Willows Camp in WW1 - Municipal Hall foyer display, November 2021
Willows Camp in WW1 - Remembrance Day display in Oak Bay Municipal Hall foyer, November 2021
Archives display cabinet in Oak Bay Municipal Hall foyer Willows Camp was established in the Willows Fairgrounds in 1914 as a training camp for BC soldiers joining the Canadian Expeditionary Force, prior to embarkation for Europe and deployment to the Western Front.
The Fairgrounds, including the Exhibition Building, stables, and the race track previously called Willows Driving Park, were located in the area developed after WW2 as the Carnarvon subdivision, below Lansdowne slope. The Fairgrounds borders – defined by a high wooden fence – ran along Henderson on the west, the north side of Neil on the northern boundary, a line extending through what's now Dryfe St to the east, and a line extending eastwards from the end of Haultain on the south side.
1925 Fire Insurance map showing the Exhibition Grounds and surrounding streets. Compare with 2021 Google Maps, with former fairgrounds site superimposed in semitransparent yellow, approximate track site in blue.
Display cabinetDisplay contents:
1. Oak Bay Rolls of Honour, 1914-18 and 1939-45 View for WW1 View for WW2
2. Cavalry unit entering Willows Camp via Fair Street gate. WW1, no date. Copy loan from a photo postcard?. Original postcard not found at Oak Bay Archives, digital image not available.
3. Small group of Canadian Army soldiers in uniform, in front of a large field of white bell tents at Willows Camp, and a man in civilian clothes among the tents. The high wooden fence around the fairgrounds can be seen behind the tents. The then brand new Young Building set back from the corner of Lansdowne and Foul Bay (built 1913-15), which was first Victoria Normal School (teacher training), then Victoria College (later UVic) and now houses Camosun College, can be seen in the background, on the hill above the Lansdowne slope. 1915. OBA Photo Number: 2005-020-001. Original photo postcard held at Oak Bay Archives. View
4. Troops Tug-o-War at Willows Camp ca. 1915. OBA Photo Number: 2005-020-003. Original photo postcard in Oak Bay Archives. View
5. Postcard print of military training exercises with horses at Willows Camp, ca.1915. Photographer: Frank Burrell. OBA Photo Number: 2010-010-166. Original photo postcard held at Oak Bay Archives. View
6. WWI officers at Willows Camp – right, ?Western Scots or 50th Gordon Highlanders, ca. 1915. Photographer: Frank Burrell. OBA Photo Number: 2010-010-183. Original print held at Oak Bay Archives. View
7. Unidentified soldier on horseback at WWI Willows Camp, ca.1915. Photographer: Frank Burrell. OBA Photo Number: 2010-010-188. Original print held at Oak Bay Archives. View
8. Quartermasters of the 67th Battalion, Western Scots Regiment, at Willows Camp, ca. 1916. Photographer: Patrick family. OBA image number: 2015-000-012. Copy loan from private collection. Original print not held at Oak Bay Archives. Digital image not available.
9. Kilted Canadian troops drill in front of the Exhibition Building on the Willows Fairground – Willows Camp during WW1. Copy of a colourized photo postcard, no date [1914-1918]. No OBA ref. Original postcard not found at Oak Bay Archives. Digital image not available.
10. The 2nd Battalion, Canadian Mounted Rifles, strike tents at Willows Camp, preparing to embark for Europe, 1915. Source: Okanagan Military Museum, Kelowna, via digitalmuseums.ca Not held at Oak Bay Archives. View
11. Quartermasters of the 67th Battalion, Western Scots Regiment, marching near Vancouver Street, en route from Willows Camp to Victoria Harbour for departure to the European Front, ca. 1916. Photographer: Patrick family. OBA image number: 2015-000-011. Copy loan from private collection. Original print not held at Oak Bay Archives. View
12. World War I troops marching from Willows Camp in the Willows Fairgrounds along Willows Road, now Eastdowne, toward Cadboro Bay Road ca 1915. Note the Willows Park Grocery building (3rd house back on the right), which is still at the corner of Dalhousie and Eastdowne and now houses Yumbrosia Deli. Photographer unknown. OBA Photo Number: 2012-001-057. Original print held at Esquimalt Archives, image no. 014.01.02. View
Some of these photos are featured in an Oak Bay News article, here: https://www.oakbaynews.com/community/photos-a-look-at-troop-training-in-oak-bay-during-the-first-world-war/
The "115 mentions of Willows Camp in an archive of community newspapers" are searchable in the BC Historical Newspapers online collection, part of UBC Library's open Collections, here: https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/bcnewspapers
All photos displayed are modern prints from digital images. Most are enlarged, cropped and manipulated for colour and contrast.
Interested? More digital images of WW1 activities at Willows Camp are available on the websites of
- Esquimalt Archives
- Saanich Archives
- City of Victoria Archives
- BC Archives
- Okanagan Military Museum via Community Stories at museums.ca.
Do you have family stories, photographs or other records of military activity at Willows Camp? Please get in touch!
Website: https://www.oakbay.ca/archives
Photo Search: https://www.oakbay.ca/our-community/archives/photographs-view
Blog posts: https://connect.oakbay.ca/archives
Email: archives@oakbay.ca
Phone: 250-598-3290
- Post by Anna Sander, 9 November 2021.
