About the Collection

The Regimental Artifacts are under the care of The Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment Association. Often the Regiment is asked, either in person or via our web site, about family members who served in the Regiment during peace or war. These queries are usually passed to the regimental Association that has ownership, ready access and responsibility of care for the artifacts of the Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment, and its predecessors.

This aide memoire is intended to answer questions on what records, documents and photos comprise the regimental collection and how to access military records of those who served in the Regiment.

Conserving our Collection

Over the years the Association has been a responsible steward of the collection:

• Annually the collection is inspected and the catalogue is updated.
• Since 1995 some artifacts are on permanent loan to Leddy Library, University of Windsor for security of irreplaceable items and storage in climate controlled facilities. These artifacts are available for public viewing.
• In 1997 the Second World War Essex Scottish war diaries were copied. These are available to the public for viewing by appointment. In 2022 PDF versions were created and specific months are available via email upon request.
• In 2006 a history of the Regiment, Duty Nobly Done, covering the period from 1800 to the present was published. All copies have been sold.
• In 2011 the Association applied and was rejected twice by the Trillium Foundation for a grant over 3 years to conserve, digitize and widely distribute visual history on DVDs.
• In 2018 the Association applied but did not receive a grant from Library and Archives Canada to digitize our collection.
• The Association received funding from Canada Summer Jobs to hire students from 2019 to 2023 for eight weeks to digitize the collection. Most items, documents, donated collections, clippings, photos and scrapbooks in the Tilston and Ansell armouries have been digitized and made accessible to the public via this online collection in early 2025.

The E&K Scot Collection Includes

Scrapbooks, photos, news clippings, official war diaries of The Essex Scottish Regiment, personal memorabilia, medals, personal diaries, POW trinkets, documents.

Approximately 30,000 individual items.

The collection does not include

• Personal files of soldiers who served in 18th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War; or The Essex Scottish Regiment and The Kent Regiment during the Second World War.
• Records of service for any soldiers prior to 2017. After seven years all files are shipped to National Defence Headquarters and end up in the Government of Canada archives.
• The War Diary of the 18th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force during the Great War.
• The War Diary of The Kent Regiment during World War Two.

Other Resources

See also Finding Military Records of Former Members on the main E&K Scot website.