Material Type

Artifact

Other Name

"113TH BATTALION...LETHBRIDGE HIGHLANDERS"

Date Range From

1915

Date Range To

1930

Materials

WOOD, WICKER, PAINT

No. Pieces

1

Height

8.5

Length

52.6

Width

41.5

Description

BROWN WOOD TRAY WITH WICKER SIDES AND HANDLES; INSIDE OF TRAY HAS LARGE STENCILLED AND PAINTED CREST COMPRISED OF AN OVAL WITH BLACK OUTLINE, A BLACK, YELLOW, AND RED CROWN AT THE TOP, A GREEN MAPLE LEAF IN THE CENTER OF THE OVAL WITH “113” IN YELLOW, A BLACK BANNER ACROSS THE BASE OF THE OVAL WITH “CANADA” IN YELLOW, GREEN THISTLES AROUND THE BANNER, AND YELLOW TEXT ON BROWN BACKGROUND AROUND THE EDGES OF THE OVAL, “OVERSEAS BATTALION, LETHBRIDGE HIGHLANDERS”. WICKER SIDES ARE DISCOLOURED AND WORN; BASE IS SCRATCHED AND HAS BROKEN AND FRAYED WICKER ENDS AROUND EDGES; INSIDE OF TRAY HAS CRACKLING OF FINISH, IS SCRATCHED, AND PAINT IS FADED; OVERALL VERY GOOD CONDITION.

Subjects

CONTAINER

Historical Association

MILITARY

COMMEMORATIVE

History

ON MARCH 28, 2019, COLLECTIONS TECHNICIAN KEVIN MACLEAN INTERVIEWED CAROL AND BRETT CLIFTON REGARDING THEIR DONATION OF VARIOUS LETHBRIDGE AND MILITARY MEMORABILIA. THE OBJECTS WERE COLLECTED BY CAROL’S LATE HUSBAND, CHRIS CLIFTON, AND DONATED IN HIS MEMORY. ON THE TRAY, BRETT CLIFTON NOTED, “THE ONES [I FIND IMPORTANT], AFTER MY BREAK- IN, THERE WERE SOME OTHER THINGS THAT WERE TOTALLY IRREPLACEABLE TO ME, NOT NECESSARILY THE HIGHEST MONETARY VALUE, BUT SOMETHING WHERE I’D BE LIKE, “OH, DARN WHERE AM I EVER GOING TO FIND ANOTHER LETHBRIDGE HIGHLANDERS TRAY AGAIN?...SOME OF THE THINGS TOO THAT I CHOSE, THE PENNANTS AND THE TRAY IN PARTICULAR AND THE SPORRAN, ARE JUST THINGS LIKE, THEY’RE REALLY COOL FOR ME TO HAVE AND THEY’RE AWESOME TO SIT IN MY BASEMENT AND I CAN GO LOOK AT THEM ANY TIME I WANT, BUT NO ONE ELSE GETS TO SEE THEM. THERE’S A BROADER STORY TO BE TOLD IN A MORE, COMMUNITY APPRECIATION, I THINK, THAN JUST SITTING IN MY BASEMENT, IN MY MAN CAVE, LOOKING AT IT.” ON CHRIS CLIFTON’S ACQUISITIONS OF THE OBJECTS, CAROL CLIFTON NOTED, “[CHRIS SEARCHED ON] AUCTION WEB…HE WAS A VERY EARLY USER. THESE THINGS COST MONEY. CHRIS AND I WERE ALWAYS LIKE, ‘OH WELL, ONE DAY WE’LL DONATE THEM AND IT’LL BE OUR GIFT TO CHARITY...’” “MUCH OF THE REST [OF THE COLLECTION] WAS FOUND BY CHRIS ON EBAY…IT COULD BE THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT [AND CHRIS WOULD SAY], ‘HEY, BRETT, GUESS WHAT’S ON EBAY?’” “HE DIDN’T THINK TWICE. IF [AN ITEM] WAS THERE AND HE COULD AFFORD IT, HE GOT IT...IT WAS LIKE HE FELT LIKE HE WAS SAVING IT. I SUPPOSE, AS A MUSEUM, YOU CAN’T NECESSARILY JUST BUY WITH THAT ABANDON BECAUSE YOU HAVE PEOPLE YOU HAVE TO ANSWER TO. WELL, HE DIDN’T HAVE TO ANSWER TO ANYONE...IF HE FELT IT BELONGED IN LETHBRIDGE HE BOUGHT IT...[HE WAS] BRINGING IT HOME.” ON THEIR MOTIVES FOR DONATING THE COLLECTIONS, CAROL CLIFTON NOTED, “THE FIRST REASON THAT WE DECIDED TO DONATE AT THIS TIME…IS THAT WE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A NICE WAY TO HONOUR [CHRIS] TO MAKE SURE THAT THE COLLECTION ALWAYS STAYED IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA AND THAT IT’S AVAILABLE TO PEOPLE WITH SIMILAR INTERESTS. [THE DONATION] WOULD BE SOMETHING IN HIS MEMORY THAT WOULD KEEP HIS MEMORY ALIVE.” ON HER HUSBAND’S INTEREST IN SOUTHERN ALBERTA HISTORY, CAROL CLIFTON ELABORATED, “CHRIS PASSED AWAY…[HE] REALLY MADE US INTERESTED IN HISTORY. FOR HIM IT WAS ALL ABOUT LOCAL HISTORY, SO ANYTHING THAT HE COLLECTED HAD A LETHBRIDGE OR SOUTHERN ALBERTA CONNECTION OR HE DIDN’T COLLECT IT. HE LIKED TO RESEARCH THEM.” “[CHRIS] WAS VERY PROUD TO HAVE BEEN RAISED MORMON FROM A MORMON FAMILY THAT HAD DEEP PIONEER ROOTS INTO UTAH, AND WERE ORIGINALS TO UTAH AND ORIGINALS TO SOUTHERN ALBERTA. ALONG WITH THAT MORMONS…REALLY ENCOURAGE HISTORY IN TERMS OF COLLECTING THEIR ARTIFACTS OR RELIGIOUS ARTIFACTS, AND GENEALOGY. [CHRIS DID] ALL OF HIS OWN GENEALOGY AND HE WOULD DO GENEALOGY FOR ANYONE HE KNEW. WE JUST LITERALLY HAVE REAMS OF PERSONAL HISTORY AND GENEALOGY IN THAT FORM. IT GREW FROM THERE. [CHRIS] WAS A COLLECTOR AT HEART, HE BEGAN COIN COLLECTING AND DID A LOT OF WORK FOUNDING A NUMISMATICS SOCIETY IN TOWN AND BELONGED TO SEVERAL, AND DISPLAYED ON A NATIONAL LEVEL.” “IN TERMS OF THE MILITARY ITEMS, I WOULD SAY [HIS INTEREST BEGAN] WITH HIS DAD BEING FROM THE CALGARY TANK REGIMENT IN DIEPPE AND A PRISONER OF WAR. HIS DAD’S MOTHER HAD SAVED A BUNCH OF ITEMS AND BEFORE CHRIS’ DAD PASSED AWAY, HE GAVE EVERYTHING TO CHRIS…THAT KIND OF FOSTERED [HIS INTEREST IN MILITARY COLLECTIONS] AND THEN IT JUST GREW INTO INTERESTING LOCAL THINGS.” “CHRIS LOVED SOUTHERN ALBERTA, AND NO MATTER WHAT, HE NEVER WOULD HAVE LEFT SOUTHERN ALBERTA. HE LOVED TO TRAVEL BUT HE NEVER WOULD HAVE MOVED. HE LIVED IN MAGRATH AND LETHBRIDGE HIS WHOLE LIFE AND HAD NO INTEREST IN ANY OTHER PLACE BUT HERE.” ON CHRIS’ RESEARCH EFFORTS, CAROL CLIFTON RECALLED, “CHRIS WAS METICULOUS. ANYTHING CHRIS DID, HE DID IT TEN TIMES MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE WOULD. HE WOULD NOT GIVE UP…WHEN [HIS SON] BRETT DID THE CENOTAPH WORK, CHRIS WOULD HELP HIM IDENTIFY [THE NAMES] AND IT WOULD BE A DEAD END AFTER ANOTHER DEAD END, AND THE NEXT THING YOU KNEW WAS CHRIS HAD FOUND A RELATIVE IN ENGLAND WHO WAS A GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER’S NEIGHBOR. HE WOULD LITERALLY SPEND YEARS RESEARCHING ONE THING. IT WAS JUST HIS PERSONALITY AND HIS LEVEL OF INTEREST AND HE DIDN’T STOP THERE, HE WOULD DO IT FOR ANYONE…HE WAS A VERY GIVING PERSON AND HE WAS SO FANTASTICALLY GOOD AT THAT TYPE OF RESEARCH.” “[CHRIS] AND BRETT TOGETHER WOULD DO [THE RESEARCH] AND I WOULD DO IT OUT OF INTEREST…I DON’T KNOW OF ANYONE WHO DID IT TO THE LEVEL HE DID. HE WOULD BE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT FOLLOWING A LEAD IN EUROPE ON SOMEONE HE DIDN’T KNOW FOR SOMEONE HE BARELY KNEW…[CHRIS WAS] TOTALLY SELF-TAUGHT…OF COURSE WITH THE INTERNET IT BECAME MUCH EASIER FOR EVERYONE TO [SEARCH]. THE GENEALOGY HE DID BEFORE WAS PRE-INTERNET SO THAT INVOLVED A LOT OF ARCHIVAL THINGS…HE BEGAN RESEARCH WORK VERY EARLY IN THE INTERNET AND WE GOT OUR FIRST COMPUTER IN 1995, AND HE PRETTY MUCH DID RESEARCH FROM THEN ON. HE WAS INTERESTING IN THAT NO MATTER WHAT RESEARCH HE DID HE DIDN’T WANT CREDIT FOR IT. HE DIDN’T WANT TO BELONG TO THINGS…IN ADDITION, HE DIDN’T LIKE TO DO THE WRITING, ALTHOUGH HE COULD WRITE, BUT HE WAS THE BEST PROOF READER BECAUSE HE WAS SO METICULOUS, AND HE WOULD PROOF READ FOR ANYONE. [IF] SOMEBODY WROTE AN ARTICLE HE WOULD BE A PROOF READER OR A FACT CHECKER. IT WAS JUST HIS NATURE…[HE WAS] STUBBORN, AND COMPETITIVE, AND INTERESTED, AND METICULOUS, AND IF HE DID IT IT’S CORRECT. IF THERE’S A MISTAKE IN IT HE SURE DIDN’T KNOW IT. HE WOULD HAVE NEVER PUT ANYTHING DOWN HE WASN’T PRETTY DARN SURE OF.” IN 2014 COLLECTIONS ASSISTANT JANE EDMUNDSON CONDUCTED A SURVERY OF MILITARY OBJECTS. THE FOLLOWING BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LETHBRIDGE HIGHLANDERS IS EXCERPTED FROM CHRISTOPHER R. KILFORD'S BOOK 'LETHBRIDGE AT WAR: THE MILITARY HISTORY OF LETHBRIDGE FROM 1990 TO 1996' (BATTERY BOOKS & PUBLISHING, 1996) AND COMPILED BY EDMUNDSON. "THE 113TH CANADIAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCE, THE LETHBRIDGE HIGHLANDERS, WERE ORGANIZED DECEMBER 22, 1915 [AS] PART OF A CANADIAN RECRUITING DRIVE WHERE MEN FROM THE SAME REGION COULD ENLIST AND SERVE TOGETHER. THIS TYPE OF COMMUNITY SPIRIT RECRUITING WAS VERY POPULAR AS IT DREW IN FRIENDS, NEIGHBOURS, CO-WORKERS, ETC. WITH THE PROMISE OF SERVING TOGETHER THROUGHOUT THE WAR. THE 113TH CONSISTED OF 883 MEN AND OFFICERS AND HAD ITS BARRACKS AT THE EXHIBITION GROUNDS IN LETHBRIDGE... BASIC TRAINING IN THE CEF INVOLVED RIFLE TRAINING, BOMBING OR HAND GRENADE PRACTICE, ROUTE MARCHES, RIFLE DRILL AND MANY INSPECTIONS... IN LATE MAY 1916 THE BATTALION MOVED TO SARCEE CAMP OUTSIDE CALGARY FOR FURTHER TRAINING THAT LASTED UNTIL SEPTEMBER... ON SEPTEMBER 26TH 1916 THE 113TH EMBARKED ALONG WITH THE 111TH AND 145TH BATTALIONS ON THE SS TUSCANIA... UPON ARRIVING IN ENGLAND THE BATTALION WAS TAKEN TO A HOLDING CAMP AT SANDLING NEAR SHORNCLIFFE... THE COMMANDING OFFICER LEARNED THAT THE 113TH WOULD BE BROKEN UP FOR REPLACEMENTS AND WOULD NOT SEE ACTION AS A UNIT AFTER ALL... THE 113TH WAS TRANSFERRED TO THE 17TH RESERVE BATTALION CEF, THE NOVA SCOTIA HIGHLANDERS, AFFILIATED WITH THE SCOTTISH SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS... ON OCTOBER 12, 1916 MOST OF THE OLD 113TH PROCEEDED TO FRANCE... ALMOST IMMEDIATELY 300 MEN OF THE OLD 113TH WERE ASSIGNED AS REPLACEMENTS TO ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS BATTALIONS IN THE CEF, THE 16TH BATTALION CANADIAN SCOTTISH." FOR MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING THE FULL INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTION AND LETHBRIDGE HERALD ARTICLES, PLEASE SEE THE PERMANENT FILE P20190007001-GA.

Catalogue Number

P20190007005

Acquisition Date

2019-03

Collection

Museum

Less detail