The Newfoundland Patriotic Association: the administration of the war effort, 1914-1918

O'Brien, Patricia Ruth (1981) The Newfoundland Patriotic Association: the administration of the war effort, 1914-1918. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

When war broke out in 1914, Newfoundland was totally unprepared. But the government was required to make some response, and in order to raise a volunteer force of 500 men a Patriotic Committee was formed. St. John’s-based, it consisted mainly of merchants, professionals and politicians of varying political and religious persuasions. It was almost immediately renamed the Patriotic Association of Newfoundland, commonly known as the NPA, and because of its original success, particularly in the political arena, was gradually transformed into a full-fledged department of militia. It remained in this quasi-official capacity until the summer of 1917 when mounting dissatisfaction over regimental affairs, insufficient recruits and the lack of government initiative came to a head. Economic factors compounded these problems, and together they resulted in the establishment of a national government. With its creation, the political threat to the war effort, previously contained by the NPA, receded. Thus the principal justification for the Patriotic Association disappeared and the way was cleared for a regular militia department. Unexpectedly, with the removal of the NPA from the scene politics again came to the fore, and dominated the war effort for the first time since August 1914. -- Although private citizens through a variety of organizations and committees made an important contribution to the war effort elsewhere, the degree of control exercised by the NPA was unique. Because its influence extended to every aspect of the war effort, a history of the Association becomes virtually a history of Newfoundland at war.

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