Canadian Soldiers at Witley Camp during WWI
Witley Camp (or, Camp Witley) in Surrey, England was established in January 1915 as a training camp for both British and Canadian soldiers. Soldiers serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (C.E.F.), including Fred Baragar, were put through basic training at Witley, and camps like it throughout England.
The terrain at Witley provided “an ideal landscape for artillery training, with rolling hills, [and] sandy soil”. The surrounding scenery and villages offered entertainment for soldiers that supplemented the camp’s “housing, medical attention, recreation facilities, and shops”. Witley served as a training camp from 1916 through 1918.
After the armistice was signed on 11 November 1918, Witley functioned as a demobilization and repatriation camp. The C.E.F. demobilized over 250 000 soldiers from Europe. At multiple points during the demobilization efforts in 1918 and 1919 Canadians at Witley rioted, likely due to “boredom, lack of information, rumours, and growing...confusion and anger”.
Witley Camp was later utilized as a training camp during the Second World War.
The photos in this post are courtesy of the University of Victoria Archives Archie H. Wills fonds. Additional images and collection information available through the University of Victoria Digital Collections.