The London Vigil The Canadian High Commission is proud to host Vigile 1914-1918 Vigil, a transatlantic vigil never to forget. Only one Canadian Expeditionary Force veteran remains alive: with his passing will close a chapter of the living book of history.

The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh will attend the opening ceremony at Canada House, Trafalgar Square, to launch Vigil 1914-1918, which will commemorate those Canadians who lost their lives in the First World War.

The London Vigil will take place in Trafalgar Square. The names of the 68,000 Canadians lost in WWI will be projected on the side of Canada House over seven nights, starting at 5:00pm each evening, The first name appears at 5:15pm. Each night’s vigil will be 13 hours long, ending at sunrise the following day. The vigil will then recommence at 5:00pm and run another 13 hours. The last name will appear as dawn breaks on November 11th. We encourage you to attend in person or to view the simultaneous vigil presentation created on this webpage.

The Names The vigil will commence November 4th 2008. More than 9,700 names will appear each night. Each individual name will appear only once during the seven nights. They include those killed in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Canadian Merchant Navy and the Canadian Army Medical Corps. We encourage British families who had relatives who fought and died with the Canadian or Newfoundland forces in WWI, to use the search functions to find the exact night and time that their veteran’s name will appear at this vigil.

Searching The Names Use the Search Names tab located at the top of this page. The names appearing in the vigil will have no order or ranking. Each man or woman was equal in death.

Time Zones This vigil is being presented on both sides of the Atlantic and across 9 time zones. Bear in mind the time difference when viewing a vigil online in another location. But wherever you live, the vigil will commence at 5:00pm local time.

Vigil Locations You can access the vigils in Canada by using the Time Zones or Ottawa tabs located above.

Canada and Britain during The First World War Britain entered the First World War, on August 4, 1914 – on the stroke of midnight, after an ultimatum for Germany to withdraw troops from Belgium had expired – Canada, as a self-governing dominion of the British Empire, was automatically at war too. Although legally at war, the Government of Canada, headed by Prime Minister Sir Robert Borden, could still decide the nature and extent of Canada’s war effort and quickly agreed to meet Britain’s request for a Canadian contingent of 25,000 troops.

Buoyed by the widespread sense of patriotism that swept most of Canada in the war’s early months, the new Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) numbered 32,000 by the time the largest convoy ever to cross the Atlantic set sail for Britain in October 1914. Many on board had strong emotional ties to Britain: 70 per cent of those in the first contingent were British-born immigrants to Canada.

By war’s end, 630,000 Canadians had enlisted. Canada’s diverse new force came from every corner of the nation, representing British, European, East Indian, African, and South American backgrounds, as well as Aboriginal Canadians. Military personnel from the colony of Newfoundland also participated in substantial numbers, principally in the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, an infantry unit under British command, and in the Royal Navy and Merchant Marine.

Their names shall be remembered.

Friends of the London Vigil The London Vigil was made possible by the assistance of the Canadian High Commission, The Commonwealth War Graves Commission, The Imperial War Museum and Veterans Affairs Canada.

The many contributing individuals and organizations without whom the vigil would have been impossible are Bill and Meredith Saunderson, the Canadian War Museum, Sandra and Jim Pitblado, John D. McKellar, the T R Meighen Family Foundation, Kelly Meighan, William Graham, Ruth and Douglas Grant, Jim Doak, Richard Rooney, The Winnipeg Foundation, Sullivan Entertainment Inc, Avie Bennett, Eric Jackman, John Catto, Lyndon Wilson, George Turnbull, the McLean Foundation and a very generous anonymous donor.