Sergeant Whatsisname? In the six militia documents, I examined Beddoes' name is spelled no less than five different ways: Beddoes, Beadows, Bedeau, Beddows, and Beddeows.

 

This photograph offers an interesting view of the men who filled the non-commissioned ranks of a Canadian militia battalion during the mid-1800s. The apparent age difference is marked in the faces of these men as well as the obvious level of military experience which that difference brings with it. The old sergeant standing to the right of Beddoes wears a multi-clasped Crimean War Campaign Medal and the Turkish medal for that same war - he had served in the ranks of the British Army before he arrived in Canada. The sergeant-major standing to the left of Beddoes appears to be wearing a life-saving medal on his right breast.

 

Some of these men may have been mobilized with their battalion in March and June of 1866 during the Fenian Raids of that year though Beddoes does not appear to have been serving with the battalion at that time.

 

Close examination of small details in the photograph (the inked in eyes of the sergeant front row second from left) indicates that it is the same print that was used as an illustration in the book 1904 The Royal Grenadiers: A Regimental History of the 10th Infantry Regiment of the Active Militia of Canada by Captain Ernest J. Chambers (Corps of Guides).

 

 

Mounted Photograph

9 1/8 Inches by 11 1/4 Inches

(23.5cm x 28.8cm)

Unknown Photographer

Toronto, Canada

c. 1870