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They Were So Young. Montrealers Remember World War II
Guest Speaker: Patricia Burns
When: Thursday, April 16, 2015, from 19:30 to 21:00
Where: Beaconsfield Library
303 Beaconsfield Blvd, Beaconsfield, H9W 4A7
Lecture in English followed by a bilingual question period.
Patricia Burns, author of this book published in 2002, will elaborate on
1. The reason for writing an oral history of WWII
2. Finding people to interview
3. The technique and process of oral history
4. A few stories.
How in 1914
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
Jean-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
Rise and Fall in the RCAF – The World War II Experiences of Robert McBride
Guest speaker: Peter McBride
When: Thursday, February 19, 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
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-15
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
Guest Speaker: Alexander 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.
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.
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
Information: Contact us
A Report of Revolution and Refugees from a Jarvis Journal
Guest Speaker: Ann Jarvis Boa, U.E.
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
Guest 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.
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
Guest speaker: Michel Racicot
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
Guest speaker: Robert C. Wilkins
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.
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