Canada and the Battle of Vimy Ridge 9 April 1917

Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Currie (center)
Photo by William Rider-Rider
(Imperial War Museum, CO1970)

Every April 9th Canadians pause to remember one of its country's most famous battles - Vimy Ridge. Nearly a century ago in 1917, after years of failed attempts by the British and French armies to push the German defenders off the heights, the 4 division strong Canadian Corps stormed the heavily fortified ridge and succeeded in capturing the majority of it in a single day. By 12 April, the remaining pockets of German resistance crumbled under the weight of repeated Canadian attacks, marking a stunning tactical success in what otherwise became yet another failed British offensive on the Western Front that year.

Interestingly, the Battle of Vimy Ridge was neither the most costly or the most significant Canadian battle of the First World War, and as many historians have recently argued other engagements - Passchendaele, Hill 70, Amiens, and the Canal du Nord were similarly significant in establishing the remarkable Canadian reputation of being the 'shock troops of the British Empire". Even Canada's most widely recognized General of the Great War - Sir Arthur Currie - would earn his great reputation not on the heights of Vimy Ridge where his own division had a relatively easier fight than others, but rather in later battles where he repeatedly proved his tactical genius over his adversaries.

Sources on the history of the battle are plentiful as you can see from the references listed below. As such it serves as a tremendously interesting and poignant background to the collection of Canadian Ex Libris, books, and ephemera associated with the battle. Most of the items in my own archive are books and ephemera, bits and pieces I've collected along the way over the years. I've yet to come across a bookplate making specific mention of the battle in its composition, and would be interested to know if anyone else has. Otherwise, for now the search continues.

In other news, I'm still going through the pile of 19th century bookplates. I'll post a few this weekend that I'm currently researching. Until next time ....


Further Reading on the Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9-12 April 1917

• Barris, Ted (2007), Victory at Vimy: Canada Comes of Age, April 9–12, 1917, Toronto: Thomas Allen Publishers, ISBN 0-88762-253-4
• Barton, Peter; Doyle, Peter; Vandewalle, Johan (2004), Beneath Flanders Fields: The Tunnellers' War 1914–1918, Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, ISBN 0-7735-2949-7
• Bechthold, Mike (2007), "In the Shadow of Vimy Ridge: The Canadian Corps in April and May 1917", in Hayes, Geoffrey; Iarocci, Andrew; Bechthold, Mike, Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, pp. 239–264, ISBN 0-88920-508-6
• Boire, Michael (Spring 1992), "The Underground War: Military Mining Operations in support of the attack on Vimy Ridge, 9 April 1917" (PDF), Canadian Military History (Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies) 1 (1–2): 15–24, retrieved 2 January 2008
• Boire, Michael (2007), "The Battlefield before the Canadians, 1914–1916", in Hayes, Geoffrey; Iarocci, Andrew; Bechthold, Mike, Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, pp. 51–61, ISBN 0-88920-508-6
• Brennan, Patrick (2007), "Julian Byng and Leadership in the Canadian Corps", in Hayes, Geoffrey; Iarocci, Andrew; Bechthold, Mike, Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, pp. 87–104, ISBN 0-88920-508-6
• Campbell, David (2007), "The 2nd Canadian Division: A 'Most Spectacular Battle'", in Hayes, Geoffrey; Iarocci, Andrew; Bechthold, Mike, Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, pp. 171–192, ISBN 0-88920-508-6
• Chasseaud, Peter (1999), Artillery’s Astrologers – A History of British Survey and Mapping on the Western Front 1914–1918, Lewes: Mapbooks, ISBN 0-9512080-2-0
• Cook, Tim (2007), "The Gunners of Vimy Ridge: 'We are Hammering Fritz to Pieces'", in Hayes, Geoffrey; Iarocci, Andrew; Bechthold, Mike, Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, pp. 105–124, ISBN 0-88920-508-6
• Cook, Tim (1999), "'A Proper Slaughter': The March 1917 Gas Raid at Vimy" (PDF), Canadian Military History (Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies) 8 (2): 7–24, retrieved 2 January 2008
• Corkerry, Shaun (2001), Instructions for the Training of Divisions for Offensive Action 1916, Instructions for the Training of Platoons for Offensive Action 1917, Buckinghamshire: Military Press, ISBN 978-0-85420-250-8
• Falls, Cyril (1992) [1940], Military Operations: France and Belgium 1917: The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line and the Battles of Arras, History of the Great War Based on Official Documents 1, Nashville: The Battery Press, ISBN 0-89839-180-6
• Farndale, General Sir Martin (1986), Western Front, 1914–1918, History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Woolwich: Royal Artillery Institution, ISBN 1-870114-00-0
• Farr, Don (2007), The Silent General: A Biography of Haig's Trusted Great War Comrade-in-Arms, Solihull: Helion & Company Limited, ISBN 1-874622-99-X
• Godefroy, Andrew (2007a), "The 4th Canadian Division: 'Trenches Should Never be Saved'", in Hayes, Geoffrey; Iarocci, Andrew; Bechthold, Mike, Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, pp. 211–224, ISBN 0-88920-508-6
• Godefroy, Andrew (2007b), "The German Army at Vimy Ridge", in Hayes, Geoffrey; Iarocci, Andrew; Bechthold, Mike, Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, pp. 225–238, ISBN 0-88920-508-6
• Granatstein, Jack Lawrence (2004), Canada's Army: Waging War and Keeping the Peace, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, ISBN 0-8020-8696-9
• Hayes, Geoffrey (2007), "The 3rd Canadian Division: Forgotten Victory", in Hayes, Geoffrey; Iarocci, Andrew; Bechthold, Mike, Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, pp. 193–210, ISBN 0-88920-508-6
• Hopkins, J. Castell (1919), Canada at War, 1914–1918: A Record of Heroism and Achievement, Toronto: Canadian Annual Review, OCLC 869410882
• Humphries, Mark Osborne (2007), ""Old Wine in New Bottles": A Comparison of British and Canadian Preparations for the Battle of Arras", in Hayes, Geoffrey; Iarocci, Andrew; Bechthold, Mike, Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, pp. 65–85, ISBN 0-88920-508-6
• Inglis, Dave (1995), Vimy Ridge: 1917–1992, A Canadian Myth over Seventy Five Years, Burnaby: Simon Fraser University, ISBN 0-61206-688-6
• McGill, Harold W. (2007), Norris, Marjorie, ed., Medicine and duty: the World War I memoir of Captain Harold W. McGill, Medical Officer, 31st Battalion, C.E.F, Calgary: University of Calgary Press, ISBN 1-55238-193-5
• Moran, Heather (2007), "The Canadian Army Medical Corps at Vimy Ridge", in Hayes, Geoffrey; Iarocci, Andrew; Bechthold, Mike, Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, pp. 139–154, ISBN 0-88920-508-6
• Nicholson, Gerald W. L. (1962), Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914–1919, Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War, Ottawa: Queen's Printer and Controller of Stationary, OCLC 59609928
• Nicholson, G. W. L. (1967), The Gunners of Canada – The History of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery:1534–1919 I, Ottawa: McClelland & Stewart, OCLC 883860617
• Pierce, John (Spring 1992), "Constructing Memory: The Vimy Memorial" (PDF), Canadian Military History (Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies) 1 (1–2): 4–14, ISSN 1195-8472, retrieved 2 February 2009
• Rawling, Bill (2007), "The Sappers of Vimy: Specialized Support for the Assault of 9 April 1917", in Hayes, Geoffrey; Iarocci, Andrew; Bechthold, Mike, Vimy Ridge: A Canadian Reassessment, Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, pp. 125–138, ISBN 0-88920-508-6
• Samuels, Mart (1996), Command or Control?: Command, Training and Tactics in the British and German Armies, 1888–1918, Portland: Frank Cass, ISBN 0-7146-4570-2
• Sheffield, Gary (2002), Forgotten Victory: The First World War Myths and Realities, London: Headline Books, ISBN 0-7472-6460-0
• Sheldon, Jack (2008), The German Army on Vimy Ridge 1914–1917, Barnsley (UK): Pen & Sword Military, ISBN 978-1-84415-680-1
• Terraine, John (1992), The Smoke and the Fire: Myths and Anti-Myths of War 1861–1945, London: Pen & Sword Books, ISBN 0-85052-330-3
• Tucker, Spencer, ed. (1996), The European powers in the First World War: an encyclopedia, New York: Garland Publishing, ISBN 0-8153-0399-8
• Turner, Alexander (2005), Vimy Ridge 1917: Byng's Canadians Triumph at Arras, London: Osprey Publishing, ISBN 1-84176-871-5
• Vance, Jonathan Franklin (1997), Death So Noble: Memory, Meaning, and the First World War, Vancouver: UBC Press, ISBN 0-7748-0600-1
• Vimy Memorial, Ottawa, Ontario: Canadian War Museum, 2009, retrieved 26 January 2015
• Williams, Jeffery (1983), Byng of Vimy, General and Governor General, London: Secker & Warburg, ISBN 0-436-57110-2
• Wineguard, Timothy (Summer 2007), "Here at Vimy: A Retrospective – The 90th Anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge" (PDF), Canadian Military Journal (Department of National Defence) 8 (2): 83–85, ISSN 1492-465X, retrieved 2 February 2009

Thomas Aylwin - Merchant of the Seven Years War

Modern day Rue Notre Dame, Quebec City

Bookplates offer a tremendous opportunity to study those men and women who laid the foundations of the country we live in today.  Thomas Aylwin, an English merchant who conducted trade in Quebec City after its capture by General Wolfe’s army in 1759-60, and then in Boston until the American revolution broke out, had this beautiful Chippendale armorial bookplate made for his bibliographic possessions. 

Aylwin was born in Romsey, Hampshire, England in 1729.  He pursued a merchant’s life and eventually established himself at Quebec City after its capture from the French by General Wolfe’s army in 1759-60.   As one biography of him noted, “he was doubtless among that set of merchants of whom Governor Murray said in 1764: they have resorted to a Country where there is no money, and . . . think themselves superior in rank and fortune to the Soldier and the Canadian.”  At Quebec City, Aylwin’s partner was Charles Kerr and the two men specialized in the retail sale of imported products including dry goods, foodstuffs, wine, hardware, stationery, and other merchandise. After Charles Kerr died in 1765, Aylwin carried on at Quebec until about 1769.  After that, records indicate he moved to Boston, where he continued to operate as a merchant until the outbreak of the American Revolution.  Along the way he had married Lucy Cushing, daughter of the US Supreme Court Justice William Cushing, on 11 September 1771.  Together they had three sons. 

Thomas Aylwin's book plate

Fleeing the outbreak of war, Aylwin returned to Quebec City with his family in 1776 and set up a new business on Rue Saint-Jean, later renting a house on Rue Saint-Joseph. On 23 October 1777 he bought two houses on Rue Notre-Dame, in the business district, from merchant and legislative councilor Thomas Dunn for £948.  Over time the range of products he advertised in the Quebec Gazette steadily broadened.  He died at Quebec City on 11 April 1791.  Throughout his life Aylwin seems to have enjoyed moderate prosperity, and the inventory made after his death reveals that he lived comfortably, though not in luxury.  Included in this inventory was the record of a library of some fifty volumes that included works of history, law, religion, and poetry, as well as business.

I secured Aylwin’s bookplate amongst a small collection of heraldry items I bought earlier this year.  Interestingly it was not listed in the famous Franks collection catalogue, but it was listed in the 1895 catalogue of Canadian bookplates assembled by Quebec Ex Libris authority Phileas Gagnon (G.4755 and G.S. Appx).  Given that his estate noted that Aylwin owned “some fifty volumes” I can’t help but wonder just how many of these bookplates have actually survived over the last 250 years.  Is this the last one?  Does anyone else have one of these in their bookplate collection?  If you do please let me know.  Until next time …