Review: A Call to the Colours: Tracing Your Canadian Military Ancestors by Kenneth G. Cox

A Call to the Colours:  Tracing Your Canadian Military Ancestors by Kenneth G. Cox, Ontario Genealogical Society/Dundurn Press, 2011, 337 p.

In his introduction, author Kenneth Cox explains that “A Call to the Colours refers to the flags that every regiment holds in esteem:  the king or queen’s colours and the regimental colours.” This book focuses on active military events in Canada’s history and successfully details how genealogists can obtain regimental records and historical information pertaining to the campaigns their ancestors took part in.

Most of the chapters cover one set period in Canada’s military history, such as The War of 1812, The Rebellions of 1837-38, the defense of Canada from 1866 to 1898, The Boer War, The Great War, and The Second World War. The third chapter (1866-1898) discusses service in The Fenian Raids, The Red River Expedition, The Nile Expedition, The Northwest Rebellion, and The Yukon Field Force. The remaining three chapters focus on women’s service in the military, and the unique records pertaining to Air Force and Navy service.

Military medals are often passed down through generations, and Cox has supplied a great deal of information about identifying these medals to better understand their significance. The author also provides lists of abbreviations and military terms often found in records, as well as a helpful index and an extensive bibliography.

As is often the case when reviewing older books, the website information provided can be well out of date. For example, much has changed since 2011 regarding the acquisition of military records from Library and Archives Canada. However, this book was not intended to be an internet guide to military records, even though the author does discuss web resources and provides an appendix for websites that were in place 15 years ago. I tested some of these website URLs and many are, surprisingly, still valid. But the book’s main value comes from its exploration of the types of records one might find for each military event and detailed information regarding the repositories that hold these records. The author shows how genealogists can use these documents in concert with regimental histories to create historical context around their Canadian ancestor’s military service.

Highly recommended.