Monday Monuments and Memorials – Memorial Tablets, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Quebec City

Holy Trinity Cathedral parishioners killed in WW1

Holy Trinity Cathedral parishioners who served in WW1

Two bronze tablets in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Quebec City honour those who served and died in WW1. Palm leaves flank the names on both tablets, with the years 1914-1918 at the bottom.

“Ave atque vale” (hail and farewell) tops the tablet and “God gave them victory and glorious death” follows names of the 21 parishioners who died:

Monday Monuments and Memorials – John Samuel Brown, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Quebec City

Plaque to remember John Samuel Brown, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Quebec City

Every soldier tells a story. John Samuel (Jack) Brown was born on 16 November 1890 in Port Hope, Ontario, the second son of William Holmes Brown and Fannie Louisa Banks Brown of Quebec City. He graduated with honours from Bishop’s College in 1910, then taught classics in Rothsay Collegiate School in New Brunswick. In 1912, he entered medical school at McGill University in Montreal.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Lt Col Herbert Carington Smith, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Quebec City

Every soldier tells a story. Herbert Carington Smith was born on 27 June 1866, the fourth child (of eight) of Robert Herbert Smith and Amelia Jane LeMeasurier. In 1909, he married Helen Lawton. Their daughter Helen Carington was born the following year. After attending the Royal Military College in Kingston, Herbert served a long career in the British Army. He was commanding officer of the 2nd Hampshire Regiment in the Dardanelles at the Battle of Gallipoli, where he was killed in action on 25 April 1915. He is remembered on the Helles Memorial on the Gallipoli peninsula, in the Canadian Book of Remembrance, and on this tablet in Holy Trinity Cathedral, 31 rue des Jardins, Quebec City.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – James Anderson Murray, Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Quebec City

Plaque in memory of James A Murray, killed in Halifax Explosion, 6 December 1917

Every sailor tells a story.

James Anderson Murray was born in Manchester on 17 January 1860. At age 14 he went to sea, working his way up from ship’s boy to captain. In 1892, he married Emily Shickle. They had a daughter, Phyllis.

In the early 1900s, Murray worked for the shipping line of Canadian Pacific Railways, sailing between Liverpool in England and Quebec and Montreal on the St Lawrence River. He was captain of the Empress of Britain and, briefly, the Empress of Ireland. In 1914, he retired from Canadian Pacific to become harbourmaster in Quebec. His family moved from England to Quebec City.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – James William Williams, Cathedral of the Holy Trinity, Quebec City

Every soldier tells a story.

James William Williams – Jim to family and friends – was born on 19 January 1888, the first son of Rt Rev Lennox Williams (Bishop of Quebec, 1915-1935) and Caroline Annie (Nan) Williams (nee Rhodes). He was named for his grandfather, who had also been Bishop of Quebec. Photos on a family website show an active childhood with many cousins. He attended Bishop’s University for a year, then earned a BA from St John’s College, Oxford.

Williams attested in September 1915, serving in the 87^th Battalion (Canadian Grenadier Guards). He married Evelyn Meredith on 3 Jan 1916. His unit sailed from Halifax to England in Apr 1916 and from England to France in Aug 1916. ACM Thomson, his best friend and wife’s cousin, was on board, too. Letters to his parents from France are posted on the family website.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Cross of Sacrifice, Quebec City, Quebec

Cross of Sacrifice, Grand Allée, Quebec City

The iconic Cross of Sacrifice, designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield in 1918 for the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, was a convenient design to use beyond the cemeteries. Quebec City adopted the design for its war memorial. It was unveiled on 1 Jul 1924 by Governor General, Julian Byng, Baron of Vimy in honour of the 219 Quebecois killed in WW1.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Royal 22e Régiment, Québec City, Québec

Je me souviens by André D Gauthier: monument honouring the Royal 22e Régiment, Québec City

The 22e Bataillon (canadien-français), now le Royal 22e Régiment was formed in 1914, the only francophone regiment in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. In 1921, George V bestowed the Royal designation on the unit in recognition of its military accomplishments in Belgium and France in WW1.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Canadian Pacific Railway Memorial Tablet, Quebec City, QC

CPR memorial tablet at Gare de Palais, Quebec City

’Tis the season of busy travel. Rushed commuters and travellers passing through Gare du Palais, the train and bus terminal in Quebec City, may miss the tribute to 1,116* transportation workers killed in WW1.

The Canadian Pacific Railway – CPR – put its trains, ships, telegraphs, hotels and other resources to use for the Allied forces in WW1. This included its human resources: 11,340 CPR employees enlisted.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Conscription Riots, Spring 1918, Quebec City

Québec, Printemps 1918, by Aline Martineau

Québec, Printemps 1918 – events in Quebec City

Québec, Printemps 1918 marks the place of one of the demonstrations in Quebec City protesting the Canadian government’s 1917 decision to conscript men into the army. The creation of sculptor Aline Martineau, it was unveiled on 4 September 1998 at the intersection of Saint-Vallier, Saint-Joseph and Bagot in Quebec City.