A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose

council, a commissioner of the supreme court, a member of the quarter sessions, and has been prominently identified with every movement of political and social reform calculated to benefit humanity. * * * * * =Mara, John Andrew=, Merchant, Kamloops, British Columbia, M.P. for Yale, was born at Toronto, and is the eldest son of the late John Mara of that city. He was educated at Toronto, and settled in British Columbia in 1862, where he has followed the business of a merchant. He has always taken an active part in politics, and sat in the Legislative Assembly for Kootenay, from the general election in 1871, till 1875, when he was returned to represent Yale. He was re-elected in 1878, and sat until the general election, of 1886, when he did not again offer himself as a candidate. He was speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 25th January, 1883, until the dissolution of the house in 1886. In 1887 he was elected by acclamation to represent Yale in the House of Commons, at Ottawa. Mr. Mara, in politics, is a Conservative. He is married to Alice Telfer, the only daughter of F. J. Barnard, ex-M.P. * * * * * =Strange, Thomas Bland=, Kingston, Major-General, retired, Royal Artillery, has been so conspicuous a figure on the Canadian scene and filled so large and honorable a place in Canadian history for the last seventeen or eighteen years that a work of this kind would be incomplete without a memoir of his gallant and distinguished career in both hemispheres. Major-General Strange comes of a race that has done good service to the Empire. Said the Weekly _Globe_ (Toronto), of 24th April, 1885:—“In ‘The Scot in British America’ is an allusion to Robert Strange, afterwards Sir Robert, the father of English engraving, an art which he developed while in exile in Italy following the broken fortunes of the house of Stuart.[10] Having previously fought at the battle of Culloden, in the body-guard of the prince, he was attainted and sought refuge in the house of Miss Lumsden, his affianced bride. While with her, the ‘Seider Roy’ (red soldiers) appeared in the court yard, and the officer entered to seize the body of the ‘traitor Strange,’ as he was termed by proclamation. His fair _fiancée_, with womanly simplicity, lifted the enormous hoops which extended the dresses of the period, and placed her lover in safety beneath them, while she resumed her former occupation of playing loyal airs on the spinette. The direct descendants of Sir Robert Strange and Miss Lumsden have been gallant and distinguished sailors, soldiers, men of science and law, including Colonel Strange, Madras Cavalry, subsequently employed on the survey in India and inspector of scientific instruments; Admiral Strange, whose son, Lieutenant Vernon Strange, went down in the ill-fated _Eurydice_; Major Charles John Strange, R.A., distinguished in the Crimea, all sons and grandsons of Sir Thomas Strange (son of Sir Robert), judge in the Hon. East India Company’s service. This branch of the family remained in the mother country; but two collateral branches settled in Canada. Of one of these, the late Colonel M. W. Strange, who served in the Kingston Volunteer Rifles during the rebellion of 1837-38, and who was representative of that city in the Ontario parliament, police magistrate and district paymaster, as well as a brother-in-law of Sir A. Campbell, the present lieutenant-governor of Ontario, and Dr. O. S. Strange, ex-mayor, and now penitentiary surgeon, were the descendants. The last branch to settle in Canada has done so in the person of Major-General Strange. * * * * * He represents an old military family of Scotch origin, and, in the maternal line descent can be traced from Charles Martel and Charlemagne through a long line of warriors. * * * * Major-General Strange has in his possession an old Bible (1679) which contains the records of the birth of Sir R. Strange and of his father and others in the islands of Orkney. To this sketch, the following details of interest may be added respecting our subject and his family. Major-General Strange was born on the 15th September, 1831, in the cantonments of the 26th Cameronian regiment at Merut, East Indies. His father, the late Colonel Harry Francis Strange, served in the Cameronian regiment during the India and China wars, and subsequently commanded the 25th King’s Own Borderers. His mother, Maria Letitia Bland, was a daughter of Major Bland, of Lake View, Killarney, county Kerry, Ireland, and connected with the Herberts and other well known county Kerry families. His paternal grandfather, Captain Alexander Strange, served in the 13th Light Dragoons in India and at Waterloo, and his father’s brother, Captain Alexander Strange, 42nd Highlanders, carried the colors of the “Black Watch” through the battles of the Pyrenees, and died of wound, received at Toulouse; and Captain Thomas Strange served and died in the Royal Navy, leaving three sons, Captain Thomas Strange, who was killed in the Maori war in New Zealand, Colonel H. F. Strange, C.B., Knight of the French Legion of Honor, who served with distinction in the Crimea; and Captain Alexander Strange, of the Osmanli cavalry. Major-General Strange’s only brother, Major Alexander Strange, served in India in his father’s regiment, the King’s Own Borderers, and also with distinction during the war in New Zealand, but died on the homeward passage. Lastly, Major-General Strange’s own sons have been trained to the profession of arms. The eldest boy, Lieutenant Harry Bland Strange, is a graduate of the Royal Military College, Kingston, and after serving as _aide-de-camp_ to his father during the campaign in the Canadian North-West, obtained a commission in the Royal Artillery. The second son, Alexander Wilmot Strange, a graduate of the Ontario Agricultural College, was in the North-West on the Military Colonization Ranche near Calgary with which his father is connected, when the rebellion broke out, and true to the loyal and military instincts of his race, and like a lad of spirit, at once enrolled himself in the Alberta Mounted Rifles, with a detachment of which he served until the revolt was suppressed. So that it may be said that for five generations every male of this family has served in the army or navy, and the majority of them have died in the service. Major-General Strange’s own military record has been as stirring and eventful as any in the history of the family. As an artillery officer, he takes rank among the ablest in that arm of the profession, and, as a soldier maintaining the honor of his country’s flag on the field of battle, his personal gallantry and skill were so conspicuous as to be mentioned four times in despatches. Indeed, few officers in the British service seem to have served their Sovereign with greater loyalty and ardor, or to have taken greater pains to perfect themselves in their profession. A real love for that profession appears to have been the mainspring of his whole action from the moment when, on the 17th December, 1851, as a young man of barely twenty years, he received his commission as a second lieutenant of the Royal Regiment of Artillery. Previous to this, he had been educated at the Edinburgh Academy and the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich—at the former classically, and at the latter in mathematical and military science. With his entry into the service, however, came no cessation of his studies. On the contrary, his life thenceforward for many years seems to have been one of unceasing application and downright hard work to perfect himself in all the details of his profession, and especially of that important branch of it with which he was more directly associated. Thus we find that between 1852 and 1865, when his opportunities from foreign or active service in the field permitted, he successfully passed through the following courses, for three of which he was specially recommended by the deputy adjutant-general, Royal Artillery, by the director of artillery studies, and by General F. C. Wilmot, commandant, and Colonel Fisher, R.A., chief instructor of the Shoeburyness School of Gunnery: Astronomical Observatory, Woolwich; Musketry Instruction, Department of Artillery Studies, Chemistry of War Stores, Royal Laboratory, Royal Gun Factories, Royal Carriage Department, Royal Waltham Powder Mills, Enfield Small Arms Factory, and Long Course School of Gunnery, Shoeburyness. The official record of his qualifications shows further that he carried off the prize at the Royal Military Academy for military topography and landscape painting; that he mastered the French, Spanish and Hindostani languages; and that he acquired the practice as well as the theory of his profession by serving as district adjutant and quartermaster at Sheerness from 1856 to 1857; as quartermaster to the artillery division on service, and as acting commissary of ordnance and acting adjutant and orderly officer in action from Benares to Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny, in 1857-8; as Hindostani interpreter at Moultan, from 1859 to 1860; and as superintendent and gunnery instructor of the Repository branch of the Woolwich School of Gunnery from 1866 to 1871. His record of foreign service covers two years and a half in garrison at Gibraltar, nearly two years in the West Indies, and about six and a half years in India, and a little over ten years in Canada, or a period of twenty-one years and eight months in all, making, with his home service of close upon ten years, a total of thirty-two years in the military employ of his Sovereign, during which his promotions took place as follows:—First lieutenant, 1853; second captain, 1858; first captain, 1866; lieutenant-colonel, inspector of Canadian artillery, with rank of deputy adjutant-general, 1871; major R.A., 1872; lieutenant-colonel in the army (local), 1875; lieutenant-colonel R.A., 1877; colonel, July, and major-general, retired, December, 1881. The breaking out of the terrible Sepoy rebellion in 1857 furnished to our subject his first experience of active service in the field, and though he was then only a lieutenant, his skill, daring and presence of mind were conspicuous. According to the “Army List,” he was present at the actions of Chanda, Sultanpore, Dhowrarah, and Moonshejunge, the siege and capture of Lucknow, under Sir Colin Campbell, the actions of Korsee, Nawab-gunge, Seraigunge, the affairs of the 22nd and 29th July, the passage of the Gumtee, Oude, including the engagements of the 25th, 26th, 27th and 28th August, and at Doudpoor on the 28th October. In all he served in thirteen engagements, was mentioned four times in despatches, and wears the medal and clasp for Lucknow. During the mutiny he also received his captaincy, and among the complimentary references to his gallant services in the field we note the following in official despatches:—“1st, at Moonshejunge, March 4th, 1858, Lieutenant Strange, R.A., assisted by Captain Middleton, 29th regiment, and other officers, enabled the commanding officer to carry off two captured guns under a heavy matchlock fire from the loopholes (_vide_ despatch No. 3, as above). On the same day, after the engineer officer, Captain Innes, Bengal Engineers (now V.C.), was severely wounded in the attempt, Lieutenant Strange carried the powder-bag to the gate of the interior entrenchment, and with the assistance of Captain Middleton, 29th regiment, fired it. 2nd, on March 26th, 1858, at the capture of the Kaiser Bagh, Lucknow, Colonel Napier (now Lord Napier of Magdala), Bengal Engineers, being engineer directing the attack, Lieutenant Strange, with assistance, endeavored to empty a powder magazine in the great square while the adjacent buildings were on fire. An explosion left that officer the sole survivor (_vide_ the death of Bombardier S. S. Lever, No. 3 company, 14th battalion, forwarded by General Dupuis, R.A., to adjutant-general, Horse Guards). 3rd, on 2nd October, 1858, at Doudpoor, Oude, while in command of right division Q field battery, R.A., and two guns R.H.A., under Lieutenant Lyon, Captain Strange captured two guns and sixteen horses, Brigadier-General Horsford commanding the force. Capture reported.”[11] To these may be added the testimony, of Lieutenant-General Sir Hope Grant, K.C.B., who wrote;—“Lieutenant Strange (now captain) was under my command in Oude, in 1858, during the mutiny, and rendered very efficient service at the crossing of the Goomtee in driving the enemy back and covering the crossing of the force. His two guns, which I sent on in advance, had to be taken in pieces across on rafts, and the horses had to swim the river. His duty was performed to my entire satisfaction. He was also staff officer to the artillery division under Colonel Carleton, at the battle of Nawab-gunge, when he made himself very useful.” Proofs of the same kind might be multiplied, but these suffice to show that our subject is not only an officer of skill and experience, but that he distinguished himself as much by his gallantry in the field as by his decision and coolness in the hour of danger. The removal of the Imperial garrisons from Canada in 1871, and the desire of the Canadian Government, in pursuance of a plan for the defence of the Dominion, to raise some batteries of artillery and to organise a scheme of artillery instruction, introduced him to a new sphere of honorable usefulness. Endorsed by the highest military authorities in England, including H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, commander-in-chief; Sir Hugh Rose, commanding the forces in Ireland; General Sir Hope Grant; General Adye, director-general of artillery, and others too numerous to mention, he came to Canada in that year as lieutenant-colonel and inspector of Canadian artillery, with rank as deputy adjutant-general, and a commission to form and command the 1st garrison of Canadian artillery at Quebec. How successful he was in this task is well known to all acquainted with the soldierly qualities and discipline of those fine corps, A and B batteries,[12] and especially to the people of the ancient capital, who had the best opportunity to witness the difficulties he had to contend with and overcome, and to appreciate, during his nine years’ residence in their midst as commandant of their historic citadel, his admirable qualities as a soldier and a gentleman. Referring to this phase of his Canadian career, the Toronto _Globe_ of the 24th April, 1885, during the height of the rebellion in the Canadian North-West, remarked:—“He established upon enduring foundations the schools of gunnery in which so many have been trained for service in different capacities, and especially as artillerists, and the efficiency of the batteries now at the front is largely owing to the fact that the Government has adopted the more important recommendations which, as inspector of artillery, he has seen fit to make.[13] He is a man of marked will-power, a disciplinarian, and yet one whose commands are not unkindly enforced. But once, while in command of B battery, was he called upon to act the soldier’s part in earnest, and that was during the labor and bread riots in Quebec, in 1878. He acted with a courage and coolness then which showed how well fitted he was for action in an emergency.” To this might be with justice added that on this occasion Colonel Strange also acted with an amount of self-control and humanity as honorable to him as a soldier as it was creditable to him as a man. To his firmness the ancient capital owed the prompt suppression of the trouble, and to his humanity that this stern but needful duty in the interests of law and order was discharged with the least possible effusion of blood. The local press, headed by the Quebec _Morning Chronicle_, were not slow to acknowledge this indebtedness in the handsomest terms, and the lieutenant-general commanding the Canadian militia, Sir Selby Smith, recognized it in flattering terms in his general order of 18th June, 1878. But it is pleasant to know that the citizens of Quebec have more agreeable recollections of Colonel Strange than those connected with him as the exponent of military force. During his residence of nine years amongst them, he and his officers and men intimately associated themselves with their daily life, and contributed largely to their entertainment and to the gaiety of the city.[14] It would require more space than could be afforded within the scope of this work to do justice to this phase of Colonel Strange’s career in Quebec, but an idea of it can be gathered from the celebration of the Montgomery centennial in 1875, which will ever remain an enduring memory with the Quebecers. On that occasion Colonel Strange thought it his duty to cement Canadian patriotism by reminding Canadians of both nationalities of their forefathers’ struggle to repel invasion. For this purpose, in addition to the valuable historical paper which, as vice-president of the Quebec Literary and Historical Society, he read before the society (on the defence of Quebec in 1775 against the attempt made by the Americans, under Generals Montgomery and Arnold, to capture the fortress), at the _fête_ in commemoration of the centenary of Montgomery’s defeat and death, held in the society’s rooms at the Morrin College, he organized one of the most unique balls imaginable, which came off with the greatest success at the citadel on the very centennial itself, the night of the 31st December, 1875. Of this _fête_ the following graphic account was published at the time:— The celebration of the centenary at the Literary and Historical Society was followed by a similar demonstration at the Institut Canadien of Quebec, on the 30th, which passed off with great _éclat_, and by a ball at the citadel on the 31st, given by the commandant, Colonel Strange, R.A., and Mrs. Strange, who entertained a large number of guests dressed in the costume of