Canadian Military History Volume 8 Issue 3 Article 5 1999 The Right Stuff? Evaluating the Performance of Lieutenant- Colonel F.L. Lessard in South Africa and His Failure to Receive a Senior Command Position with the CEF in 1914 John MacFarlane Directorate of Heritage and History, Department of National Defence, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh Recommended Citation MacFarlane, John "The Right Stuff? Evaluating the Performance of Lieutenant-Colonel F.L. Lessard in South Africa and His Failure to Receive a Senior Command Position with the CEF in 1914." Canadian Military History 8, 3 (1999) This Canadian War Museum is brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Commons @ Laurier. It has been accepted for inclusion in Canadian Military History by an authorized editor of Scholars Commons @ Laurier. For more information, please contact [email protected]. MacFarlane: The Right Stuff? 48 Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 1999 1 Canadian Military History, Vol. 8 [1999], Iss. 3, Art. 5 John Macfarlane hen Canada decided to contribute Some historians have suggested that Wan expeditionary force to support his age made him ineligible for the the British in August 1914 a commander position of senior commander overseas.6 had to be named. While the Conservative Aged 53 in August 1914. he was still Minister of Militia and Defence, Colonel younger than the leader eventually Sam Hughes, thought that he himself selected, Major-General E.A.H. Alderson. might be the most appropriate leader of The 55-year-old Alderson had the 1st Canadian Division, the British considerable experience on active service, Commander-in-Chief, Lord Kitchener, and had commanded Canadians in South disagreed. As Hughes contemplated several other Africa. Hughes preferred him over two other candidates, one officer he did not consider was British officers he had considered (the 61-year- Major-General François-Louis Lessard.1 old Earl of Dundonald, and the 69-year-old Major-General Reginald Pole Carew), and Lessard had strong supporters. He was "held Kitchener approved the choice.7 The commander by many to be the most accomplished officer in Hughes later selected to lead the 2nd Division, the Canadian Forces" in 1914, wrote Colonel A.F. the famous Western Canadian Major-General Duguid, first historian of the Canadian Sam Steele, was ten years older than Alderson! Expeditionary Force.2 Premier J.P. Whitney of Neither Lessard's age nor his rank prevented Ontario advised Prime Minister Robert Borden Sam Hughes from naming him to an overseas that "in my opinion Major-General Lessard command. As Lessard also had experience should command the First Contingent...I think commanding troops in South Africa (as did most people will agree with me that he is the one Steele), why was he not considered for a outstanding man for the position."3 J.F. divisional command? Cummins, writing in the Canadian Defence Quarterly shortly after the First World War, Attempting to analyze the decision-making suggested that Lessard had been the best process under Sam Hughes is not easy. The candidate due to his age, rank, experience, considerations that lay behind each appointment efficiency and knowledge of both the francophone could be very complex, or else very simple. and anglophone military establishments.4 But, Hughes sometimes could make non-biased despite the protests of some of his supporters - appointments of outstanding individuals - including the Chief of the General Staff Sir perhaps most notably Arthur Currie to command Willoughby Gwatkin5 - Lessard received no the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade in 1914 - but overseas command, not even a brigade. Instead, being a friend of the Minister and a Conservative he was made Inspector-General for Eastern were often sufficient. Was Lessard a victim of this Canada. This was an important position, but it arbitrariness, or were there other reasons? A look was certainly not the front-line command role at Lessard's military experience is necessary hoped for by Lessard. before reaching any conclusions. © Canadian Military History, Volume 8, Number 3, Summer 1999, pp.48-58. 49 https://scholars.wlu.ca/cmh/vol8/iss3/5 2 MacFarlane: The Right Stuff? Lieutenant-Colonel F.-L Lessard at the time of the South African War. He acquired his first experience of active service during the North-West campaign in 1885. As the cavalry's role was limited to protecting supply lines, however, Lessard's group never came under fire, and their main battle was against boredom. An even greater battle against boredom was to be joined in 1893 when Lessard's cavalry corps, which had recently been renamed the Royal Canadian Dragoons, moved to Toronto. Promoted lieutenant-colonel to command the Dragoons in July 1899, Lessard received high praise from the Military Gazette for his enthusiasm and hard work.10 He was thus well placed to play an important role in the Canadian contingents that would soon sail to participate in the South African War. On 12 October 1899 forces from the Boer republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State invaded the British Cape Colony and Natal, helping London justify an anticipated war in the area. Ottawa had already been wrestling with the question of possible Canadian participation for weeks, and showed at least as much opposition as support for the idea. But once war was declared the Canadian government almost immediately announced a contribution of 1,000 volunteers. Over 6,000 additional volunteers would join them during the following two and a Lessard was born in Quebec City on 9 half year struggle, mostly paid for by the British. December 1860. His father, Louis L. Lessard, The Canadian Prime Minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, was Secretary with the Permanent Building emphasized his support for the empire's fight for Society, and François-Louis, known to his friends humanity, religious freedom and civil rights - as Louis, attended St. Thomas's College. He such as securing the right to vote for the served in a number of local militia units, and Uitlanders (disenfranchised subjects of the then joined "B" Battery of the Quebec Garrison Crown living in the Boer colonies); but many Artillery as a gunner, and in which he became a critics suspected that London sought liberty only second lieutenant in 1880. In 1884 he joined the for white Anglo-Saxons,11 and was merely Cavalry School Corps of the Permanent Force at attempting to protect its economic interests in Quebec, and was promoted captain in 1888. South African diamond and gold mines. Although he had deep roots in the francophone community, like some of the francophone Canadian support for the war was far from political, economic, and military leaders of the unanimous, and non-anglophones were time - such as Sir Wilfrid Laurier and RMC 8 understandably among the most hesitant. Had graduates Percy Girouard and P.-H. D. Casgrain francophone opposition to the war been as fervent - he was not entirely out of place among the as some accounts claim, however, the support of British elite. Some soldiers under his command someone like Lessard for the cause would be in South Africa thought they recognized a French 12 difficult to explain. In fact, it appears that accent when he spoke English, while others support for the war in English Canada has often identified it as British!9 been exaggerated and support in French Canada 50 Published by Scholars Commons @ Laurier, 1999 3 Canadian Military History, Vol. 8 [1999], Iss. 3, Art. 5 underestimated.13 In the early months of the successfully for the unit to be known under this struggle La Presse and La Patrie both had designation. Although some of the recent articles critical of the British position, but they volunteers who now found themselves Dragoons carried far more that were favourable. A leading considered the request "rather absurd,"19 the opponent, Henri Bourassa, admitted privately British were impressed, seeing Lesard's that he could not understand why French- persistence as a defence of the regimental system Canadian views of imperialism remained and a commitment to building the traditions that "unsettled" and support for Laurier so high.14 The lay at its heart. francophone religious, business, political, and military elites were strongly behind the cause, Lessard was anxious to take his battalion into as long as the war remained not a fight for Anglo- action when it arrived in South Africa, too Saxon economic or political dominance, but a anxious for the British who would have preferred fight for humanity, religious freedom, and civil a few more weeks of training. He nonetheless had rights. This was the cause Laurier sought to his wish immediately, and led the Dragoons in emphasize,15 and it was this cause that Lessard operations in the Cape Colony, the Orange Free intended to defend when he offered his services State, and the Transvaal. By the time his battalion and encouraged his francophone compatriots to left South Africa in December it had ridden 1,700 volunteer with him.16 miles and had fought 27 separate engagements, including an impressive victory at the battle of Lessard would be disappointed when, in Coetzee's Drift in May.20 After fighting disease, accepting the Canadian offer of troops, Britain the elements, and the enemy, many looked specified a preference for infantry over cavalry. forward to the end of the war. But after the With no hope of embarking with his own mounted Transvaal's capital, Pretoria, fell in June, the role regiment, Lessard volunteered for special service of mounted infantry became more important than with the First Contingent, consisting entirely of ever, as the Boer mounted commandos adopted infantry, which sailed at the end of October 1899.