Earlier this year……

On the evening of 9 June 2018, the Regiment marched from Moss Park Armoury to St James Cemetery where they joined our museum team and other members of the regimental family to dedicate a new grave marker for Bugle Major Charles Swift.

Swift first served with The Queen’s Own Rifles in 1866 at the age of 14 as a boy musician at the Battle of Ridgeway. In 1885 Swift and the QOR were again mobilized in response to the North West Rebellion.  As Bugle Major for 46 years, he helped raise the international profile of the Regiment, leading the band on tours to England in 1902 and 1910. He served with the Regiment for an incredible 57 years!

The short ceremony included a recitation of Swift’s service, a prayer of dedication, the Last Post, Rouse, and Sunset, and of course the unveiling.

After the unveiling, those in attendance broke into three groups and were led on tours of the graves of other members of the Regiment who were buried in St James – including three casualties from Ridgeway, the first Commanding Officer, and the CO who led the Regiment through most of Europe during WWII. Soldiers in each group placed small QOR flags at each QOR grave.

You can find the complete walking tour of forty-seven QOR soldiers buried or memorialized at St James, below:

The Regiment then marched back to Moss Park Armoury where some awards and promotions were presented, after which everyone enjoyed a BBQ dinner prepared by the QOR Association Toronto Branch.

You can find see our complete June 6, 2018 photo album on our Flickr site.

Thanks to all those who donated to this project:

• Josef Amodeo
• Beverlee Bamlett
• Kevin Bishop
• Cheryl Copson
• Linda Di Felice
• Grant Dunbar
• Kathryn Emanuel
• Philippe Escayola
• John Fotheringham
• Tim Hannan
• Graham Humphrey
• Jason Keddy
• Shaun Kelly
• Darnel Leader
• Sheila MacMillan
• Dave Marsh
• Henry McCabe
• Jason McGibbon
• Harry J. Rollo
• Mark Shannon
• John Stephens
• Swift Family
• Usman Valiante
• John Wilmot
• Susan Wilson
• Andrew Zamic
• The QOR Sergeants’ Mess
• 2 x Anonymous donors