The Millionaire

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Major A. Hamilton Gault, D.S.O.
Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light InfantryGault

Princess Patricia—or Lady Patricia Ramsay as she is now, spoke a few moving lines to us, walked through the ranks talking and chatting with the men—some of whom had been in the regiment when 25 years before this same gentle lady, then a young and extremely beautiful woman, had inspected the “Originals”.

On one side of her stood that grand old warrior “Hammy” Gault VC. [sic] Etc. who had given his leg to the cause in the last war and who would gladly do the same in this if he had any say in the matter…

(James Baker, P.P.C.L.I. to Mom, 11 Feb 1940)

Andrew Hamilton Gault was a gentleman militia officer and founder of Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry. Born on 18 August 1882 in Kent, England, he was a member of a successful and influential Montreal manufacturing family. Gault embraced an active outdoors lifestyle as he engaged in various pursuits from safari hunting to biplane flying. He served with distinction during the Boer War and joined the Royal Highland Regiment of Canada (Black Watch). By 1912, Gault controlled an estate valued at over $1.75 million.

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The Judge

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Lieutenant Colonel R. M. Dennistoun
53rd (Northern Saskatchewan) BattalionDennistoun

Conditions in Western Can. are disturbing. The Printers Union are demanding all that the Free Press can earn saying they will own the paper and will allow nothing for capital. The Wpg. St Ry. Employees are saying the same thing and putting another strike forward contrary to agreement. A labor Candidate in Calgary has announced he is out against the policies of the late Mr. Jesus Christ. Karl Marx is now the prophet who speaks wisdom.

(Dennistoun, Diary, 7 May 1919).

Robert Maxwell Dennistoun was a Winnipeg lawyer and King’s Counsel. Born on 24 December 1864 in Peterborough, Canada West, Dennistoun graduated from Queen’s University in 1885 and moved west in 1907. On 25 August 1914, he enlisted as a captain in the 6th Battalion. He returned to Canada in late 1914 to recruit the 53rd Battalion from Saskatchewan.

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The Concussed

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Lieutenant Colonel William M. Davis
54th (Kootenay) & 2nd Pioneer BattalionsDavis

He complains that he cannot apply his mind to things. Until lately, he could not even with difficulty read a novel.

Memory seems clear but patient seems absent minded.

For some time after accident could not read letters or figures unless he traced them with his fingers. At the same time there was evidently some disorientation. He was continually getting lost.

(Medical Case Sheet, 26 Feb 1917)

In 1880, William Mahlon Davis graduated with the first class from the Royal Military College in Kingston. He ranked fourth among the original eighteen cadets. Davis was born on 26 May 1857 in Malahide Township, Canada West. A member of the militia since his schooldays in 1876, Davis organized the 24th (Grey’s Horse) Regiment in 1908.

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The Burnt Out

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Lieutenant Colonel Peers Davidson
73rd (Royal Highlanders of Canada) Battalion
Davidson

Word received that Col. Davidson was unable to return to his battalion owing to nervous physical breakdown. He was examined by a medical board in London and declared unfit for further service.

(73rd Bn. War Diary, 12 December 1916, 5)

Born on 7 November 1870 in Montreal, Peers Davidson was the son of Quebec Chief Justice Charles Peers Davidson (1843—1925). His hockey player brother, Shirley (1872—1907) won multiple Stanley Cups with the Montreal Vicrorias in the 1890s. Another brother, Thornton (1880—1912), died during the Titanic sinking. A graduate of McGill, Peers Davidson was an advocate with a Montreal law firm, commodore in the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club and commanding officer of the 5th Regiment, Royal Highlanders of Canada.

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The Silent Member

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Colonel Harry McLeod, M.P.
12th Battalion
McLeod

Colonel Harry McLeod has also been taken away since last we met here.

His interests were perhaps, as much in the military field as in the political field. He was a student of military tactics and military matters generally, and attended manoeuvres in this and in other countries for purposes of study—and, indeed, in the late war served in the fields of Europe.

(PM Meighen, Debates, 15 Feb 1921, 4)

Born on 17 September 1871, Harry Fulton McLeod was a New Brunswick lawyer, member of Orange Lodge No. 20 and Conservative politician. He was mayor of Fredericton (1907—1908), member of the legislature (1908—1913), and federal MP for York (1913—1917) and York—Sunbury (1917—1921). As colonel of the 71st (York) Regiment, he was appointed to take the 12th Battalion overseas when the First Contingent assembled at Valcartier in August 1914.

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The Sidelined

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Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Snell
46th (South Saskatchewan) BattalionSnell

May it be our part to play some useful role in the daily life of this great nation during the days of peace as all so faithfully played during the days of conflict, and so, in some way, because of what has come to us of good from our past experiences, the Canada which we shall pass on to those who come after us may reflect those guiding principles which alone exalteth a nation.

(Snell, 46th Battalion CEF – Year Book, 1926, 4)

Herbert Snell was born on 20 August 1880 in Stockbridge, England. As a boy, his family immigrated to Ontario. At twenty-five, Snell went west to become a retail merchant in Moose Jaw. He was appointed commanding officer of the newly creation 60th Regiment in 1913. Although overlooked during the organization of the First Contingent, Snell received authorization to raise the 46th Battalion in early 1915.

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The Newspaperman

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Lieutenant Colonel A. G. F. MacDonald
154th (The Counties’ Own) BattalionAMacDonald

So Cheer Up is our motto; Downhearted, No!
And we will soon be on our way.
We live in hopes to lick them soon.
And be home again some day.

(154th Bn. Postcard, 1916)

Alexander George Fraser MacDonald was a journalist and editor born in Alexandria, Canada West, on 24 August 1863. He was the son of Donald Alexander Macdonald (1817—1896), a Liberal MP of Glengarry and fourth Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (1875—1880). The younger Macdonald had founded the Glengarry Weekly News in 1893 and joined the militia in 1896. By the outbreak of the Great War, he was commanding officer of the 59th Regiment.

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The Town Founder

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Lieutenant Colonel Harry Lyon
192nd (Crow’s Nest Pass) BattalionLyon

A most interesting visitor to Blairmore during the week was Mr. Harry E. Lyon, well known by the real old-timers of the town, having been connected with the drafting of the plans of the original Blairmore, being in real estate and later becoming the town’s first mayor, etc…

(Blairmore Enterprise, 27 October 1944, 4)

Henry Edward Lyon was a real estate promoter, mayor of Blairmore, Alberta, and a member of Loyal Orange Lodge No. 2224. Born on 17 December 1874 in Richmond, Ontario, he moved west in 1898 to work for the Canadian Pacific Railway.  He soon established himself as a local community leader. He owned the first automobile in the district, was active in organizing amateur hockey and joined the 23rd Alberta Rangers.

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The Militiaman

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Lieutenant Colonel A. A. Cockburn
182nd (Ontario County) Battalion Cockburn

The novelty of soldiery in this town has worn off, and our citizens were not sufficiently impelled by a sense of duty to give the 182nd Ont. County Battalion a welcome worthy of the name. But the Mayor and two or three citizens were all that put in an appearance as the train pulled in…

It was a reception to which Oshawa could hardly be proud…

(Oshawa Reformer, 25 Oct 1916)

Born on 4 January 1867 in Stormont, Canada West, Angus Alexander Cockburn served for thirteen years in the Queen’s Own Rifles and seventeen in the 34th (Ontario County) Regiment. In late 1915, Cockburn, along with fellow 34th major and rival Sam Sharpe, was authorized to each raise a battalion from Ontario County. Once Sharpe’s 116th, based in Uxbridge, neared completion by spring 1916, Cockburn began to organize the 182nd from his headquarters in Whitby.

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The Usurped

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Lieutenant Colonel Frank Osborne
9th BattalionOsborne

Some little time after it had been at Valcartier I am informed that as Colonel Osborne sat in his tent one morning another gentlemen, Colonel Maynard Rogers, entered the tent and said to Colonel Osborne; “I am in command of the 9th Battalion.”

(Frank Oliver, Debates, 6 May 1916, 3549)

Born in Port Stanley, Canada West on 13 May 1860, Frank A. Osborne was commanding officer of the 101st Edmonton Fusiliers. After the declaration of war against Germany in August 1914, Osborne offered his services to the Militia Department and raised the 9th Battalion from Alberta. According to Liberal MP Frank Oliver, once the unit arrived at Valcartier, Samuel Maynard Rogers, Jasper Park superintendent and Boer War veteran, usurped power from Osborne.

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