Harry F. Meurling

Lt. Col. Lalor

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

Lieutenant Colonel W.J.A. Lalor, M.C.
2nd Motor Machine Gun Brigade

This Officer gives a history of four years service in France, as a Machine Gun officer. Towards the end of his service, he states, he was developing symptoms of a fear neurosis, and this was finally precipitated by being blown up … There has been a strong tendency to repress his Overseas experiences, and towards self-reproach, as a result of his break-down. He states, now, he is afraid of the crowds, and cannot go to a Theatre. He is afraid to go over a bridge for fear that he will jump off. He has not made up his mind about his future.

 (Maj. A.A. Fletcher, Neurological Report, 13 Nov 1919)

Born in Muskoka, Ontario on 22 May 1878, William James Austin Lalor was a prospective homesteader in the west when the Great War broke out. He enlisted with the 1st Battalion in September 1914 and went to France in February 1915. Shortly thereafter he transferred to the Machine Gun Brigade, earning the Military Cross and a promotion to captain.

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The Swede

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Lieutenant Colonel Harry F. Meurling, M.C.
2nd Motor Machine Gun Brigade
Meurling

I was in command of the 2nd M.M.G. Bge. at the time, and I had as 2ic a man by the name of Mureling [sic], he was not a Canadian, and spoke very broken English, which was very hard to understand, and he was a most objectionable fellow indeed, how ever he got where he was is more than I can tell.

(Col. W.J.A. Lalor to Col Snelgrove, 18 Dec 1936)

Harry Frederick Victor Meurling was a Swedish civil engineer born on 23 April 1875. When he enlisted with the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles in May 1915 he cited military experience in the Swedish Royal Navy and the Belgian Congo. Of his time serving the notorious central African regime of King Leopold, Meurling stated in 1922: “Many mistakes were made, the blame for which were more rightly laid to human nature than on him in particular, and history, I am sure will only remember him as a man with a great vision and the courage to carry it out.” Continue reading →