25th Brant Dragoons

History

The regiment was formed in 1909 when "C" Squadron of the 2nd Dragoons was split off to become the 25th Brant Dragoons. The regiment did not mobilize for the First World War. A newspaper article (referring to the Brantford (sic) Dragoons) reported that "D" Squadron volunteered to serve as a unit, however, the mobilization plans did not include the regiment.²

The regiment did not mobilize for the First World War. The regiment was asked to provide soldiers for the 4th Regiment, Canadian Mounted Rifles.³ Their experiences in the CEF were as diverse as the soldiers themselves. Private William Vaughan Waterman, formerly a sergeant with the 91st Highlanders in Hamilton, joined the 25th Brant Dragoons and from there the 4th CMR. He was named in the Windsor Star as having deserted.⁴ His service file notes that he was discharged from the CMR but later reenlisted and served with the 35th and 81st Battalions before being invalided out due to a pre-war knee injury.⁵ Corporal Bert Garrow, a noted football player in Brantford and soldier of the 25th Brant Dragoons before attesting into the 4th Battalion, CEF, was recommended for the Victoria Cross in 1915.⁶ His service file shows he enlisted in the 4th Battalion in the opening month of the war, and survived his combat service in France, though he was briefly hospitalized after being kicked in the testicles by a horse four days before the attack on Vimy Ridge. He was demobilized in 1919.⁷ Private Robert Little, another former 25th Brant Dragoon, was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal while serving with the 16th Battalion in July 1915.⁸

In January 1920, as a result of the Otter Commission's reorganizations, it was announced that a new regiment called The Ontario Regiment, Canadian Mounted Rifles would be formed, with the battalion to be known as the 1st Brant Battalion (4th CMR Battalion, CEF).⁹ This did not come to pass, and the 25th Brant Dragoons was renamed 10th Brant Dragoons in March 1920. 

Insignia

The 25th Brant Dragoons adopted cap and collar badges bearing the head of a native warrior in head dress over a scroll reading BRANT DRAGOONS and the numeral 25. The cap badge also had the regimental motto SAGITTARII (Latin for "The Bowmen") underneath a bow and quiver of arrows.¹¹ Similar badges were worn after the change in designation from 25th Brant Dragoons to 10th Brant Dragoons. An elaborate version of the cap badge was worn on the metal cavalry helmet with sprays of maple leaves surrounding the badge, placed on a 12-ray star with the Tudor crown above.

25th Brant Dragoons collar badge, these were worn in left and right pairs with the native warriors looking inwards.
Officers wore bi-metal badges with the scroll and numeral in white metal.

Regimental Affiliations

The 25th Brant Dragoons was affiliated with the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons of the British Army.¹²

Notable Members

Henry "Harry" Cockshutt, a Brantford native and president of the Cockshutt Plow Company, was one of the men appointed Honorary Colonel of the regiment. During the First World War he helped form the 215th Battalion, CEF and commanded it, and was named Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario in September 1921.¹³ Colonel Cockshutt was on the board of directors of a number of international businesses, served as Brantford's mayor and ran unsuccessfully for Parliament in 1917.¹⁴ He served as Lieutenant-Governor until 1927 and retired from the Cockshutt Plow Company in 1934 after fifty years service. His honorary colonelship ended in 1926 when he retired from the Militia.¹⁵

After the First World War Senator John Henry Fisher was appointed honorary colonel of the 25th Brant Dragoons, apparently for having "showered kindness on Canadian soldiers" during the war.¹⁶

Major John Ernest Lattimer was one of the regiment's first officers, gazetting as a lieutenant in the 25th Brant Dragoons on 18 December 1909. After completing a Bachelor of Scientific Agriculture degree in 1914, he worked for the Ontario government's Department of Agriculture until joining the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles. He was wounded in action and made a prisoner of war in 1916. He was released in 1917 and on promotion to Canada promoted to the rank of major, and retired from the military. He went on to teach at the University of Alberta, and earned a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in 1926. After a long teaching career he was made Emeritus Professor at McGill University in 1950. He passed away in 1975 at age 92 having many professional associations, including Honorary President of the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles Overseas Club.¹⁹

Notes

1. https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/military-history/history-heritage/official-military-history-lineages/lineages/artillery-regiments/57th-field-artillery-regiment.html

2. Vancouver Sun, 4 Aug 1914

3. Love, David W. A Nation in Making: The Organization and Administration of the Canadian Military During the First World War (Service Publications Ltd., Ottawa, ON, 2012) ISBN 978-1-894581-72-1 Volume II, p.215 and Saskatoon Daily Star (7 Nov 1914) which reported "an order has been received for the formation of a mounted rifle regiment to be drawn from the Governor-General's bodybuard and the Mississauga Horse of Toronto, the Second Dragoons of St. Catherines (sic) and the 25th Brant Dragoons of Brantford."

4. Windsor Star, 29 Jan 1915

5. Service file, William Vaughan Waterman (Reference: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 10117 - 44 Item Number: 301145 pdf file B10117-S044)

6. The Ottawa Citizen, 29 May 1915

7. Service file, Herbert Alexander Garrow ( Reference: RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 3430 - 5 Item Number: 407937 pdf file B3430-S005)

8. "Private Little, D.C.M." The Ottawa Citizen, 19 Jul 1915, p.11

9. "Four Cavalry Regiments for Canada include 19th Dragoons", Edmonton Journal, 16 Jan 1920, p.1

10. DND lineages, Ibid

11. Mazeas, Daniel Insignes de la Milice Canadienne - Canadian Militia Badges Pre 1914

12. Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, 5 Jul 1916. The article uses the spelling "Inniskillen", possibly confusing the name of the British Army regiment with "The Enniskillen Dragoons", the title of an Irish folk song.

13. "Factory Man to Fill Post at Toronto", The Windsor Star, 10 Sep 1921, p.1

14. National Post, 16 Sep 1921, p.8

15. "Cockshutt Dies at 78 in Brantford", The Windsor Star, 27 Nov 1944, p.20

16. "Senator Fisher Dies at Paris", The Windsor Star, 2 Dec 1933, p.2

17. "Major G.J. Smith Dead", The Gazette, Montreal, 26 May 1923

18. "High Constable Fred Kerr Passes in Brantford", The Windsor Star, 30 Sep 1925, p.1

19. Obituary of Major John Ernest Lattimer, BSA, PhD, FRES, FAIC, The Gazette (Montreal), 31 Jul 1975 p.43

Other References

G. Michael Kirby, Rounds Complete, A History of the 57th Artillery Regiment (2nd/10th Dragoons) RCA, published by The Haunted Press, Niagara Falls, Ontario (1997) (ISBN 1-895528-04-6)

"Passchendaele Resilience" The Vancouver Sun 10 November 2018 p.A12

Service Record George Stanley Todd ( Reference:RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 9714 - 21 Item Number: 277290 pdf file B9714-S021)