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Authors and Contributors this page: T.F. Mills
Page created 1 August 2000. Corrected and updated 16.07.2006
 
crest

The Ontario Regiment

Regimental Crest
© DND
Ontario, Canada  
  Titles & Lineage
  History & War Service
  Battle Honours
  Colours, Standards and Guidons

  Badges and Uniforms

  Colonel-in-Chief
  Honorary Colonels
 Traditions
 Alliances
 Bibliography

Note: This is a battalion history of the part-time Reserves, which are normally liable for full-time active service only in an emergency
How to find information about individuals who served in this corps
 
  Titles and Lineage
1827 Whitby Highland Rifle Company
18uu disbanded?
1852.04.09 The Regiment of Ontario
formed in Sedentary Militia upon creation of Ontario County from part of York County
 
  • 1st Battalion, redesignation of 4th Bn, York Militia
  • 2nd Battalion, redesignation of 15th Bn, York Militia
  • 3rd Battalion, redesignation of 5th Bn, York Militia
  • 4th Battalion
  • 5th Battalion
  • 6th Battalion
  • 7th Battalion, redesignation of 17th Bn, York Militia
  • 8th Battalion
  • 9th Battalion, redesignation of 18th Bn, York Militia
1858.03.31 Whitby Rifle Company
first company raised in Active Militia in Ontario County
1860.04.26 Whitby Rifle Coy regimented with other independent companies to form 2nd Battalion Volunteer Militia Rifles [its No. 6 Coy]
1862.11.21 Whitby Highland Rifle Company became independent
1862.11.28+ more volunteer companies raised in Ontario County
1866.09.14 34th Ontario Battalion of Infantry
formed with HQ at Whitby by regimentation of independent companies
 
  • No. 1 Company at Whitby, raised 31 Mar. 1858 as Whitby Rifle Coy; moved 15 June 1912 to Oshawa
  • No. 2 Company at Oshawa, raised 28 Nov. 1862 as Oshawa Infantry Coy; moved 16 July 1880 to Greenwood
  • No. 3 Company at Oshawa, raised 28 Nov. 1862 Oshawa Rifle Coy.
  • No. 4 Company at Whitby, raised 26 Dec. 1862 as Whitby Infantry Coy; moved 24 Mar. 1871 to Beaverton
  • No. 5 Company at Prince Albert, raised 2 Jan. 1863 as Prince Albert Infantry Coy; moved 6 Sep. 1872 to Port Perry; moved 30 May 1879 to Uxbridge
  • No. 6 Company at Greenwood, raised 9 Jan. 1863 as Greenwood Infantry Coy; disbanded by 1869
  • No. 7 Company at Uxbridge, raised 6 Feb. 1863 as Uxbridge Infantry Coy; disbanded by 1869
  • No. 8 Company at Columbus, raised 6 Feb. 1863 as Columbus Rifle Coy; disbanded by 1869
  • No. 9 Company at Brooklin, raised 6 Feb. 1863 as Brooklin Rifle Coy.
  • No. 10 Company at Cannington, raised 16 Nov. 1866
1869 Non-Service Militia (former Sedentary Militia) reorganised as Reserve Militia (last enrollment held in 1873, and never called out):
 
  • Regiment of North Ontario
  • Regiment of South Ontario
1871.01.05 No. 9 Coy at Brooklin redesignated as No. 6 Company (moved 16 Mar. 1914 to Port Perry)
1900.05.08 34th Ontario Regiment
1905.06.01 new No. 8 Company formed at Brechin (moved 2 Nov. 1914 to Oshawa)
1uuu HQ moved to Oshawa
1920.05.01 The Ontario Regiment
1920.11.01 reorganised to perpetuate CEF:
 
  • 1st Battalion, perpetuating 116th Battalion CEF
  • 2nd (Reserve) Battalion, perpetuating 182nd Battalion CEF
1936.12.15 The Ontario Regiment (Tank)
 
  • A Company at Oshawa
  • B Company at Oshawa
  • C Company at Oshawa
  • D Company at Whitby
1941 reorganised in active and reserve elements:
 
  • 11th Army Tank Battalion (The Ontario Regiment (Tank)), redesignation 11 Feb. 1942 of CASF element which had mobilised 1 Sep. 1939
  • 11th (Reserve) Army Tank Battalion (The Ontario Regiment (Tank)), redesignation 1 Apr. 1941 of reserve element
1942 units redesignated:
 
  • 11th Army Tank Regiment (The Ontario Regiment (Tank)), redesignation 15 May 1942 of CASF element
  • 11th (Reserve) Army Tank Regiment (The Ontario Regiment (Tank)), redesignation 15 Aug. 1942 of reserve element
1943.08.26 units redesignated:
 
  • 11th Armoured Regiment (The Ontario Regiment), redesignation of CASF element
  • 11th (Reserve) Army Tank Regiment (The Ontario Regiment (Tank)) [no change]
1946.04.01 11th Armoured Regiment (Ontario Regiment)
reconstituted in Reserves with HQ at Oshawa
1949.02.04 The Ontario Regiment (11th Armoured Regiment)
1958.05.19 The Ontario Regiment (RCAC)
1973 converted from armour (Sherman tanks) to recce
  History (Links) & War Service Introduction to Regiments
crown The Ontario Regiment (RCAC), unofficial home page, by Ian Law.
pip History of the Regiment, by Ian Law.
pip 11th Armoured Regiment (The Ontario Regiment), by Chris Johnson (RCAC in World War II)
Cadets:
crown 1913 Ontario Regiment RCACC
 
Deployment and Service [Independent Companies]:
 
Colour Key:
War service
Overseas service
Home service
1866.03.08 Whitby Rifle Coy, Whitby Inf Coy, Oshawa Inf Coy, Columbus Rifle Coy, and Brooklin Rifle Coy mobilised for active service
  1866 Fenian raids
  1866? demobilised
       
  Deployment and Service [11th Armoured Regt]:
  1939.09.01 mobilised in CASF
  1941.06.21 at sea
1941 UK aaa
  1943.07.13 Sicily 1 Can Armd Bde
  1943.09.03 Italy 1 Can Armd Bde
  1945.03 NW Europe
  1945 at sea
  1945.12.12 demobilised in Canada
Biography and Gallantry Awards:
vc [no external sites have been found]
Associations, Forums and Re-Enactors:
swords Ontario Regiment Association (InformDurham)
Museums, Monuments, Memorials and Chapels:
monument Oshawa Military and Industrial Museum, Oshawa, Ont. (Museum site)
  Battle Honours Index of Battle Honours
Index of Wars

The Great War1: Somme 1916, Arras 1917 '18, Vimy 1917, Hill 70, Ypres 1917, Passchendaele, Amiens, Scarpe 1918, Drocourt-Quéant, Hindenburg Line, Canal du Nord, Cambrai 1918, Valenciennes, France and Flanders 1916-18

The Second World War: Pursuit to Messina, Sicily 1943, Colle d'Anchise, The Gully, Casa Berardi, Ortona, Point 59, Cassino II, Gustav Line, Sant' Angelo in Teodice, Liri Valley, Aquino, Trasimene Line, Sanfatucchio, Arezzo, Advance to Florence, Italy 1943-1945, Arnhem 1945, North-West Europe 1945

1. awarded for services of 116th Battalion CEF.

  Colours, Standards and Guidons Introduction to Colours
flag construction sign
Record of Colours:
construction sign
  Uniforms and Badges
   
Badges: Armorial description: With a wreath of nine maple leaves joined at the base with a scroll inscribed ONTARIO REGIMENT, an annulus bearing the motto FIDELIS ET PARATUS; superimposed upon the base, three-fourths of a circular disc; within the annulus, a cat, statant, guardant, irate; placed upon the points of the topmost leaf and surmounting the whole, the Crown.
Uniform: construction sign
   
   
     
   
   
  Colonel-in-Chief Index of Royal Colonels
[none]
  Honorary Colonels
construction sign
  Traditions
 
Motto: Fidelis et paratus
Nicknames: construction sign
Anniversaries: construction sign
Freedoms: City of Oshawa (1966), County of Ontario (1966), Region of Durham (1979)
Marches: dismounted: John Peel
  mounted: My Boy Willie
Musicians: construction sign
Mascot: construction sign
Miscellaneous Tradition Links:
  Alliances Introduction to Alliances
UK flag The Welch Regiment 1928-1969
UK flag The Royal Regiment of Wales 1969-present
 
 
  Bibliography How To Find Books
Regimental Journal:
book
Full Histories:
book Schragg, Lex. History of The Ontario Regiment, 1866-1951. Oshawa : General Printers, 1952.