Heritage Work Point Army Barracks…

Preserving the historic Officers’ Mess

By LCol (Ret) J. Cecil Berezowski

A modest bronze and granite cairn was unveiled at Work Point Barracks, Esquimalt, on May 10, 2003 commemorating the arrival of C Battery, Canadian Artillery, in 1887. Major General John A. MacInnis, CMM, MSC, CD of Ottawa, Colonel Commandant of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, unveiled the historic marker. Assisting was Major Craig Dalton who commands today’s C Battery stationed at Shilo, Man.

For over a century, Work Point Army Barracks held a significant place in the life and times, and in the history of Victoria and of British Columbia.

Following Confederation, in 1871 the withdrawal of British troops left our West Coast virtually unprotected except for a few ships of the Royal Navy. The war in 1877 between Russia and Turkey threatened Britain’s communications with her Indian Empire. The arrival of a squadron of five Russian ships in San Francisco the following year alarmed the West Coast and particularly the Royal Navy in Victoria.

The young Government of Canada, looking westward for the first time, expanded its tiny army by forming a non-permanent Victoria Battery of Garrison Artillery (perpetuated by 5^th (BC) Field Artillery Regiment in Victoria) in July 1878. The Royal Navy at its Esquimalt station offered the loan of guns and instructors to train the new artillery recruits. The first guns were deployed at Macaulay Point.

Although the Russian scare of 1878 subsided, the following year it was decided to expand the defences of Victoria and Esquimalt harbours. British Columbia’s Military District No.11 was formed in Victoria with a regular artillery officer, LCol J.G. Holmes, heading its staff and also to command the new Royal School of Gunnery. The formation of Canada’s third regular force artillery battery, C Battery, occurred in 1883. Its arrival in Victoria was delayed by four years until after the North-West Rebellion of 1885.

In Nov.1887, the mayor of Victoria greeted C Battery, the first permanent force army unit to arrive on the West Coast of Canada. Under command of Major James Peters, C Battery of 100 gunners, 15 wives and 30 children, along with dogs and other pets, traveled in two trains from Ontario on the newly completed Canadian Pacific Railway.

The old Agricultural Hall at Beacon Hill Park became temporary accommodation until the unit could move into its future barracks at Work Point. This tract of land in Esquimalt was provided by the chief factor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, the Hon. John Work.

At Work Point, all ranks helped clear the virgin forest for the new barracks. Listed as "recreation," they toiled for almost three years, felling and cutting up the giant-sized firs. (Undoubtedly, the name Work Point had a double meaning for those first gunners.)

The Gunners of Canada by Col. G.W.L. Nicholson records that relations with the citizens of Victoria (who at first had been rather reserved) soon improved. Junior officers found the social life of the town much to their liking. Young ladies with their horses took part in mounted paper chases. Cricket and football matches with the Royal Navy, gymkhanas and mounted paper chases provided much fun.

And the first farewell ever to troops departing Victoria on active duty, occurred in the summer of 1888. A reported Indian uprising near Hazelton on the Skeena River had C Battery called out on active service. The troops departed aboard H.M.S. Caroline and remained encamped on the Skeena River for two months before returning to Esquimalt.

By 1890, the new quarters at Work Point were finally ready. Built were a guardhouse, five barrack huts and the Work Point Officers’ Mess and Quarters – all wooden buildings. These would accommodate artillery units – and later, infantry – for over a century to come.

But not so for C Battery, who three years later returned to Quebec City. In 1893 the British government had decided to build a new fortress at Esquimalt to provide adequate permanent defences. The Royal Marine Artillery arrived to relieve the departing Canadian regular gunners.

Until their departure in 1906, the British built the many ubiquitous red brick buildings at Work Point and at the Royal Navy Dockyard.

Facing a major naval expansion by Germany, Britain recalled its units from the garrisons in Halifax in 1905 and Esquimalt in 1906. Canada had to replace about 325 troops at Esquimalt and succeeded in attracting a significant number of the departing British gunners. The new No.5 Company Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery took over Work Point Barracks. The outbreak of the Great War saw No.5 Coy and the 5^th(BC) Regiment R.C.G.A. (Militia) placed on active service to man the fortresses defending Esquimalt and Victoria.

Between the World Wars, The artillery shared Work Point Barracks with a company of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. And to be sure, the Work Point Officers’ Mess continued to be part of the social life of Victoria.

After the Second World War, The Royal Canadian School of Artillery (Coast and Anti-Aircraft) had Work Point. Also in garrison were a coast artillery detachment and two medium anti-aircraft artillery batteries. The artillery units disbanded in 1957 and Work Point became home to the PPCLI, alternating with the Queen’s Own Rifles on subsequent rotations to Germany. With the PPCLI departure to Edmonton, the Naval Officer Training Centre took tenancy in 1994. The historic Officers’ Mess building was declared surplus.

Now, if the ghosts of Work Point could only talk! What stirring events could be re-told: like the two keen Royal Marine subalterns in 1893 who, with their gunners at Macaulay, cleared the first nine-hole golf course in Victoria…or, the cricket match on the soccer pitch (now the main parade) between the gunners and the PPCLI…or, the well-struck cricket ball downing a pigeon in full flight that ended up stuffed and mounted atop the guilty ball, glass encased and for years a prized trophy. …Or the orderly officer on the only telephone in the mess each evening calling the Gonzales Observatory for a descending time count starting at 10 seconds to the hour...and, at the count of three, the officer pressed the buzzer ordering the sergeant in the shed behind the mess to fire the nine o’clock time gun…and, at the sound of the gun, the good burghers of Victoria and ships’ masters in port would set their clocks accordingly…or the flood of phone calls upon the rare misfire!

Fortunately, there are concerned people in Victoria today like Colin MacLock, who want to preserve some of this history. He and others have formed a committee to preserve the historic Work Point Officers’ Mess. Their vision is to create a legacy centre preserving the historical role of the building and using it as a centre for visual and related arts. He added that a historic building such as the Officers’ Mess in its present precinct is of prime historic import. He may be contacted at (250) 388-4090.

LCol (Ret) Cec Berezowski served at Work Point from 1951 to 1957.

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