Lieutenant-Colonel Jimmy Edgar
Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment
Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry

He assumed command of the battalion after his commanding officer had fallen. Under very heavy fire he on three occasions personally supervised attacking operations in the front line. His cool courage and able leadership inspired those under him to do the good work achieved by them.

(Capt. J. Edgar, M.C. citation, 20 Sept 1919)

Born in Hartlepool, England on 15 May 1887, James Nesbitt Edgar volunteered with the PPCLI in August 1914, was commissioned from the ranks in June 1916, and became a captain at Passchendaele. He briefly took command of the regiment at Cambrai after all other officers were killed or wounded on 28-29 September 1918. He ended the war with the Military Cross and continued in the PPCLI with the Permanent Force.

Following mobilization in September 1939, Edgar went overseas with the PPCLI as second-in-command. Following the promotion of Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Salmon of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment to brigadier, second-in-command Major H.D. Graham was surprised to learn Edgar arrived as the CO. “I was stunned and terribly hurt,” Graham, a fellow First World War veteran, recalled:

When Salmon, a regular officer, replaced Young, I was not unhappy. We knew each other and I had great respect for him and his ability to do the things that I would have found very difficult and embarrassing to do. I had loyally supported him during these six months, always assuming that when he went I would succeed him, and this was his wish and recommendation.

Edgar lasted just over a month from August to 15 September 1940, when Graham finally assumed command. In his memoir, Graham contrasted the manners of Edgar with those of his predecessor:

No one knew him and he knew no one in our regiment. He spoke with a pronounced English accent, carried a walking stick, and (a major faux pas) arrived at our unit wearing PPCLI badges and their special type of head dress. When Salmon had arrived, he was dressed as a member of our unit and not wearing the badges of the RCR, which had been his regular unit.

Jimmy Edgar was with us for four weeks. I do not want to be unkind, but he was not meant to be a regimental commander, least of all in command of the Plough Jockeys [Hasty P’s nickname]. He departed and returned to Canada.

(Graham, Citizen and Soldier, 122)

In fact, Edgar returned to the PPCLI as commanding officer until June 1941 when he then left for duties with the Pacific Command. On arriving back in Canada, he reassured the press, “The British people were elated over the arrival of fresh Canadian troops.” Edgar served as chief instructor of the Officer Training Centre at Gordon Head, British Columbia and later commandant of basic training at Camp Vernon. He retired from the army in 1945.

He died in Saanich, British Columbia on 9 June 1969.