Type
Book/Drum

Description
A Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada book of remembrance, fully bound in green leather with inscribed and gold leaf panel. Names are in manuscript and the book is kept in the Warriors Chapel of Canterbury Cathedral. This is a duplicate of the book at St Paul’s Bloor Street.

Also located in St Michael’s chapel  on the north side of the altar, is a regimental snare drum with the inscription:

“TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND IN MEMORY OF ALL MEMBERS OF THE BUFFS AND OF THE Q.O.R. OF C WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR MONARCH AND THEIR COUNTRY AND TO COMMEMORATE FIFTY YEARS OF THE ALLIANCE BETWEEN THESE TWO REGIMENTS PRESENTED IN THE YEAR OF THE CENTENARY OF THE QUEENS OWN RIFLES OF CANADA 14TH SEPT 1960”

Canterbury Cathedral was the regimental church for  The Buffs, our first allied regiment.

From the Association page of The Queen’s Own Buffs, The Royal Kent Regiment (PWRR):

The Q.O.R. Drum that has pride of place in the Warriors’ Chapel, was presented by Colonel J. G. K Strathy, Colonel of the Q.O.R., to Major General V Boucher, last Colonel of The Buffs at a ceremony in the Cathedral on 14th September 1960 to mark the Centenary of the raising of the Q.O.R. in 1860 and the fiftieth anniversary of their first association with The Buffs in 1910.

In addition to those Buffs present, there were three officers and three soldiers of the Q.O.R. who had come over from their 2nd Battalion, stationed in Germany. Held jointly by a Corporal from each of the regiments, the Drum was laid below the Books of Life and dedicated by the ‘Red’ Dean, the Very Revd. Hewlett Johnson, who then entertained the officers in the Deanery, before further celebrations at The Buffs Depot.

Like other Rifle Regiments and Light Infantry, the Q.O.R. do not have Colours. Their drums have Battle Honours emblazoned on them and they are held in similar respect to the Colours of the Guards and other Infantry.

In May 2010, Colonel Paul Hughes, Honorary Colonel of the Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada, on a visit to England, Turned the Page in the Queen’s Own Rifles Book of Life at the daily ceremony in the Warriors’ Chapel.

To mark the celebrations here in the UK, the Drum was repaired and refurbished by Drum Major Sammy Supple.

Each year on Remembrance Day and other regimental ceremonies in the cathedral a Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada wreath is laid on the drum. A QOR of C wreath is also laid at the Menin Gate whenever our Association visits Ypres

Location
Canterbury Cathedral, Canterbury, England