The Royal Canadian Rifles 1841 - 1870

This post is an attempt to collate various bits of information about Thomas Unwin's service in the Royal Canadian Rifles.   To make a start, I have posted a number of image files and text extracts that relate to this regiment.  I have also pasted some extracts from the "Standing Orders 1861" as they relate to a soldier having a wife and children living in the barracks.   These extracts have been chosen with a future narrative in mind. 

Katherine M.J.McKenna, has already written on the subject of Soldier's wives and family in the RCRR. 

My own character is thank God above suspicion”: Soldier’s Wives with The Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment and Social Values in Mid-Nineteenth-Century British North America

Katherine M. J. McKenna

From: Histoire sociale/Social history
Volume 49, Numéro/Number 100, Novembre/November 2016
pp. 475-502 | 10.1353/his.2016.0038

Abstract

Abstract:

British military records provide an unexpected source of information on the lives of ordinary women of the popular classes in the mid-nineteenth-century. This article focuses on the women of the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment, which served in small garrisons across British North America from 1841 to 1870 and included an unusually large number of families. The increasing regulation of the activities and morals of working-class women was characteristic of this era of middle-class reform. Women’s residence in open barrack rooms with soldiers was a cause of great concern, and led to close monitoring of their behaviour.

If you would like a copy of the article to read, please contact me.
Link to McKenna's journal article

"The Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment was formed in 1840-41 precisely to put a stop to the exodus  [dessertion to the USA]. It was not a Canadian regiment, as its name would suggest, but rather a unit of veterans [British] from line regiments, and it was part of the regular army. But its soldiers were not rotated; it was a Sedentary regiment whose companies were placed along the border to watch the United States, of course, but even more so to prevent deserters from going there."   Canadian Military Heritage, Vol II, 1755-1871, Rene Chartrand, 1995

Link to : The Regimental Rogue 


The two companies of the Royal Canadian Rifles Regiment in Newfoundland, about 300 strong, remained until 1870 [when it was disbanded].

Military Garrisons

In 1870 an important chapter in the history of Newfoundland came to a close when the British government withdrew the military garrison at St. John's. European garrisons had been stationed in Newfoundland since the middle of the 17th century. They were usually to be found at St. John's and Placentia, though smaller detachments were stationed from time to time at several other locations.

Heritage Newfoundland and Labrador - "Military Garrisons"

The Uniform

  The Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment (RCRR) uniform is a true Canadian artefact because the RCRR was created to solve the issue of increased desertion in Canada. Since many soldiers enlisted for service in Canada only to get the free transport to the colony – where they then deserted – the RCRR were older soldiers who were given higher pay as an incentive for them to remain in service to Britain in her colony. 

Link to Source : Murney Tower Museum



Link to : Full Uniform


I am also attempting to track down Thomas' Unwin's service file.

Temple View NZ

Fosters Road

Temple View, Hamilton,

07-847 4326 

T-Sat, 9am-4 pm, W, Th 7pm-9pm

Royal Canadian regiment of rifles : service documents of soldiers containing particulars of age, birth- place and trade or occupation of enlistment, a record of service, including any decorations and the reason for discharge to pension, 1830-1880 

Volume 1194 Tolmie - Young, 

Collection/Shelf : British Film,  

Film: 861901 

DGS: 8229462 

_____________________________________________________________

Standing orders of the Royal Canadian Rifles, issued May 1861 [electronic resource].
Language(s): English
Published: [Montreal? : s.n.], 1861
Subjects: Canada. > Armée canadienne. > Royal Canadian Rifles.
Canada. > Canadian Army. > Royal Canadian Rifles.
Note: Tables.
ISBN: 0665533098
Full view (original from University of Alberta)

Hubert Zair HOWIE (born 1905)

Hubert as a Youth 

Hubert Zair "Tommy" Howie, about 10 years of age

Born in 1905, Hubert Zair Howie was the last child that William Howie and his wife Elizabeth [Unwin] had.   He was given the name Zair,  after his Grandfather Thomas Zair Unwin.   Likely the reason that he was referred to as Tommy as a child.   There was an age gap of nearly 20 years between eldest brother, Francis James and Hubert.  His nearest sibling, age wise, was Dorothy, who was six years older than him.  

While Hubert was still an infant, his mother was teaching at Taikorea School.  By the time he actually started school (around 1910), Elizabeth was teaching at Newbury School, Palmerston North.   An entry into the Manawatu A and P show, listed Hubert along with Ernest Jensen and Lydia Deeley as being commended for their entries as well all being pupils from Newbury School. 

The above image is of Hubert about 10 years of age.  By the time he is 14, the family is living at 'Herangi', Crescent Road, Roseneath, WELLINGTON.  This detail was gleaned from a newspaper article about Evelyn Colyton Howie's marriage to Bache Wright Harvey in June 1922.   The article names Tommy [Hubert Howie], brother of the bride as the grooms man in the wedding party.  

Source : WEDDING BELLS, PATEA MAIL, VOLUME XLV, 5 JUNE 1922

Incidentally, there is no mention of William in the article and in fact, the article highlights that the bride was given away by her Mother.   In 1922, William Howie was still alive and outlived Elizabeth by 19 years.   A relative, Dot Thomas informs that they were separated. 

Adulthood 

1924  (aged 19)

Employed as an asst purser, aged 19

Hubert Zair HOWIE

1927  

Elizabeth passed away in 1927, Hubert was 22 at the time.   

1928

The Electoral Roll of the following year, 1928, records that Hubert Zair Howie was residing at 7 - 11 Marion Street, Wellington North and was employed as a Clerk. 

His sister Dorothy Rawea Howie, spinster, lived in the same electorate.  The entry records her living at 6 Macdonald Crescent. 

In the same year, Hubert appeared before the Magistrate's court on a charge of having no driver's licence as well as a further charge of using an un-licensed motor-car.   He was fined 1 pound for each charge.

Hubert married twice 

According to an NZBDM search, Hubert Zair Howie was first married to Elsie Clara Machin in 1931.  He was 26 years of age at the time.
See blog post : Clara Hood

A second marriage was registered at Paddington, NSW Australia.  Hubert married Daisy Agnes Brown in 1939, by this time - Hubert was 34 years of age. 

As more details are found, they will be added to this post.  

At this stage, it seems that Hubert spent the rest of his life in New South Wales.

Date deceased

According to a Notice placed by the Public Trustee of Parramatta, Hubert Zair Howie,  died  5 Nov 1983.  78 years of age at the time of his death.