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.
In December 1902, George William Hill won his first competition for this memorial. Designing the memorial required several trips between Montreal and Paris. He opened a studio in Paris to complete the commission and had the casting completed at the renowned Maison Barbedienne.
It was 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 was designed by architects Edward and William S. Maxwell. It is adorned with four bronze bas-reliefs and numerous inscriptions. Three bas-reliefs depict battles in which Canadian soldiers stood out: Paardeberg, Komati 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.
George William Hill was born in Shipton, Eastern Townships, in 1861. He learned to carve marble in his father’s company, after he graduated from college. Between 1889 and 1894, he left Quebec to study sculpting at the École nationale des beaux-arts and Académie Julian in Paris. When he returned to Montreal, he opened a studio and worked with architect Robert Findlay and brothers Edward and William S. Maxwell. Known for his public monuments and war memorials, he is now considered one of the most important Canadian sculptors of the early twentieth century.
Hill designed several monuments commemorating Canadians lost in the South African War, including the Strathcona and South African Soldiers' Memorial in Quebec and Boer War Soldiers Monument in Ontario. At the end of the First World War, Hill was awarded several contracts by towns and cities wishing to pay homage to citizens who had died on the battlefields. Between 1920 and 1930 he designed these monuments: Westmount Cenotaph, Magog Cenotaph, Argenteuil Cenotaph, Richmond Cenotaph, Sherbrooke War Memorial in Quebec; Pictou County War Memorial in Nova Scotia; Soldier's Monument, The Soldier and Nurses’ Memorial in Ontario; and the Soldier's Monument in Prince Edward Island.
