Photos from the BN du Quebec.

[chris.wight]

I came across this collection of newspaper clippings held by the Bibliotheque Nationale du Quebec, link while searching for information on the Victoria Rifles.

It's a bit of a mixed bag with some photos of Montreal units pre-war such as the Royal Highlanders of Canada in 1912 outside their armoury on Bleury Street, and on Dorchester, and another interesting one of the Queen's Own Rifles taken while they were on there way to Aldershot in 1910 at the expense of Sir Henry Pellat.

There are a couple of photos taken of the 42nd during their inspection by the Duke of Connaught in Montreal, another with him at McGill with the officers of No. 3 General Hospital (McGill). The photo with the patriotic display for the benefit of the Khaki league certainly catches your eye since it features a Colt machine gun. My favourite is the two page spread taken of the Duke of Connaught who had just inspected the Irish Rangers (never heard of them before), and the Home Guard on Fletcher's Field (Jeanne Mance Park now, beside the Canadian Grenadier Guards' Armoury) in May 1915. The men are caught in the midst of giving three cheers for the King.

I was surprised to see a completely bilingual newspaper was published in Quebec in those days (we must be going backwards here these days ).

[mordac]

Hi Chris:

Great link with some nice photos of the 5th Regiment Royal Highlanders of Canada in 1912. It's interesting to read from the newspaper clippings that The Queen's Own Rifles traveled to Aldershot, England for training in 1910.

Garth

[chris.wight]

Hi Garth,

It's always a pleasure to find old photos like those.

Pellat felt something special should be done to celebrate the Queen's Own Rifles' Golden Jubilee in 1910 so he arranged a visit to take part in the British Army's autumn manoeuvres. You can read a full description at the Aldershot Military Museum's website here .

I had a book, "From Muskets to Missiles" (?) a while back that showed a photo which was supposed to be the Regiment marching at Aldershot in full dress; problem was though the men were wearing bearskins. Anyone know of any photos taken of them at Aldershot?

As an interesting aside, the White Star line ship the Q.O.R. crossed over in, the S.S. Megantic was carrying a Dr. Crippen back to England to stand trial for the murder of his wife. The murder was something of a "cause celebre" back then involving a transatlantic chase of the Doctor (who was on a Canadian Pacific ship) by a Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard. Wireless radio played a prominent role too.

You can read more here.