Loyalist

The Co-operator

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

Lieutenant Colonel H.D. Pickett
229th (South Saskatchewan) Battalion

I had our farewell address from Col. Pickett and our lecture from our new Colonel Colonel McKay. He seems a pretty good head too. There was no love lost on Colonel Pickett.

(W. M. Dennis, 229th Bn. to fiancé, 20 May 1917)

A descendant of a United Empire Loyalist family, Henry Davidson Pickett was born on 6 December 1876 in Kingston, New Brunswick. In 1903, shortly after graduating with a law degree from the University of King’s College, Pickett moved in the Northwest Territories, where he established a legal practice at Moose Jaw. While a student in the Maritimes he had belonged to 8th Canadian Hussars (Princess Louise’s) and the 62nd (St. John) Fusiliers. After arriving in western Canada, he joined the 95th Saskatchewan Rifles, rising to the rank of major. In March 1916, he was appointed commanding officer of the 229th Battalion from the south of the province.

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The Newspaperman

/ Matthew K Barrett / 1 Comment

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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