CWM buys Canon Frederick Scott's war medals

[jollyjacktar]

Well done to the CWM for keeping these important parts of our past in Canada.  Shame they can't get all the important medal groups where they belong. 

War museum buys medals of WWI chaplain
Canon Frederick Scott was dubbed 'poet of the Laurentians'
Last Updated: Monday, July 19, 2010 | 5:52 PM ET
CBC News
Canon Frederick G. Scott was senior chaplain in the First World War and an accomplished poet. (Jeffrey Hoare Auctions)Canon Frederick G. Scott was senior chaplain in the First World War and an accomplished poet. (Jeffrey Hoare Auctions) The Canadian War Museum has bought the medals of Canon Frederick G. Scott, a First World War chaplain and poet, for $28,000.  Jeffrey Hoare Auctions Inc., an auction house that specializes in military memorabilia, sold a set of 10 medals belonging to the war hero last Friday in St. Catharines, Ont.  Among the medals are the Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George and the Distinguished Conduct Medal.  Lt.-Col. Scott was senior chaplain with the 1st Canadian Infantry Division, but he could not be kept safely in the rear while men were in the trenches. Instead he insisted on being in the thick of the action at Ypres, the Somme, Vimy Ridge and the Battle of Arras.  The Anglican priest was mentioned four times in dispatches, according to the Ottawa-based war museum. He was wounded in 1918 and sent to England to recover. He died in 1944 at age 83.  Born in Montreal, he was dubbed the "poet of the Laurentians," for his poetry on nature, religious themes and the fellowship of men. In 1934 he published The Great War as I Saw It, a memoir of his experiences in the First World War.  "Lt.-Col. Scott's story is an important part of our national heritage," said Mark O'Neill, director general of the Canadian War Museum, in a statement.  "The story of this great Canadian and his contribution to our history deserves to be preserved in our national military museum."  The medal set was bought with the assistance of a special fund that allows the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Museum of Civilization to acquire artifacts that might otherwise have been lost to Canada's national heritage. 
Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/arts/books/story/2010/07/19/canon-scott-poet.html#socialcomments#ixzz0uB55CvnW

 

[57Chevy]

FREDERICK GEORGE SCOTT, "The Poet of the Laurentians," has this supreme gift as a writer: the art of expressing noble, beautiful and often profound thoughts, in simple, appropriate words which all who read can understand. His poems uplift the spirit and enrich the heart.

He was born in Montreal, April 7th, 1861, son of the late Dr. William Edward Scott, for nearly forty years Professor of Anatomy, in McGill University, and Elizabeth Sproston. Both parents were of English birth.

He was educated at the Montreal High School, at Bishop's College, Lennoxville (B.A., 1881; M.A., 1884 ; D.C.L., honorary, 1902), and at King's College, London, England.

Ordained deacon, 1884, and priest, 1886, his subsequent clerical career is indicated by the following: curate at Coggeshall, Essex, England, 1886-7; Rector of Drummondville, P.Q., 1887-96; curate, St. Mathews, Quebec, 1896-9, and then Rector; Canon, Holy Trinity Cathedral, Quebec, 1906, and ever since; Provincial Superior, Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament.

As an author, Canon Scott has won distinction by these publications: The Soul's Quest, and Other Poems, 1888; Elton Haslewood, 1892; My Lattice, and Other Poems, 1894; The Unnamed Lake, and Other Poems, 1897; Poems Old and New, 1900; The Hymn of Empire, and Other Poems, 1906; The Key of Life, a Mystery Play, 1907; Collected Poems, 1910.

At a special meeting of the Royal Society of Canada,–of which he was elected a Fellow in 1900,–held during the Quebec Tercentenary, he read an ode, Canada, written for the occasion.

His marriage to Amy, eldest daughter of the late George Brooks, of Barnet, England, took place in April, 1887. Of this union there are six children living, five boys and one girl. The two eldest sons are practising lawyers in Montreal.

This hero-poet at the Front–he is Major and Senior Chaplain of the 1st Canadian Division–is more than an eminent writer of verse and an impressive preacher, he is as the Montreal Star has said:

A man of liberal culture and wide sympathies, a patriot whose heart has thrilled with the truth of the larger life, political, social and religious, a man of strong courage born of reverent unquestioning faith.

Link
          (Reproduced under the Fair Dealings provisions of the Copyright Act)

 

[Edward Campbell]

Canon Scott became a family friend, before my birth I hasten to add, while my father's ship was being built in Quebec City.

He was, above all, an Edwardian and neither his poetry nor his bellicose views survived the 1950s and '60s - perhaps they shouldn't have. He wasn't an Owen or a Brooke but he had a loyal following and, perhaps, we should rank him near, but below, Robert Service.

He was, truly, a patriot - sometimes blindly so; he loved soldiers and soldiering - perhaps he loved war a little too much.

My Mother admired and respected him and remained a friend until he died. It's nice to see him added to the pantheon in the CWM but his will be a chequered "display," with many, legitimate, critics.

 

[XMP]

Congratulations to the CWM on acquiring  Canon Scott 's medals. One minor detail, the MSM got the details wrong as they so often do. Canon Scott was awarded the Distinguished Service Order, not the Distinguished Conduct Medal.  The DCM was awarded to Warrant Officers, NCOs and Privates. 

 

[Michael OLeary]

Here are the images of Hon. Lt. Colonel Canon F. G. Scott's medals from the cover of the auction house catalog:

Hon. Lt. Colonel Canon F. G. Scott

Lt. Colonel Canon F. G. Scott received the CMG, DSO, and a quartet of Mentions in Despatches for his services in the front lines as Senior Chaplain of the First Canadian Division: The Most Distinguished Order of St. Michael and St. George, Companion’s Neck Badge in silver gilt and enamels; Distinguished Service Order, George V, in silver gilt and enamels, front centre slightly depressed ; 1914-15 Star (impressed: MAJOR F.G. SCOTT, CAN:CHAP:SER); British War and Victory Medals with MID oakleaf, (impressed; HON. LT.COL. F.G. SCOTT); 1935 Jubilee Medal; 1937 Coronation Medal; Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officer’s Decoration, (engraved: H. Lt. Col. F.G. Scott. C.M.G. D.S.O. C.C.S.); French Order of Academic Palmes, Officer’s Badge in silver; The Royal Canadian Humane Association Sanford Medal in gold, (reverse engraved: AWARDED TO Rev. F.G. Scott, QUEBEC, for promptitude and heroic conduct in rescuing at the risk of his own life a man from drowning on a dark night with a strong tide running at CHAMPLAIN WHARF, QUEBEC, 10th Oct. 1897), this exceedingly rare; Plaster Bust of Canon Scott by Orson Wheeler dated 1930, 11 1⁄2” high by 6” wide, minor chips and knicks; photostat copies of his Service Record; photos of Canon Scott in Army uniform (2) as a clergyman (3), and of him at the Royal Rifles of Canada 1937 dinner; a copy of Canon Scott’s personal memoir “The Great War As I Saw It” originally written in 1922 (reprinted 2000); photostat copies of his writings and poems (7); Order of Service booklet for his funeral that took place on 22nd January 1944 at Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal. VF.

CMG London Gazette 14 Jan. 1916

DSO London Gazette 7 Nov. 1918

MID x 4 London Gazettes 1.1.1916; 28.12.17; 28.5.18; 31.12.18

Wounded 29.9.18