16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish), CEF
infantry battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I
The 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish), CEF was a unit of the First World War Canadian Expeditionary Force. It was organized at Valcartier on 2 September 1914 and was composed of recruits from the 91st Regiment Canadian Highlanders, the 79th Cameron Highlanders of Canada, the 72nd Regiment "Seaforth Highlanders of Canada", and the 50th Regiment "Highlanders".
History
The 16th Battalion served in the 3rd Canadian Brigade of the 1st Canadian Division. Since its early beginnings, the battalion had a high standard of conduct on the battlefield and was commanded by outstanding leaders. One such was Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Currie, KCMG, who rose to command the Canadian Corps during the Great War. Currie was a master tactician whose skills led the Canadians to victory at Vimy Ridge and Amiens. Lieutenant-Colonel Cyrus Wesley Peck commanded the battalion for many months in the trenches.
Four members of the 16th Battalion were awarded the Victoria Cross: Piper James Cleland Richardson, Private William Johnstone Milne, Lance-Corporal William Henry Metcalf, and Lieutenant-Colonel Cyrus Peck. Piper James Richardson was just 18 years old when he enlisted, and was killed during the Battle of the Somme shortly after having played his company through No Man's Land. He disappeared in shellfire after going back to retrieve the bagpipes he laid aside to bring back a wounded comrade.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish), CEF” is infantry battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through 16th, Battalion and Canadian, not as a finished interpretation.
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The phrase “infantry battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4552125. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1914.
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This entry incorporates text from “16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish), CEF” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.