1915-04-09rr

“After a long sickness and a stay in a hospital in England, Alexander Davidson, 553 Barton street east, arrived in this city with several other soldiers.`

Hamilton Times.   April 9, 1915.

For Alexander Davidson , his experiences as a soldier overseas did not involve combat at the front:

``Davidson enlisted with the first contingent, and while at Salisbury Plain was taken ill.``¹

¹ “Soldiers Back from England Talk to Times : A Bunch of Canadian Soldiers Reached Hamilton This Morning.”

Hamilton Times.   April 9, 1915 .

For Davidson, like so many other Hamiltonians who had immediately enlisted during the excitement of August, 1914, he was sent off from the city amid huge cheering crowds at the train station. He then had undergone extensive training at Valcartier, Quebec and had endured the ocean crossing to get to England.

Upon disembarking the troop ship in England,  he and his fellow soldiers on that voyage were marched to Salisbury Plain for further training until they would be sent across the English Channel en route to the front.

While at Salisbury Plain, and just before he was to be sent to the trenches, Davidson became seriously ill with bronchial pneumonia:

``When spoken to this morning by a Times reporter, he was rather downcast over his inability to get to the front, and even now is in such condition that he will likely have to go to the hospital.

“ ‘The great trouble was the water and mud at Salisbury’ said Davison, and attributed his sickness to this. ‘When we were sleeping in tents, there was no sickness, but as soon as the huts were built, meningitis, pneumonia and rheumatism put in an appearance. This may have been caused by the manner in which the huts were built, as none of us were skilled carpenters, and in many of the huts, large chinks let in the wind and water. There is not much to say about the mud. I have read enough about that, but when I say it was often over our knees, you can understand our position.

“When asked about the food, Mr. Davidson said it was fine at Valcartier, but worse at Salisbury. ‘The jam we got at Salisbury was really funny,’ he said, ‘You did not know whether  you were eating jam or chop suey. Vegetables and egg shells were in that jam, and the meat was bad. There was trouble over it, and graft was charged, and latterly the food was greatly improved.”

“Davidson said that his throat was bad and that he intended to go into the hospital here. ‘I want to go back, though,’ he said, and he stated that he intended urging all his friends to enlist.”¹

Davidson was not the only Hamilton soldier to return to the city that morning. A. J. Brider was among the arrivals, along with three or four other soldiers:

“ ‘I am feeling pretty sick,’ Brider said when seen at his home at 13 Smith avenue. ‘I contracted muscular rheumatism from sleeping between damp sheets in the huts and this stopped me from going to the front. Although we had plenty to eat, our sleeping quarters were nearly always damp and the wind and weather blew in through chinks in the walls. They kept us there until most of us felt sick – if not physically, mentally – but when word came out that some we to go  to the front, all the boys were eager to be off, and I am sure they will make a showing against the Germans.’ ”

Unlike Alexander Davidson, A. J. Brider expressed no intention to return to duty across the ocean, saying that he only wanted to rest up and hopefully be rid of his rheumatism.