207A - 207th Battalion (Ottawa) Cap Badge, Voided Variety
Replacement Pin-back fitting
Brass metal
The 207th (Carleton) Battalion, CEF was a battalion of the First World War Canadian Expeditionary Force.
It was organized at Ottawa by Lt Col Charles Wesley MacLean with members recruited by the 43rd Regiment "Duke of Cornwall's Own Rifles" and volunteers from Carleton County and environs beginning in February 1916. Initial training was conducted at Rockcliffe Camp at which time the battalion earned its unofficial nickname "MacLean's Athletes" due to its participation in sports, especially rugby and baseball. Additional training was done at Amherst, Nova Scotia from January 1917; the battalion sailed from Halifax with a strength of 27 officers and 652 men on June 2, 1917.
The 207th was absorbed by the 7th Reserve Battalion, most members of the 207th being used to reinforce the PPCLI, 2nd, 21st and 38th battalions all of which had Ottawa / Eastern Ontario origins, individual members would, however, serve several other units including the 4th, 5th, 20th 24th, 75th, 102nd, and 156th Infantry Battalions as well as the 2nd and 3rd Tunneling Co. C.E.
While in training at Rockcliffe Camp, the battalion published a periodical The WhizBang, 19 issues of which are in the collection of the National Library at Ottawa.
