The Governor General's Body Guard was a royal guard regiment of the Canadian Militia that formed part of the country's household troops. The Body Guard was the senior regiment of the Non-Permanent Active Militia and the equivalent of the British Army's Life Guards and Royal Horse Guards. In 1936 the regiment amalgamated with the Mississauga Horse to become the Governor General's Horse Guards.thumb|The Governor General's Body Guard Band at a regimental camp in [[Toronto, 1909.]]The troop was one of only two fully uniformed militia units to rally to the flag with the threat of unrest and rebellion within the colony, in 1837. The troop was given new uniforms, fully armed and redesignated the "Queens Light Dragoons" (QLD). Operating alongside the local Markham Troop, forming a squadron, the QLD participated in a number of actions during the rebellion to include Gallows Hill, Navy Island and Town of Scotland. The Toronto troop was on active service for several months during this crisis.

Great War

The GGBG, like all of the militia during the First World War, was not activated for duty, but rather assisted in raising numbered battalions for the Canadian Expeditionary Force and recruiting to fill the CEF ranks. Thousands of Toronto's citizens were recruited through the GGBG for service in the trenches. The GGBG supplied soldiers for the 3rd Bn, 2nd Bn, 4th CMR, 216th Bn, 124th Bn to name a few.

Campaigns

  • Rebellions of 1837–1838 / Upper Canada Rebellion
  • Fenian Raids 1866
  • North-West Rebellion 1885
  • Boer War (1899)
  • First World War 1914–1918

Organization

The Governor General's Body Guard for Ontario (17 May 1889)

  • A Troop (York, Ontario)
  • B Troop (York, Ontario)
  • C Troop (Oak Ridges, Ontario) (redesignation of No. 2 Troop, 2nd Regiment of Cavalry)
  • D Troop (Markham, Ontario) (redesignation of No. 3 Troop, 2nd Regiment of Cavalry)

South African War

  • South Africa, 1899–1900

Great War

  • Mount Sorrel
  • Somme, 1916
  • Flers-Courcelette
  • Ancre Heights
  • Arras, 1917, '18
  • Vimy, 1917
  • Ypres, 1917
  • Hill 70
  • Passchendaele
  • Amiens
  • Scarpe, 1918
  • Hindenburg Line
  • Canal du Nord
  • Cambrai, 1918
  • Valenciennes
  • Sambre
  • France and Flanders, 1915–18

Notable members

  • Major Hampden Cockburn, : Boer War, with the Royal Canadian Dragoons
  • Captain George Taylor Denison: first organized the preceding York Dragoons in 1822 and commanded the unit during the Upper Canada Rebellion
  • Colonel George Taylor Denison II: served in the Upper Canada Rebellion and later commanded the Toronto garrison during the 1866 Fenian Raids
  • Lieutenant Colonel George Taylor Denison III, : commanded the regiment during the Fenian Raids and the North-West Rebellion
  • Lieutenant Colonel Frederick Charles Denison, : Commanded the Canadian Voyageurs on the 1884 Nile Expedition
  • Lieutenant Colonel William Hamilton Merritt III: served in the North-West Rebellion and the Boer War
  • Brigadier General James H. Elmsley,
  • Colonel John Everett Lyle Streight,

See also

  • List of regiments of cavalry of the Canadian Militia (1900–1920)

References

  • Canadian Military Heritage
  • 216th Infantry Battalion