The 5th (BC) Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery, has a strong historical connection to Esquimalt. The Victoria based army reserve unit unveiled a monument at Work Point Barracks on 18 May 2003, while commemorating its 125th anniversary and is a component of the Cultural Landscape of the "Saluting Battery." The regiment is a descendent of the first Canadian army unit that was stationed in Greater Victoria in 1878.
The memorial was established in recognition of the contributions “C” Battery, 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery (RCHA), which was stationed at Work Point Barracks from 1887 – 1893. It was officially unveiled by retired Major General John Arch MacInnes, Colonel Commandant of the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, and Major Craig Dalton, who commands the modern day “C” Battery, RCHA from Shilo, Manitoba.
In 1871, when the colony of British Columbia joined the Dominion of Canada and became a province, the responsibility of defence for the new province passed from Great Britain to the Dominion. There were fears the remoteness of the west coast from the rest of Canada, would mean the region was poorly defended. On 20 July 1878, the Victoria Battery of Garrison Artillery was formed in response to a threat of war with Russia. The war never happened.
They fired their first round from a seven inch gun at Macaulay Point on July 26, about the first time the unit conducted a test run with one of its guns. Three days later, the 28 man unit fired a 13 gun salute for the opening of the third provincial assembly. The unit continued to operate coastal defence batteries at Macaulay Point until 1887 when they were replaced by “C” Battery.
In 1893, the unit was replaced by a garrison of Royal Marine Artillery, through an agreement between Canada and Great Britain. That unit was eventually augmented by the new 5th (BC) Regiment, Canadian Artillery in 1898.
