Most Remembrance Day services focus on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Prospect Cemetery’s ceremony marches to its own drummer, proud of a special history.
Remembering at sunrise began in 1928, soon after the 1918 Armistice. Toronto Ladies’ Auxiliaries left poppies on soldiers’ graves in the Veterans’ Plot every November 11. When the women could no longer do this, the Canadian Legion of the British Empire Service League (evolved into today’s Royal Canadian Legion) stepped up to help keep the practice alive.
Earlscourt Branch 65 has thus been a part of Prospect’s annual observances ever since.
The Great War’s ceasefire was at 11 a.m. Signing of official documents—in a railway car in northern France— was between 5:12 a.m. and 5: 20 a.m. Central European Time. An early morning ceremony seemed close in spirit to the timing of the historic path to peace. (Prospect now starts at 8 a.m. At first, start time was 6 a.m.)
Except for the time change, the service follows a long-established pattern. Welcoming words. Prayers. The old flag lowered and retired; a new flag—presented by the Ladies Auxiliary—dedicated and raised; then lowered to half-mast to express mourning.
Dedication and placing of wreaths; the Last Post; silence. Traditional military funeral lament, “Flowers of the Forest,” played by the Earlscourt Legion Pipe Band (79 years of continuous service). Rouse.
“They shall not grow old… At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we shall remember them.”
A short address with quotes about peace; benediction; closing remarks; the Royal Anthem. (“God Save the King.”)
The pipers lead away the colours of Maple Leaf/Swansea (Ont. 255/46 Branch) playing “Scotland the Brave,” Canada’s signature tune at military gatherings.
The mood lightens; the crowd places poppies at the base of the cross. Visitors start conversations and browse the flat, orderly, war-grave markers.
The focal point for the veterans’ graves and the ceremonies is the Cross of Sacrifice (designed 1918) found in all Commonwealth war cemeteries containing 40 or more graves. Prospect’s cross is a short walk from the St. Clair Avenue West (near Lansdowne) iron gate. Prospect’s Field of Honour has more than 5,300 military burials; 394 are of the First World War.
Earlscourt—centred on St. Clair Avenue West; bounded by Dufferin Street, Davenport Road, and Old Weston Road—has changed a lot over the years. In the 1970s, immigration transformed its eastern area into a centre of Italian life and culture, second only to Little Italy on College Street. Named Corsa Italia, it now includes noticeable Latin American and Portuguese communities.
Among the 2024 memorial wreaths is one labelled: Italian State Police Veterans Association.
During the Great War, Earlscourt’s population was mainly British working-class immigrants. About 2,500 residents enlisted—the most per capita in Canada. On the home front, despite food shortages and wide unemployment, they donated to war relief.
On August 27, 1919, HRH Edward, Prince of Wales, planted a silver maple tree in the Veterans’ Section of Prospect to honour all who served. He addressed the hundreds gathered:
They gave up their own lives that others might live in freedom. Let those who come after see to it that their names are not forgotten.
Sunrise at Prospect Cemetery proves Earlscourt’s many sacrifices are not forgotten. Remembered on eleventh-of-November mornings since 1928.
