William Craven Vaux Chadwick

The Penny Pincher

/ Matthew K Barrett / Leave a comment

Lieutenant Colonel John Thompson
124th (Governor General’s Body Guard) Battalion

All who know him must regard Colonel Thompson as a man of the highest probity and integrity. His honesty and ability cannot be question. I for one am prepared to believe that the qualities of character which have made him somewhat rigid in the work of administration of the particular commission over which he presides are characteristics of a strict impartiality…

 (W.L.M. King, Debates, 30 June 1934, 4556)

John Thomas Connolly Thompson was the eldest son of Canada’s fourth Prime Minister, John Sparrow David Thompson (1845-1894). He was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia on 21 October 1872. A barrister in Toronto, Thompson enlisted with Lieutenant Colonel W. C. V. Chadwick’s 124th Battalion in March 1916 at the rank of major.

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The Pal

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Lieutenant Colonel W. C. V. Chadwick
124th (Governor General’s Body Guard) BattalionChadwick

Col. Vaux Chadwick, of the 124th Battalion, appealed to recruits: he pointed out that the 124th, called the Pals Battalion, was distinct from any other, as men joining who brought friends, were allowed to keep together in companies right thru training, and would eventually be able to fight side by side. The speaker appealed to the women and girls present, who he said could do a great deal for the cause by refusing to be seen out with any young man who had not donned the khaki.

 (Toronto World, 3 Jan 1916, 6)

William Craven Vaux Chadwick was the former commanding officer of the he 9th Mississauga Horse and partner in an architecture firm with fellow colonel Sam Beckett of the 75th Battalion. Chadwick was born in Toronto on 6 December 1868. He had long served in the 36th Peel Regiment and retired as the 9th Horse commander in 1913. In December 1914, he organized the 4th Mounted Rifles from the Toronto cavalry regiments, the Governor-General’s Body Guard and the 9th Horse.

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The Cavalryman

/ Matthew K Barrett / 4 Comments

Lieutenant Colonel Sam Beckett †
75th (Mississauga) BattalionSBeckett

Col. Beckett ranked with the few most prominent and able military officers which Toronto and even Canada has produced in the present struggle abroad. That he was efficient and an authority on military tactics, particularly cavalry manoeuvers was attested when he was chosen one of the few officers who left here commanding battalions to take his regiment to France. He had innumerable friends in Toronto.

(Toronto World, 5 March 1917, 1)

Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Gustavus Beckett of the 75th Battalion was killed in action during a March 1917 trench raid near Vimy Ridge. Born on 2 December 1869 in Toronto, Beckett was a partner in an architect firm with fellow Lt. Colonel W. C. V. Chadwick of the 124th Battalion. A student of military history and expert on the cavalry tactics of American Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, Beckett had been involved in the Canadian militia since 1893. At the outbreak of the war, he was commanding officer of the 9th Mississauga Horse.

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