Stacks Image 347
This J.C. Wilson patriotic of the WLS-P09 Type I “Soldiers of the Queen” design has been used by St. Luke’s Church Bible Class, in Montreal on March 1st, 1900, commemorating the involvement of classmates injured in the Boer War.

The card states:

“FALL IN!

Dear Friends, Scholars, Past and Present Members of the Class, will kindly attend at ___, on Sunday, March 4, to express our sympathy and admiration for the three members of the Class who fought in the late action at Paardeberg, South Africa. Two of the Scholars are reported wounded. Come, and bring a friend!

Sincerely Yours,
HENRY J. DART.
GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!”


A hand-written notation on the card notes “one has since died”.
The card was mailed to Medford, Massachusetts, USA on April 29, 1900.

The soldiers honoured on this card would have been from the 1st Contingent. Quoting from
CanadianSoldiers.com:

First Contingent

Second (Special Service) Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry - 1000 men were raised under Lieutenant Colonel Otter (the senior soldier in Canada, with combat experience at the Battle of Ridgeway, the Fenian Raids of 1866, and command of a column in the North West Rebellion of 1885), sailing for south Africa sixteen days after formation. The battalion landed at Cape Town on 30 November 1899, and in mid-February 1900 The Royal Canadian Regiment, as it was becoming known, joined the British 19th Infantry Brigade. It saw action at Paardeberg, Israel's Poort, Thaba Mountain, Doorn Kop, and marched into Pretoria, the enemy capital on 29 May as part of Lord Roberts' conquering army. The war passed into a guerrilla campaign, but the 2nd Battalion had signed enlistment papers for "six months, or one year if required." The Regiment embarked for home at Cape Town on 7 November 1900, reached England on 29 November, and returned to Canada on 23 December, where the battalion was promptly disbanded.


Of the Canadians who served in South Africa, 267 were killed and are listed in the Books of Remembrance. Only Private Julius G. Sievert of the Royal Canadian Regiment is noted to have died in the month of March in Paardeberg, passing away on March 2nd, the day after this card was printed.