Honorary Major Gerard Brakenridge Strathy was born  28 June 1880 in Barrie, Ontario, son of Henry Hatton Strathy and Marian Isabella Ardagh. His primary education was at Trinity College School, Port Hope, prior to attending the University of Toronto.

He joined Messrs. Cowan and Setterington in the practice of law, at 15 Toronto Street, Toronto, in the early 1920s. Strathy was one of the founders of the law firm Strathy, Cowan and Setterington, which later became Strathy, Archibald Seagram & Cole and still later, as a result of a merger with the Ottawa firm of Gowling & Henderson, became Gowling, Strathy & Henderson. He would eventually serve as Chancellor of Trinity College, University of Toronto.

Early in this century he married Mabel Theodora Kirkpatrick, (sister of eventual QOR Colonel A.J.E. Kirkpatrick) who was born in Toronto on October 31, 1881 and died on August 16, 1945.  They had three sons together:

1. Colonel James (Jim) Gowan Kirkpatrick Strathy, OBE, OStJ, CD, ED (Served as Colonel of the Regiment with the QOR)
2. Group Captain Colin Morris Ardagh Strathy
3. Sub Lieutenant George Henry Kirkpatrick (Pat) Strathy

A grandson, Lieutenant Colonel John Strathy, CD  also commanded the 3rd Battalion QOR.

He is buried at St. James’ Cemetery, Toronto, 13 July 1963.

Service Record

• 1895-1901 – Commissioned as a Lieutenant with The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada
• 1915 – 15 February attested with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Canadian Army Medical Corps where he served as Quartermaster
• 1918 – 1 August Gerard was promoted to Major, and appointed to the staff of the Adjutant General at the Headquarters of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada, Argyll House, London.
• 1919 – 27 September discharged from CEF on general demobilization.