Find a Lecture

 

How in 1914 Canada Went to War for a "Scrap of Paper"

 

Guest speaker: Jean-Pierre Raymond

When: Thursday, March 19, 2015, from 19:30 to 21:00

Where: Centennial Hall,

              288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4

 

 

At the beginning of this event, the Société historique Beaurepaire-Beaconsfield will show a 7-minute video taken at the Heroes Park launching ceremony and at the Heroes Park inauguration ceremony, in recognition of the implication, in this project, of the Beaconsfield High School and especially of the students Cheyenne Skurczak and Devyn Sherry, BHS spokespersons. Certificates of recognition, accompanied by the Roberta-Angell 2015 Prize, will be presented to the school as well as to these two students.


 

Lecture in English, with French visuals, followed by a bilingual question period

 


 

2015-03JeanPierreRaymond TheScrapofPaper-EnlistTodayJean-Pierre Raymond, retired engineer, talks about many little known facts that explain how a series of human misjudgements occurred resulting in WWI. He explains the legal process which brought the United Kingdom and, consequently, Canada into the war and the motivations for each of the seven powers of the time. Starting with the end of the Napoleonic era, the chronology of catastrophic events is presented.

 


Rise and Fall in the RCAF – The World War II Experiences of Robert McBride

 

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Guest speaker: Peter McBride

When: Thursday, February 19, 2015, from 19:30 to 21:00

Where: Centennial Hall,2015-02McBride IMG 20141220 135042 2

              288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4


Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period

Life-long resident of Baie d’Urfé and Beaconsfield, Bob McBride enlisted in the RCAF in September 1940. Following completion of flight training in Canada, Bob went overseas in September 1941, winning promotion to Pilot Officer and Flying Officer in 1942, and to Flight Lieutenant in June 1944. He was shot down in a torpedo bombing mission over the Bay of Biscay on November 7, 1942, wounded and taken prisoner. As a POW, Bob resided in the Stalag Luft III and took part in what became known as “The Great Escape” on March 24, 1944. Recaptured at the tunnel’s mouth, Bob remained a prisoner until his release at the war’s end in 1945.

Peter McBride, one of Bob’s four children, has pieced his story together from various sources and will share it with us at our February meeting.

 


The first modern Code-talker: 

Elmer Jamieson and the Mohawks in the Great War


Guest speaker: Roy Wright16-Jan-15P1240528 21

When: Thursday, January 15, 2015, from 19:30 to 21:00

Where: Centennial Hall,

              288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4


Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period


You will discover how the Mohawk language became a talking secret code during WWI.


A Woman at War – Elsie Reford and WWI

 


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Guest SpeakerAlexander Reford

 

When:     Thursday, November 20, 2014, from 19:30 to 21:00

 

Where:   Beaconsfield Library

               303 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A7

Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period.


 

WomenWarPoster ForAlexReford

The women of Montreal took a leading role in the war effort that mobilized Canadian society from 1914 to 1918. Working in munitions factories, raising money for the Canadian Patriotic Fund, knitting socks for soldiers at the front, contributing to the political debates over conscription and waiting for the return of soldier sons or husbands - almost every woman in Montreal was touched by the First World War in some way.

 

Elsie Reford was in a unique position to contribute to the war effort. Her eldest son was an officer in the British Army, her brother Frank Meighen was the commanding officer of the 14th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (the Royal Montreal Regiment), her husband was the agent for many of the vessels travelling with troops, munitions and supplies to Great Britain, her brother in law Dr. Lewis Reford was one of the doctors that formed the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (Number 3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill). She herself spent much of the First War in London volunteering as a translator of books by the German general staff into English for the War Office. Her cousin Arthur Meighen was the minister in the Borden government responsible for the Conscription Bill and one of the most controversial politicians of the period.

 

Through the wartime letters and speeches by Elsie Reford, her great grandson Alexander Reford will illustrate how Montreal responded to the war and present the debates that divided and united Montrealers during the war years.P1230119z

 

Alexander Reford is the director of Les Jardins de Métis / Reford Gardens. Educated at the University of Toronto and Oxford University he is the author of several books on Quebec history and gardens:

Des jardins oubliés 1860-1960,

Guidebook to the Reford Gardens,

Au rythme du train 1859-1970,

Elsie’s Paradise – Reford Gardens,

Treasures of Reford Gardens - Elsie Reford’s Floral Legacy,

The Metis Lighthouse.

Starting in November 2014 and throughout the year 2015, the Beaurepaire-Beaconsfield Historical Society invites you to discover different aspects of Canadian Military - Standing on Guard

Everyone welcome. 

Free for members; $2 for non-members
Become a member for $5 per year 

InformationContact us

 

A Report of Revolution and Refugees from a Jarvis Journal 

 

 



Guest SpeakerAnn Jarvis Boa, U.E.AnnJarvisBoa

 

When: Thursday, September 18, 2014, 19:30 to 21:00


Where:  Centennial Hall,

             288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4

Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period.


 

Ann Jarvis Boa, author of My Eventful Life: Stephen Jarvis, U.E., 1756-1840, chose her great great grandfather as the subject of her talk. From Connecticut to Upper Canada, via New Brunswick, Stephen kept a diary chronicling his experiences during the Revolutionary War. From diaries, letters and photographs kept by her grandfather, Arthur Jarvis, Ann Jarvis Boa brought to life a part of the history of Canada as it affected a family of United Empire Loyalists.

 




Photo by Geoff Parkin


RMS Empress of Ireland


P1130691z 1Guest speaker: Derek Grout

 

When:THursday, May 15, 2014, from 19:30 to 21:00


Where: Centennial Hall,

             288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4


Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period.DerekGrout EmpressOfIreland Cover


Derek Grout presents his new book on the Empress of Ireland.

The ill-fated liner Empress of Ireland sank in the Gulf of St Lawrence, in front of Sainte-Luce-sur-Mer, in a collision in 1914. The hundredth anniversary of the sinking is May 29 and the book's release in Canada is scheduled for early April, in advance of the anniversary.  Canada Post is supposed to be issuing two stamps to commemorate the event, and various museums across the country have scheduled special exhibitions, most notably the Canadian Museum of History (formerly Museum of Civilization) in Gatineau, across from Ottawa.

 

At this lecture, you will be able to buy the book RMS Empress of Ireland, Pride of the Canadian Pacific's Atlantic Fleet  by Derek Grout, at the price of $35.00.

 

The Loyalists Refugees: The Story of the First Settlers in the Eastern Townships

 

P1130195z 1Guest speaker: Michel RacicotMichelRacicot Loyalist Refugees

 

When: Thursday, April 17, 2014, from 19:30 to 21:00

 

Where: Centennial Hall

            288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4

 

Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period.

 

Michel Racicot is genealogist and member of Sir John Johnson Centennial Branch UELAC (United Empire Loyalist Association of Canada), which is the Eastern Township branch.

 

The United Empire Loyalists: an overview

 

P1120869z 1Guest speaker: Robert C. WilkinsRobertWilkins kelly uelstjohnc

 

When: Thursday, March 20, 2014, from 19:30 to 21:00

 

Where: Centennial Hall

            288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4

 

Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period.

 

A general overview of the United Empire Loyalists, what made them who they were, their diversity(religious, linguistic and racial), and their heritage in Canada today, with a couple of specific examples, just to illustrate what they lived through and experienced during the Revolutionary War and afterwards when getting re-established in what remained of British North America (now Canada).

Robert C. Wilkins received the Governor General's Caring Canadian Award in 2001.

RobertWilkins CentennialCrest

 

Two Loyalist Families and their Descendants

 

Guest SpeakerGary AitkenGaryAitken

 

When: Thursday, October 16, 2014, 19:30 to 21:00


Where:  Centennial Hall,

             288 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A4

Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period.


Gary Aitken is the descendant of Loyalist ancestors from the Maritimes and Eastern Ontario and will speak about their origins in Canada and the legacy they left behind. Succeeding generations had a tendency to find themselves at the centre of major historical events: War of 1812, Politics, US Civil War, Confederation, Shipbuilding, RMS Titanic, etc.