Lieutenant-Colonel W. John Franklin
Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders

Hon. Mr. Aseltine: … Lieutenant-Colonel Franklin served his country with distinction in the two World Wars and proved an able administrator in the difficult position which he filled here for so many years. He is a fine gentleman, possessed of what it takes to get along with people, and as a result his retirement prompts all of us to express our appreciation of and personal regard for him.

 Hon. Mr. Roebuck: Why did you throw him out, then?

(Senate Debates, 30 Mar 1960, 472)

Born on 20 June 1893 in Pendleton, Ontario, William John Franklin was commanding officer of the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders from 1932 to 1934, having served with the militia since 1909. At the stary of the First World War, he served on St. Lawerence canal guard duty before being commissioned with the 154th Battalion. He served in France with the 2nd Battalion, earning a promotion to captain and the Military Cross. He was invalided home due to a gunshot wound at Canal du Nord in September 1918.

Franklin’s M.C. citation read in part:

This officer led his company in the attack with great skill, overcoming machine-gun nests, and reorganising his men for attack on their final objective. The success of the operation was largely due to his skill and energy.

With the reorganization of the Canadian militia in 1920, Franklin joined the Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Highlanders, which perpetuated the 154th Battalion. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel of the 1st Battalion in April 1932 and transferred to command the 2nd (Reserve) Battalion two years later. In civilian life, Franklin worked for the Department of Pensions and National Health. He was active in sports, most notably as a badminton player.

When Major J.H. Shaver died suddenly in May 1940, Franklin resumed command of the 1st Battalion as it prepared for mobilization. He served only one month. Medically unfit from his old war wound, Franklin relinquished command to Lieutenant-Colonel R.T.E. Hicks-Lyne in July 1940. Franklin instead took over the 2nd (Reserve) Battalion until the end of the war.

On 24 August 1945, Franklin succeeded Brigadier Milton Gregg as Sergeant-at-Arms of the House of Commons. Political commentators felt the appointment was an acknowledgement that the voters of Glengarry had returned Prime Minister Mackenzie King to Parliament weeks earlier after he had failed to win a seat in the federal election. Franklin served almost fifteen years as sergeant-at-arms.

When he learned that John Diefenbaker’s Progressive Conservative government planned his removal, Franklin pre-emptively submitted his resignation on 7 January 1960. Two hours later, Diefenbaker announced Victoria Cross winner Lieutenant-Colonel David Vivian Currie as his replacement. When the parliament voted to extend the pension benefits to the former sergeant-at-arms, Lionel Chevrier, Liberal MP for Stormont, declared:

He was not only a soldier of repute but also proved in this difficult position to be a good administrator. He was above all, I think, a fine gentleman … I should particularly like to refer to his ability to get along with not only the members of the House of Commons but the many people on the staff.

George McIlraith, Liberal MP of Ottawa South, joined others praising Franklin’s service but added: “the method of the termination without notice on this occasion surely left something to be desired … surely when dealing with an officer of parliament, and particularly one with such an outstanding record … a little more care and a somewhat better technique could have been used.” Despite the partisan controversy, Currie found his processor “very kind and helpful in giving me all the information he has.”

In late 1961, Franklin was appointed honorary colonel of the SDG Highlanders and in 1970 the Liberal government named him a colonel for life. He died in Ottawa on 12 October 1976.