Harry Livingstone's Forgotten Men: Canadians and the Chinese Labour Corps in the First World War

by Dan Black

HARRY LIVINGSTONE was a small town doctor from Listowel, Ontario when he felt the pull of patriotism that led him to volunteer in the First World War. In 1917, Livingstone found himself embarking on a strange journey that took him to China, where he would inspect,and ultimately travel back to Canada with, men who became known as the Chinese Labour Corps. Once in Canada, the Chinese under Livingstone's care travelled across Canada in secret trains bound for Halifax. All news about the trains and the men was censored. On board crowded ships, the men crossed the U-boat-infested Atlantic. They were then put to work to keep the war machine in motion — digging trenches, hauling supplies, repairing military vehicles, and the grisly job of cleaning up the battlefields. About 300,000 Chinese labourers were recruited by the British,French, and Russian allies during the First World War. Nearly 84,000 of them passed through Canada on their way to France. Livingstone and other officers kept diaries and journals, and wrote letters home telling of their experiences with the Chinese. From these first-person accounts as well as historical records and from rare letters written by Chinese labourers themselves, author Dan Black offers for the first time a full account of Canadians and the Chinese Labour Corps — a story that had mostly been unknown until now.

Genres: History

504 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2019

Reviews

[Roger Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a historical presentation about a long forgotten or, for most of us, unknown Canadian drama during the last year of the Great War. It was written by the grand nephew of David Livingston, the great African explorer. Harry Livingston was a doctor in small town Listowell, Ontario who travelled to China to help recruit Chinese labourers who were signed up by the British and French to serve the Allied cause on the Western Front doing the hard labour necessary to free up soldiers to fight the Germans. Dan Black tells the fascinating story of how these Chinese travelled by ship to BC where the embarked via CP rail across the entire country to Halifax or Saint John where the sailed to England and then France. At times, there is more detail than is really necessary but it is worth while slogging through to learn about this amazing story.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an interesting book but I would like to see one written from the Chinese perspective.