom.
The Royal Newfoundland Regiment is a Primary Reserve infantry regiment of the Canadian Army. It is part of the 5th Canadian Division's 37 Canadian Brigade Group.
The National War Memorial in Downtown St. John's is the most elaborate of all the post World War I monuments in Newfoundland and Labrador. It was erected at King's Beach on Water Street where, in 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed Newfoundland for England. It was formally unveiled on Memorial Day, July 1, 1924 by Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig.
Memorial Day has been observed annually since 1 July 1917, to recall the losses of approximately 700 soldiers of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment from the Dominion of Newfoundland at Beaumont-Hamel on the first day on the Somme during the First World War. Since the induction of Newfoundland into Canada in 1949, "Memorial Day" has been amalgamated to commemorate the sacrifices of members of the armed forces of the Canadian province Newfoundland and Labrador in times of war. It is observed concurrently with Canada's national holiday, Canada Day.
The history of Newfoundland and Labrador covers the period of time from the arrival of the Archaic peoples, Prior to European colonization, the lands encompassing present-day Newfoundland and Labrador were inhabited for millennia by different groups of indigenous peoples.
Admiralty House is a one-storey, wooden gable-roofed, municipally-designated heritage building originally built as a wireless communications station in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. It currently serves as a museum and archives. The building is purported to be the last standing of 11 such identical stations built around the world during the First World War.
Admiral Sir William Christopher Pakenham, was a senior Royal Navy officer. He served as a British observer with the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Russo-Japanese War; during the First World War he commanded the 2nd Battle Cruiser Squadron at the Battle of Jutland, and from December 1916 was Commander-in-Chief of the Battle Cruiser Fleet.
The Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial is a memorial site in France dedicated to the commemoration of Dominion of Newfoundland forces members who were killed during World War I. The 74-acre (300,000 m2) preserved battlefield park encompasses the grounds over which the Newfoundland Regiment made their unsuccessful attack on July 1, 1916, during the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
HMS Calypso was a corvette of the Royal Navy and the name ship of its namesake class. Built for distant cruising in the heyday of the British Empire, the vessel served as a warship and training vessel until 1922, when it was sold.
The Calypso class comprised two steam corvettes of the Royal Navy. Built for distant cruising in the heyday of the British Empire, they served with the fleet until the early twentieth century, when they became training ships. Remnants of both survive, after a fashion; HMS Calliope in the name of the naval reserve unit the ship once served, and HMS Calypso both in the name of a civilian charity and the more corporeal form of the hull, now awash in a cove off Newfoundland.
George Henry Paulin, often called Harry Paulin, or 'GHP' was a Scottish sculptor and artist of great note in the early 20th century.
Mark C. Hunter is a Canadian naval historian and currently an employee of the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Fort Waldegrave was a battery or an emplacement for heavy guns in St. John’s Newfoundland, strategically overlooking the Narrows and St John’s Harbour.
Thomas Matthew Mary Nangle was a Newfoundland cleric, military chaplain of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during World War I, diplomat and later a Rhodesian politician and farmer.
The Ancre British Cemetery is a cemetery located in the Somme region of France commemorating British and Commonwealth soldiers who fought in the Battle of the Somme in World War I. The cemetery contains mainly those who died on 1 July 1916 during the first Allied attack on the village of Beaumont-Hamel, on 3 September 1916 during the second Allied attack on the village, and on 13 November 1916 during the capture of the village and the nearby towns of Beaucourt-sur-Ancre and St. Pierre-Divion.
The Beaumont Hamel British Cemetery is a cemetery located in the Somme region of France commemorating British and Commonwealth soldiers who fought in the Battle of the Somme in World War I. The cemetery contains mainly those who died on 1 July 1916 during the first Allied attack on the village of Beaumont-Hamel and in subsequent operations in the area until February 1917.
The Gallipoli Newfoundland Memorial is a Dominion of Newfoundland war memorial that commemorates the actions of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during the Gallipoli campaign, of World War I. Located at the southwest end of the Gallipoli Peninsula, Turkey, near Suvla Bay the memorial commemorates the participation of the Newfoundland Regiment in the landing at Suvla Bay on 20 September 1915 with the 29th Division.