Lieutenant-Colonel Bill Bristowe
29th Armoured Regiment (South Alberta Regiment)

At the time I saw him Capt Haney was sober. Only once in the five months that he has been under my command as he, in any way, appeared the worse for liquor which was approximately the 10th of August. Then he was a little outrageously gay, on which occasion I warned him of the danger of drinking anything to excess in this climate.

(testimony in GCM of Capt. Haney, 29 Sep 1943)

Born in Weybridge, Surrey, England on 17 July 1894, William Paterson Bristowe was a First World War veteran of the British Army. He had attended Sandhurst Royal Military College and took a commission with the 2nd Battalion, King’s Royal Rifle Corps in 1914. He was three-times wounded in action and ended the war as acting commanding officer of the battalion. He joined the Royal Tank Corps as a major in 1920 and immigrated to British Columbia in 1926.

After the mobilization of the South Alberta Regiment in June 1940, Bristowe joined as second-in-command. He succeeded Lieutenant-Colonel J.F. Carvosso a year later. In February 1942, the unit converted to the 29th Armoured Regiment. Bristowe and several officers left for instruction in England while the rest of the regiment had followed in August under the temporary command of Major M.H. Wright. Bristowe resumed command in September 1942.

In April 1943, he was replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel G.D. Wotherspoon, an RMC graduate and former member of the Governor General’s Horse Guards. Compared to his predecessor, the Ontario officer made a poor first impression on several officers and troopers.

Our new Colonel is turning out a dud and it is disappointing as we thought he knew his stuff, but he has made himself thoroughly disliked by all of us by trying to do everything at once and getting them all half done instead of one at a time. We get all hitched up and everything is in a turmoil, whereas with old Bill we got the training done with half the effort.

By summer 1943, Bristowe was in North Africa commanding the 1st Battalion, No. 1 Canadian Base Reinforcement Depot. He served as president for several courts martial in theatre. In September 1943, he even had to testify in the trial of one of his own officers who had been accused on drunkenness after defending another officer in a separate court martial.

Bristowe died in Battle, England on 27 March 1958.