Lieutenant-Colonel G.C.A. Macartney
Irish Regiment of Canada

It is rather disconcerting, in the middle of the 20th century, to sit down with a Canadian and hear about Indian raids. Yet G.C.A. Macartney, a one-time Hudson’s Bay Company trader at Yellowknife, N.W.T., who left Canada’s north because it was “too cold,” is one of the few white men who works and lives in an area where Indians still loose volleys of arrows at invaders.

(Montreal Star, 22 Feb 1955, 12)

Born in India on 21 August 1919, George Charles Antony Macartney came to Canada from England in 1938. Two years later he enlisted in the Irish Regiment in Toronto as a private and gained a commission before going overseas. He earned the Distinguished Service Order at the Gothic Line and rose to second-in-command when the unit redeployed to Northwest Europe. In June 1945, he succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel Leige Payne, who had volunteered for the Pacific theatre, and led the regiment home to Toronto by the end of the year.

Soon after the regiment had arrived in the Italian theatre, on 22 November 1943, Macartney’s batman Private A.R. Craigmill punched a captain in the face when placed under arrest for drinking. Pleading guilty, he requested Macartney as defence counsel for his court martial. In the mitigation of punishment, Macartney began: “It is perhaps unfortunate that I am his defending offr, because I am his best character witness. He has been my batman since June 1942, a period of approximately 16 months. During that period his behaviour has been exemplary.”

Admitting there was not excuse for the offence and that his client’s drinking had clouded his judgment, Macartney argued, “under the circumstances I have already outlined to you, Pte. Craigmill was suffering from severe mental strain, aggravated by drinking. He was treated brusquely and his control was not sufficient to prevent him striking that offr. This man, a first class soldier in every way, has committed his first offence.” In the end Craigmill was sentenced to twelve months’ detention and it is unclear if Macartney needed a new batman.

Serving throughout the Italian campaign, he won the D.S.O. for his leadership during the assault on the Gothic Line on 1 September 1944:

Although this officer had led his Company in a brilliant action the previous day and was not in good health at the time, he refused to be evacuated and succeeded in cleaning out three enemy strong points which were holding up the advance of the regiment … killing 17 of the enemy and taking 27 prisoners of war…

Since that date and up to the present time, except for a short period in hospital, he as continued to command “A” Company in every action … At all times Major Macartney has served his country faithfully and with great loyalty, at no time considering his own health and welfare. By his example he has inspired a spirit of aggressiveness and a morale in his company which had made that company a most outstanding fighting unit.

Six months after the announcement of this award, Macartney completed his rise through the ranks from private to lieutenant-colonel. In January 1946, the press called him “one of the most colorful figures returning … The handsome young officer, who came to Canada in 1938, said his only address was “The Royal York Hotel—Toronto.” His later adventures took him to the Canadian far north for HBC and later to the jungles of Venezuela where he encountered native tribes.

He married in England in 1990 and died ten years later.