Siberian Expeditionary Force

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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Lt. Col. Swift

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Lieutenant Colonel “Dolly” Swift, D.S.O.
2nd and 259th (Canadian Rifles) Battalions
Swift

The Vics took the first three games and looked like certain winners, but Stocking and Watson kept their team together and are mainly responsible for enabling Swift and Scott to tie the score and then get one ahead. Swift rallied his home and made a steady forward rush, when Grant lifted the puck, which struck “Dolly” Swift under the ear and knocked him out. This involved another fifteen minute delay.

(Toronto Globe, 31 Jan 1898, 8)

Albert Edward “Dolly” Swift was a Boer War veteran and professional soldier with twenty-years’ experience in the permanent militia. Born in Quebec City on 30 January 1866, Swift had also been an amateur hockey player in his youth. He played one season with the Montreal Victorias and thirteen with the Quebec Hockey Club during the 1880s and 90s.

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The Bald

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Lieutenant Colonel Stan Bauld
25th (Nova Scotia Rifles) BattalionBauldDS

Col. Bauld was in command and I must say that he has done good work for the whole time that he was out there. He was such that no matter who the man was he would do all in his power to assist him.

(Lieut. Lewis, Over the Top with the 25th, 1918)

Duncan Stanley Bauld was a commercial traveler born in Halifax on 16 April 1884. He belonged to the 66th Regiment and enlisted with Lieutenant Colonel G. A. LeCain’s 25th Nova Scotia Rifles. Following the poor performance of the battalion during its first action in late September, LeCain and his senior major were sacked. Edward Hilliam was appointed to take command and Bauld was promoted to second-in-command.

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