Archives, Cadets, Regular Force

Access to Archival Materials

6 Comments

One of our goals is to provide access to archival materials that may have potential interest to researchers. We have been doing some of this through pages on this website.

In the past year, however, our collections management database has been upgraded to allow us to add documents such as pdfs which can also be made available in the Public Access view – the one any visitor can see. So where we have scanned certain documents, we can now provide the scans to researchers rather than just describe that record.

We recently scanned the seventy-three issues of the “Regimental Newsletter” (talk about monotonous!) which were published by the Regimental Depot between 25 November 1959 and 30 June 1970.  These varied in size from the first issue of 2 pages to the last which was 88 pages. They cover more than half of the cold war period when the regiment consisted of a regular force training depot, two regular force battalions, and a militia battalion. These supplemented the annual “Powder Horn” publications (1960-1970) and provided information about and often letters from officers deployed or posted externally to the battalions, various postings, promotions, obituaries, cadet corps updates, museum reports, cartoons, and a host of other tidbits.

Another example of recently scanned material is several scrapbooks of news clippings of the 1910 Trip to England which have recently proved valuable to a researcher writing a book on the trip:

From a 1910 Trip Scrapbook

In addition, we can also add URLs to the record and again make them available in the Public Access View. That means if we’ve already uploaded scans to our website, we can just link to that from the collection record. We’ll be working on updating those links in the future.

In the meantime, you can find a variety of materials on our Research and our Archives page with past issues of the annual Rifleman Magazine and the Powder Horn newsletters (not the annual publication from 1960-1970 yet), nominal rolls, 19th Century Regimental Orders, diaries and memoirs, etc.

We hope you’ll find these useful and/or at least interesting reads!

6 thoughts on “Access to Archival Materials”

  1. Mr. Stephens – Some time ago, I was visiting the QOR website which dealt with Ridgeway and I thought that I sent a message off to you about my great-grandfather. I have not heard from you but it very well could be that I did not choose the right method for communicating with you.

     MY great-grandfather's name was Godfrey Massey Donnelly (GMD).  I believe that he was born in 1848 and would have been just 18 in the spring of 1866 at the very start of the issue with the Fenians crossing at Buffalo.  I have also created a story in my head that he was the son of William Donnelly who was in the British Army contingent that fought in the Niagara Peninsula in 1812-14.  (in my manufactured story, it was my great-great-grandfather William who strongly encouraged his son to enroll with a local militia unit as soon as he was 18.  According to real City of Toronto records, the family was living in fairly dire straits in the basement of an office building one block west of Yonge Street along Queen Street.  William, as the head of the family in the 1860s and 70s was physically incapacitated (by an injury that he sustained) with Wellington in Niagara.)    

 I have searched some of the records at the National Archives here in Ottawa and have seen the pay records to substantiate the fact that was a member of the QOR and did participate at Ridgeway, and have seen records indicating that he received the Ridgeway Medal.  (I have a Ridgeway Medal, but not his.)  I believe that GMD continued his involvement with the QOR and was promoted to the rank of Colour Sargent, and was identified as the musketry instructor for the unit.  I have found his name in the records of several rifle tournaments here in Ottawa and Toronto. 

 I believe that he was good friend of another Sargent in the QOR by the name of Cooper, and together, they went into business in the purchase and operation of a pub on Queen Street, a couple of blocks east of Yonge Street.  The pub was called "The Terrapin".   

 In the latter part of the 19th century, (I don't know the date), I believe that GMD moved to Port Credit and was in charge of the  Rifle Ranges there for some years.   

 Can you shed any further light on his career with the QOR?  In particular, I would be very interested in obtaining a photograph of him.  But anything would be appreciated. 

 Thanking you in advance for your efforts - Robert Grainger

    276 Royal Avenue, Ottawa, Ontario, 613-725-1063.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Hi Robert, sorry for not getting back to you earlier. I was just trying to update Godfrey M Donnelly’s people page in our database and came across your old comment. I don’t have much to add but you can see everything we have, including a photo of the Sergeants’ Mess in 1886 that you can barely make him out in. The link is below, if you have any more info we’d be glad to add it.

      https://qormuseum.catalogaccess.com/people/6308

      Shaun Kelly, Curator

      Like

      Reply

      1. Mr. Kelly – I was delighted to get your response to my request for information that you might have regarding my great-grandfather, Godfrey Massey Donnelly. Some of the information that you provided was new to me, and I was very interested in the details of his involvement with the Regiment.

        You mentioned that my grandfather was visible in the photograph of the Sargent’s Mess of 1886. Is there some way that I could obtain a copy of that photograph. At the moment I have no photograph of him, so the idea of finding one is wonderful. Can you indicate to me where he is located in the photograph? And perhaps a high resolution scan of him would be incredibly useful to me. I would be more than happy to pay for your time or equipment costs to get such a photograph.

        I was able to print a copy of the membership of the 6th Company in 1866 as well, but a high resolution digital file of that document would be great as well. I thank you in advance for anything that you can do to help me to document the life of this important member of my family history. – Bob Grainger

        Like

  2. Another progressively responsive initiative by a great museum archives QOR! Free, digital and pdf(!) are my middle names! Keep up the great work. Eventually may visit on one of your Thursday vol nights.

    RELATED: There is a great Canadian Facebook site on the Canadian militia 1855 1914 adm by Lorne Waid. This FB site overlaoa pre-1855 and sometimes strays into CEF WW1 period but overwhelmingly to focuses on its stated period. Highly recommended.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  3. I was posted to Soest West Germany I was called Canadian Army Brat. I would like to know if others were there also.
    Please let me know.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

We welcome your comments

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.