Wartime: Queen's in the First World War

[The men and women of the second contingent of No. 5 Stationary Hospital prepare to leave Queen’s in May 1915.] — Pictured: The men and women of the second contingent of No. 5 Stationary Hospital prepare to leave Queen’s in May 1915.

On Queen's campus, there was a long military tradition. A student rifle company had drilled since 1862.

In 1910, Queen’s engineers formed the Fifth Field Company, a militia unit that trained in nearby Barriefield. Major R.W. Leonard, an RMC graduate, mining millionaire and Queen’s benefactor, offered the university land on its western edge for a military drill field (the former Leonard Field, now named Matheson Field), an offer that was ultimately rejected as inappropriate for a place of higher education. As the clouds of war gathered, many Queen’s professors, led by hawkish Dean of Arts James Cappon, joined the student body in declaring that Queen’s was “ready, aye ready.”

[Members of the 14th Battalion of Kingston at dinner at Valcartier military camp in Quebec.] — Members of the 14th Battalion of Kingston at dinner at Valcartier military camp in Quebec.

When Europe fell into war in August 1914, the people of Queen’s didn’t hesitate to get involved. Both students and faculty were prepared to enter the conflict.

Three weeks into the war, 120 members of the Fifth Field Company departed for advanced training at Valcartier in Quebec and hence to the Front in Europe. By the spring of 1915, 300 were in uniform. When professors enlisted, the university agreed to continue paying half their salary.

Two faculties spearheaded Queen’s commitment to war. The School of Mining contributed heavily to field engineering units. Other students enlisted in artillery and infantry battalions. The Faculty of Medicine formed a field hospital, which, under the command of Lt. Col/Professor Frederick Etherington departed for Egypt. Nurses trained at the Kingston General Hospital joined them. By 1918, Queen’s had more than 1,500 men in uniform.

Back at Queen’s, mandatory military drill was introduced for male students. Women undergraduates knit socks and packed Christmas bundles for the men at the Front. Professors and local ministers pumped the sale of Victory Bonds.

The war had other effects. Enrolment fell as men donned uniforms. By 1916-17, only 600 students remained on campus.

With tuition drying up and absent professors still drawing salaries, the university found itself financially strapped. Grant Hall was consequently rented to the military as a hospital, bringing in welcome revenue. To enhance the hall’s capacity, a second floor was built.

With so many men gone from campus, women found themselves less of a minority and they seized opportunities from which they had long been excluded. For the first time, women were elected to the AMS executive. Similarly, the university hired its first two female [link to firsts] professors: May Macdonnell in classics and Wilhelmina Gordon in English.

As with the rest of the country, the war deeply scarred Queen’s. Historian Frederick Gibson has suggested that 179 Queen’s “graduates” died in the conflict, but this number may well underestimate many who were affiliated with Queen’s (for example, those in correspondence courses or students who simply abandoned their studies). Their sacrifice echoed into the post-war period. Wartime Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden became Queen’s chancellor in the early 1920s.

Two edifices commemorated the loss of Queen’s lives: the Students’ Memorial Union (funded by donations) and the new football stadium, erected by the Richardson family in memory of their lost son George. Perhaps the most jarring memorial to the war was the sight of maimed male students on campus. Men missing limbs or suffering the after-effects of gas attacks returned to Queen’s and sought to resume the normal trajectory of their lives.