15 May 2017

Canadian Orders Decorations and Medals

At Saturday's BIFHSGO meeting Dr Jonathan F. Vance speaking on Was Your Ancestor at Vimy?: Making Sense of the Battle on the Ground mentioned that when British General Julian Byng took command of the Canadian Corps he replaced many of the senior officers who held their positions through patronage with experienced British officers.
Vance gave special note to Brigadier-General Deputy Adjutant & QMG George Jasper Farmar (sometime Farmer) who ensured that the Corps got all their share of weapons and ammunition, and perhaps a bit more.
I went looking for information on him. Ancestry had a little, but the best source was an item in British Brigadier-Generals, Major-Generals, Lieutenant-Generals who held Senior Positions in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. (pdf).  There are 11 born in Great Britain, one in India.

For Farmar and others it gives, birth, marriage, children and death information, plus honours and a detailed military history.

The same file also lists Canadian Born General Officers in the British Army in World War One, there are 15.

I may not be popular for mentioning as a side-note that, just as the Ottawa Senators hockey team is made up of players and coaches and owner with no Ottawa roots, the iconic Canadian battle of Vimy Ridge had a commander, many of his subordinate officers and the majority of the rank and file being British-born.

The file mentioned above is just one at Canadian Orders Decorations and Medals (6th Edition), a promising resource for Canadian genealogists. The contents are:

Royal Canadian Navy Citations
Royal Canadian Air Force Honours List
Current Canadian Honours
British Orders to Canadians
Foreign Honours to Canadians
Canadian Meritorious Service Decorations Citations
Mentioned in Despatches Citations to Canadians 1993 on
General & Flag Officers 1964 to Current
General & Flag Officers WWI and WWII
12 (Vancouver) Field Ambulance History
Prime Ministers of Canada
Royalty - Canadian Military Connections




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