Strathcona and South African Soldiers’ Memorial
Municipality/Province: Montréal, QC
Memorial number: 24075-036
Type: Shaft - granite, statue - bronze
Address: 2903 Peel Street
Location: Dorchester Square
GPS coordinates: Lat: 45.4993126 Long: -73.5713639
Submitted by: Michel Litalien
Photo credit: Michel Litalien
The Strathcona and South African Soldiers’ Memorial commemorates both the heroism of the soldiers who died during the South African War and the involvement of Lord Strathcona, governor of the Hudson Bay Company. Strathcona equipped a cavalry regiment for Great Britain, on the occasion of Canada’s first participation in an overseas war.
The memorial was designed by George William Hill, and dedicated by Quebec’s chief justice on May 24, 1907. When it was unveiled, the Montreal Star said it would stand forever “to remind generations of the high hearted and fearless young fellows who sailed away to fight battles of the flag in another hemisphere, under other stars, and who still sleep there.”
The sculpture is composed of a bucking horse statue and a soldier in distinct Lord Strathcona’s Horse uniform, dismounted and holding with his right hand the bridle of his horse. The statue was forged of bronze in Paris and is one and a half times life size. Hill's name is inscribed on the base of the sculpture, under the foot of the soldier. The grey-granite pedestal is adorned with four bronze bas-reliefs and numerous inscriptions. Three bas-reliefs depict battles in which Canadian soldiers stood out: Paardeberg, Konati River and Belfast, and the fourth bas-relief depicts Lord Strathcona.
The Lord Strathcona’s Horse Regiment was started in 1900 for service in the Boer War. It was financed by Montreal railway magnate Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal. The regiment, which today is known as the Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians), exists as a regular armoured regiment and is honoured on one of two 46-cent Canadian postage stamps.
Inscription found on memorial
[front/devant]
TO
COMMEMORATE
THE
HEROIC DEVOTION OF THE
CANADIANS WHO FELL IN THE
SOUTH AFRICAN WAR
AND THE VALOUR OF THEIR
COMRADES
PAARDEBERG
[right side/côté droit]
KIMBERLEY
PAARDESERG
JOHANNESBURG
MAFEKING
PRETORIA
HARTS RIVER
BELFAST
LYDENBURG
DIAMOND HILL
FAVER’S PUTTS
ROYAL CANADIAN ARTILLERY
[back/arrière]
IN GRATEFUL
RECOGNITION OF THE PATRIOTISM
AND PUBLIC SPIRIT SHOWN BY LORD
STRATHCONA AND MONT ROYAL
IN RAISING AND EQUIPPING A REGIMENT
OF HORSE FOR SERVICE IN SOUTH
AFRICA AS AN EVIDENCE OF HIS SYMPATHY
WITH THE CAUSE OF IMPERIAL UNITY.
KOMATI RIVER-BELFAST
STRATHCONA HORSE
[left side/côté gauche]
IMPERIUM
ET
LIBERTAS
M.C.M. -M.C.M. II.
CANADIAN MONTREAL
RIFLES
Street view
Note
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