This website is a place of remembrance dedicated to all who served with the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles in the First World War.

Being a respectful and honouring point of focus for those having relatives or research subjects who served at any time with the 4th CMR, the website has grown out of discovering that my great-grandfather's brother, Cpl Frank Forsdike, served and died with the Regiment. As such, I do invite you to click on About to read the amazing story behind the incredible events that eventually led to Frank's previously unclaimed medals being presented to his daughter, 92 years after Frank's loss.

Pivotal to this website are the In Memoriam pages. There you will find the names of all of the men currently known to have served with the Regiment - some 4,545 in all - and the opportunity to remember and represent these men today, whether you are a relative, a researcher or just feel the need to step up in an act of remembrance. Please do make Contact and together let us honour their memories by adding our names to symbolically stand alongside theirs in remembrance and thanks for their service.

It is my hope to provide some tangible link to the men, the places and the Memorials associated with the Regiment. So, please, explore and enjoy the site (no costs are involved anywhere on this site), feel free to contribute a biography, and do check the 'Latest News' panel at the bottom of this page and the News page for updates, as this website is most certainly a work-in-progress project.

Through this website, which is optimised for PC web browsers, though not yet for mobile devices, let us come together and say that whilst they are gone, they are not forgotten. I feel very strongly about that.

With our common bond I do look forward to hearing from you soon, as together "We will remember them."

Best wishes

Ian

Featured pages

Demographic breakdown: this page provides a demographic insight into the real lives of the Regiment's full numbers (4,545). Data includes age at attestation, where attested, occupation, religion, place of birth / nationality of origin, prior military experience and height statistics. Also included are overviews of the most common first name, hair colour and eye colour. Other interesting facts are included, which will tell us how many pairs of brothers, and twins, signed up, marital status, and the youngest and oldest to sign up.

The culmination of several years of detailed research, using the regimental nominal roll, coupled with the material digitised in the Library & Archives Canada databases, the demographic breakdown provides an interesting insight into the social backgrounds of the men of the Regiment.

The Demographics page was last updated on 17th October 2024.

Medals awarded to men of the 4th CMR: between 1914 and 1919 some 223 medals (210 medals plus 13 Bars) were awarded to 195 men who had served with the 4th CMR at some point in the war.

This page shares the stories of many of these men, from a 15 year old who had lied about his age at sign up and had, by the age of 17, been awarded a Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM), to the 4th CMR's only Victoria Cross in action (another was awarded to a 4th CMR man who received it for actions with the unit he was subsequently transferred to).

Research is ongoing in this section, and was last updated on 30th July 2024.

Featured books

Released in July 2024, Crawl to Freedom, by Darren Prickett, is a compilation of stories from successful Australian WW1 POW escapes.

The book illustrates the ingenuity and perseverance of the Anzac POWs, with more than 4,000 being taken and held in WW1, and demonstrates the collaboration and comradeship that was upheld and maintained by the Australian, English, Canadian and South African prisoners working together to bring about such daring escapes.

Two men of the 4th CMR make appearances: 401506 Pte William Sharman MM, and 401659 Pte Alexander Oliver. Both men were captured amidst the 4th CMR's huge losses on 2nd June 1916, in the 'Battle for Mount Sorrel'. Pte Sharman was to gain his Military Medal as a result of his subsequent escape, which was facilitated by the Australian escapees.

This fascinating read comes highly recommended. For more details, and to purchase the book globally, either in hard copy or digitally, search for Simon and Schuster Crawl to Freedom.

Written by Canadian author Darrell Duthie, the five book WW1 fiction series takes us on an intriguing and wholly captivating journey, following Canadian Intelligence Officer Captain and latterly Lieutenant Malcolm MacPhail's service through the First World War.

A smooth blending of historical fact with engaging fiction gives us a first-hand experience of the trials, tribulations, losses and victories of trench warfare in WW1, all through the eyes of Malcolm MacPhail. Strong characters, engaging action and sound story lines put us into the thick of the Canadian Expeditionary Force's action in the mid to final stages of the war. Darrell does a fantastic job of maintaining the pace and tension of action at the Front at that time, leaving us feeling we'd actually been there ourselves!

The extent of the research is breathtaking, as is evident in the locations, the command hierarchy and its politics, and the detail of the actions described, made all the more captivating by the brief appearances of the 4th CMR in each of the novels. If you enjoy WW1 fiction, these books are for you, and would also make excellent gifts for somebody you know who is interested in the First World War.

More in-depth reviews of each of these books and purchase details (including a Kindle format), can be found on the Links > Bibliography page on this website.

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