Thomas Bland Strange (15 September 1831 – 9 July 1925), known as 'Gunner Jingo', was a British officer noted for his service with the Canadian Militia during the

North-West Rebellion The North-West Rebellion (french: Rébellion du Nord-Ouest), also known as the North-West Resistance, was a resistance by the Métis people under Louis Riel and an associated uprising by First Nations Cree and Assiniboine of the District of S ...

of 1885. As a

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

officer posted to Canada, Strange was instrumental in establishing the country’s fledgeling artillery regiments following

Canadian Confederation Canadian Confederation (french: Confédération canadienne, link=no) was the process by which three British North American provinces, the Province of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, were united into one federation called the Canada, Dom ...

and has been referred to as the ‘Father of Canadian Artillery’.

Military career

Strange was born to a military family in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and was educated at

Edinburgh Academy The Edinburgh Academy is an Independent school (United Kingdom), independent day school in Edinburgh, Scotland, which was opened in 1824. The original building, on Henderson Row in the city's New Town, Edinburgh, New Town, is now part of the Se ...

. With his family unable to afford the cost of a commission in an infantry or cavalry regiment, he attended the

Royal Military Academy Woolwich The Royal Military Academy (RMA) at Woolwich, in south-east London, was a British Army military academy for the training of commissioned officers of the Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers. It later also trained officers of the Royal Corps of Si ...

, and commissioned into the

in 1851 at the age of twenty. He saw a number of postings across garrisons of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

, with his first posting being

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

in 1852 (where he was promoted to

first lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a s ...

on 21 November 1852), followed by

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

in 1856. Strange was posted to India in 1857 during the

Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

, where he saw service at the

Siege of Lucknow The siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the British Residency within the city of Lucknow from rebel sepoys (Indian soldiers in the British East India Company's Army) during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After two successive relief att ...

. His military records show he was awarded the Indian Mutiny Medal with Clasp and was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

four times. He was promoted second captain (a now-obsolete rank peculiar to the Royal Artillery) on 16 September 1858. Strange married Maria Elinor Taylor at

Simla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India. After independence, the ...

, the summer capital of the Raj, in November 1862. Strange was posted back to Britain, seving in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and as an artillery instructor at

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

. Strange's military records show the marriage produced two children, Henry Bland Strange, baptised at

Killarney Killarney ( ; ga, Cill Airne , meaning 'church of sloes') is a town in County Kerry, southwestern Ireland. The town is on the northeastern shore of Lough Leane, part of Killarney National Park, and is home to St Mary's Cathedral, Ross Castl ...

, and Alexander Wilmot Strange, baptised at Woolwich.

Life in Canada

Following

in 1867, the new

Dominion of Canada While a variety of theories have been postulated for the name of Canada, its origin is now accepted as coming from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word , meaning 'village' or 'settlement'. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec C ...

became largely responsible for its own defence and garrisons of British regulars were withdrawn. As an artillery officer, in 1871 Strange was offered command of B Battery of the newly-established Canadian Garrison Artillery at the

Citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In ...

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...

. Strange did much to establish these first permanent forces, and is best known in Canada as the 'Father of Canadian Artillery' and one of the initial organizers of the new Canadian army. Strange was a retired

major-general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

at the time of the

, and was raising

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

horses near modern

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, Alberta. At the outbreak of the rebellion, his old friend

Adolphe-Philippe Caron Sir Joseph-Philippe-René-Adolphe Caron, (24 December 1843 – 20 April 1908) was a Canadian lawyer and politician. He is now best remembered as the Minister of Militia and Defence in the government of Sir John A. Macdonald and his role duri ...

, who was

Minister of Militia and Defence The Minister of Militia and Defence was the federal government minister in charge of the volunteer army units in Canada, the Canadian Militia. From 1855 to 1906, the minister was responsible for Canadian militia units only, as the British Army wa ...

in the government of Sir

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (January 10 or 11, 1815 – June 6, 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 to 1891. The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career that sp ...

, asked Strange to organize a field force for the

District of Alberta The District of Alberta was one of four districts of the Northwest Territories created in 1882. It was styled the Alberta Provisional District to distinguish it from the District of Keewatin which had a more autonomous relationship from the N ...

. This force, consisting primarily of inexperienced militiamen and a few members of the

North-West Mounted Police The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was a Canadian para-military police force, established in 1873, to maintain order in the new Canadian North-West Territories (NWT) following the 1870 transfer of Rupert’s Land and North-Western Territory ...

, fought in the

Battle of Frenchman's Butte The Battle of Frenchman's Butte, fought on May 28, 1885, occurred when a force of Cree, dug in on a hillside near Frenchman's Butte, was unsuccessfully attacked by the Alberta Field Force. It was fought in what was then the District of Saskatch ...

against forces under the command of

Cree The Cree ( cr, néhinaw, script=Latn, , etc.; french: link=no, Cri) are a Indigenous peoples of the Americas, North American Indigenous people. They live primarily in Canada, where they form one of the country's largest First Nations in Canada ...

leader Big Bear.

Later life

Following the 1885 rebellion, Strange returned to his ranch in Alberta. In 1887, he sold his property in Canada and returned to England. He contributed an article to the '' Canadian Defence Quarterly'' at the age of 93. He died at

Camberley Camberley is a town in the Borough of Surrey Heath in Surrey, England, approximately south-west of Central London. The town is in the far west of the county, close to the borders of Hampshire and Berkshire. Once part of Windsor Forest, Cambe ...

, England, in 1925.

Publications

* ''Artillery retrospect of the last great war, 1870, with its lessons for Canadians'' (Quebec, 1874) * ''Manual for the militia artillery of Canada for the federal Department of Militia and Defence'' (3 pts., Quebec, 1875–78). * ''Colonial defensive organization: précis of information concerning the province of Quebec'' (Quebec, 1876) * ''The military aspect of Canada: a lecture delivered at the Royal United Service Institute'' (London, 879?; * ''Gunner Jingo's Jubilee'' (London, 1893) * “The father of the Canadian artillery, by ‘The Bombardier,’” ''Canadian Defence Quarterly'' (Ottawa), 2 (1924–25): 5–9.

References

*Strange, Thomas Bland. (1893) ''Gunner Jingo's Jubilee'', London. Strange's autobiography. *Sarty, Roger. "Thomas Bland Strange". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', 15 December 2013, ''Historica Canada''. *Macleod, Roderick. “STRANGE, THOMAS BLAND,” in ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography'', vol. 15, University of Toronto/Université Laval

External links

*
Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online''Royal Artillery military records at the National Archives (UK) at KewBiography at the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery
Royal Artillery officers British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 Canadian Militia officers People educated at Edinburgh Academy People from Meerut 1831 births 1925 deaths {{Alberta-stub