The interwar militia in Vancouver is a poorly understood institution, partly because scholars have
come to associate the militia with militarism. However, the militia has important non-military functions
and the interwar militia regiments were more than social clubs. This thesis compared the activities of two
of Vancouver's militia regiments by examining their archival holdings to see if they had documentary
evidence to support the notion that they functioned as a proto-fraternal society during the interwar period.
The militia regiments functioned as fraternal associations providing mutual aid as well as congeniality. In
the immediate post World War One period and during the Great Depression, with successively lower
militia appropriations, militia regiments were forced out of necessity to come up with innovative ways to
recruit and keep men on strength. Service in the militia was voluntary with members turning their pay
back to the regiments to enable many of the militia regiments to function. The militia regiments held
suppers and dances, and paid transportation costs to get members out for parade nights. The militia also
played an integral role in the ceremonial life of the city. The ceremonial and symbolic values of militia
units on parade were accepted features of public ceremonies in the city. It reaffirmed Vancouver's
"Britishness." This thesis compares two of Vancouver's militia regiments during the interwar period, the
Seaforth Highlanders of Canada and the British Columbia Regiment. The ethnic affiliation of the
Seaforth Highlanders of Canada to the city's Scottish groups was a remarkable feature of Vancouver's
elite unit. The militia allowed ambitious and patriotic young men to follow a British aristocratic career
pattern: formal education at private schools, post-secondary training and military service. Militia
regiments were part of an active social network within Vancouver between the wars. They conferred
status, provided aid, and supported dominant values such as in Vancouver's society. This thesis provides
some insight into the functioning of these two regiments as fraternal organizations and how they
connected to the larger community.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/8383 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Yuill, Ian David Campbell |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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