Daily Colonist, August 5, 1914, front page 1914 Microforms AN5 D2 Accession no.906/Collective The Daily Colonist, August 5, 1914: The United Kingdom declared war on Germany, August 4th, 1914. Canada, as member of the Commonwealth, was therefore brought into the conflict. The Daily Colonist was founded in Victoria, BC, in 1858, as the British Colonist.