Brig. Gen. Smart

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Brigadier General C.A. Smart
2nd Mounted Rifles Brigade

Germany waged war with one idea, and that was world domination or disaster. Well, she had achieved the alternative—disaster—and let her pay the price.  

(Smart quoted in Folkestone Express, Sandgate, Shorncliffe & Hythe Advertiser, 16 Nov 1918)

Born in Westmount, Quebec on 1 January 1875, Charles Allen Smart was a militia officer, manufacturer, and politician. Commissioned since 1898, he commanded the Eastern Townships Cavalry Brigade and was elected to the legislative assembly as Conservative member for Westmount in 1912. With the formation of the Canadian Mounted Rifles, militia minister Sam Hughes offered Smart the command of the 2nd CMR Brigade in July 1915.

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Brig. Gen. Elmsley

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Brigadier General Jim Elmsley
8th Canadian Infantry Brigade
Elmsley

Facial expression slightly nervous, tremulous and changeable. Has been worrying excessively over routine matters, particularly having to meet people. Has been excessively worried over the ordinary conditions arising in the Brigade under his command. Sleep is fair, but there are times when he will be awake for three or four hours.

 (Medical Board Report of Brig. Gen. Elmsley, 4 June 1918)

Born in Toronto on 13 October 1878, James Harold Elmsley was a professional soldier and Boer War veteran. During the South African campaign, he was shot through the chest but somehow survived. On the start of the Great War. he was appointed second-in-command of the Royal Canadian Dragoons, followed by a brief period commanding the Canadian Light Horse. After Brigadier General Victor Williams was captured at the Battle of Mont Sorrel, Elmsley assumed command of the 8th Infantry Brigade in June 1916.

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Col. Nelles

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Colonel Charles M. Nelles
Royal Canadian Dragoons

It will thus be seen that he had enjoyed the exceedingly unique distinction of having served his Sovereign and country on three occasions, the Canadian Rebellion, the Boer War and the world hostilities, which broke out in 1914. His military honors were many. He was mentioned in dispatches, awarded the D.S.O. and became a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George.

(Brantford Expositor, 15 Feb 1936)

Born in Brantford, Canada West on 31 August 1865, Charles Mecklan Nelles was a Permanent Force soldier and veteran of the 1885 Rebellion and the Boer War. In summer 1914, his son Norman, who had just received a commission at RMC, joined a British Army regiment while his son Percy was already serving in the Royal Canadian Navy. On 29 January 1915, Second Lieutenant Norman Nelles of the Northamptonshire Regiment was killed in France. Four months later his father went to France as commander of the Canadian Dragoons, which fought dismounted as part of the 1st Canadian Division.

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Lt. Col. Walkem

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Lieutenant Colonel Hugh C. Walkem
107th (Timber Wolves) Battalion

He was created a chief of the tribe by the name La-de-see, or Great Warrior. The ceremony took place in the Montreal Curling rink and was largely attended by the Indians as well as by pale faces. A war bonnet was placed on the head of the new chief by Chief Clear Sky. Clear Sky was overseas with about 200 other Indians in the 107th Battalion commanded by Colonel Walkem.

(Kingston Whig-Standard, 17 Jan 1934, 2)

Hugh Crawford Walkem was an insurance broker born in Kingston, Ontario on 19 August 1874. A member of the 5th Highlanders of Canada in Montreal, he enlisted as a captain with Lieutenant Colonel Cantlie’s 42nd Battalion in May 1915. Having distinguishing himself in France, he was attached to the Canadian Training School as an instructor in October 1916.

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Lt. Col. Leonard

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Lieutenant Colonel Ibb Leonard, D.S.O.
7th Canadian Mounted Rifles & Canadian Light Horse

Leonard

Talking about spring, I was much struck on Monday when up in front to see the buds and grass started in little pieces here & there that had not been touched by shell fire even trees that were half shot away seemed to be make an effort to abide the summons of spring and sprout a few little buds.

 It was almost pathetic and made you want to curse and crush the ruthless hands that are responsible for all this destruction and sadness in the face of beautiful and wonderful nature. One almost wonders why God allows it but wonderful are his ways and we must try and understand them and have faith that He is working out a great problem for our good. I can hear the steady rumble of the guns as well as the singing bird.

(Lt-Col. Leonard to sister, 2 May 1917)

Born in London, Ontario, on 30 July 1882, Elton Ibbotson (Ibb) Leonard was a graduate of the Royal Military College and McGill University. On the outbreak of the Great War, as a militia officer with eleven years in the 1st Hussars, he applied several times for an appointment with the Cavalry Brigade without success. Discouraged by the few opportunities for a cavalryman in a modern war, he was appointed to command the 7th Canadian Mounted Rifles in February 1915.

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Lt. Col. Watt

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Lieutenant Colonel E.J. Watt
240th (Renfrew) Battalion

Watt

I would prefer to assist in organizing Bombing squadrons composed of men of 45 years of age & over who could qualify as aviators.… Teach us to fly and drop Bombs. Just as soon as we are competent and capable send us to France, give us machines and bombs and say ‘This is your machine, there are your bombs and there’s the enemy country so go to it and if you come back, there are plenty more bombs. And I herewith volunteer to take the first machine across and knock H– out of enemy infantry & country.

(E.J. Watt to defence minister, 26 Sept 1939)

Born in Lamarck, Ontario on 4 July 1884, Edgar John Watt was a stove and furnace manufacturer with twelve years’ experience in the 42nd Regiment. Although denied a posting as second-in-command of the 130th Battalion for lacking field officer qualifications, by June 1916 he had been given command of the 240th Battalion. Former 42nd Regiment commanding officer, fifty-three year old Lennox Irving, came out of retirement to serve as Watt’s second-in-command.

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Lt. Col. Macdonald

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Lieutenant Colonel J.B.L. Macdonald, D.S.O.
3rd Canadian Railway Troops
MacdonaldJBL

This being dominion day and the fiftieth anniversary of Confederation the personnel of this observed a holiday so far as was possible.

(3rd CRT, war diary, 1 July 1917)

Born in Invernessshire, Scotland on 22 July 1867, James Brodie Lauder Macdonald was second-in-command of the 239th Battalion under Vancouver railway tycoon Colonel Jack Stewart. Prior to the war, Macdonald had been a railway contractor in one of Stewart’s firms and member of the 72nd Seaforth Highlanders. He appears to have lowered his age five years on enlistment.

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Lt. Col. W.A. Munro

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Lieutenant Colonel W.A. Munro
90th (Little Black Devils) Battalion
Munro

Heart disease, which originated in the first gas attack at Ypres in 1915, resulted in the death last night of Lieut.-Col. W.A. Munro, D.S.O., a prominent figure in the active militia in Western Canada.

 (Winnipeg Tribune, 2 Feb 1927, 2)

A native of Toronto, William Aird Munro was born on 12 June 1872. He joined the newly formed 48th Highlanders in 1891 before moving to Winnipeg three years later. At the outbreak of the Great War, he had twenty-years’ service with the 90th Winnipeg Rifles (The Little Black Devils). The regiment’s nickname dated back to the Métis resistance of 1885. A captured rebel remarked, “The red coats we know, but who are those little black devils?” referring to the 90th soldiers’ rifle green uniforms.

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Col. Moore

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Colonel Edmund E.W. Moore
9th Reserve Battalion

He walked his horse until he got across the Railway Bridge from the Brigade Office. After crossing the Railway Bridge he started to go faster as we went along. The horse broke into a gallop and Colonel Moore lost his cap. The Horse increase his pace galloping down hill. I then thought that Colonel Moore had lost control of the horse.

 (Pte. L.M. Carson, Court of Inquiry, 9 Apr 1917)

Born in Hamilton, Canada West on 8 September 1864, Edmund Evelyn Wentworth Moore was a surveyor and former commanding officer of the 13th Royal Regiment. Just before the First World War, he assumed command of the 4th Infantry Brigade of the militia. He went overseas with the First Contingent and took over the 9th Reserve Battalion from May 1915 until April 1916.

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Lt. Col. Bradshaw

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Lieutenant Colonel John Bradshaw, M.L.A.
Bradshaw
&
Major Gavin Graham Smith
243rd (Prince Albert) Battalion

Bradshaw sat silent, clothed in the uniform of an officer of His Majesty’s army, representing the justice and right of British traditions. Bradshaw sat there with the red color slowly mounting to his cheeks as he realised that the people of the province through their elected representatives demanded that for once he play the part of a gentleman and live up to the traditions of the uniform he wears.

 (S.S. Simpson, Liberal M.L.A., 9 Feb 1917)

John Ernest Bradshaw was the first commanding officer of the 243rd Battalion. Born on 13 December 1866 in Newport, Isle of Wight, he was a Hudson’s Bay Company manager, Prince Albert mayor (1906) and Conservative member of the Saskatchewan legislature (1908–1917). In June 1916, Bradshaw attempted to raise the 243rd from northern Saskatchewan. According to an inspection report, “He has no military experience; he has however a good business training and looks after his Battalion in a creditable manner.”

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