The Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment of the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

was raised in 1840 for service in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. Its members were veterans of service in other

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, military service, service, or administrative corps, specialisation. In Middle Ages, Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of l ...

s of the British Army.

Formation

The concern which led to the creation of the regiment was the continuing problem of desertion. Soldiers of the British Army in garrison in Canada were often tempted to flee to the United States from which they would not be deported. At garrisons located close the international border such as Fort Mississauga in Niagara,

Fort Malden Fort Malden, formally known as Fort Amherstburg, is a defence fortification located in Amherstburg, Ontario. It was built in 1795 by Great Britain in order to ensure the security of British North America against any potential threat of Americ ...

Amherstburg Amherstburg is a town near the mouth of the Detroit River in Essex County, Ontario, Canada. In 1796, Fort Malden was established here, stimulating growth in the settlement. The fort has been designated as a National Historic Site. The town ...

and Fort Wellington in Prescott, the problem of desertion was epidemic during and after the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. In order to combat this problem, the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment only recruited veterans of at least 15 years' service in the British Army. These men were thought to be more reliable than their younger counterparts. In addition, the pay of private soldiers in the regiment was doubled to two shillings per day instead of the normal one shilling per day. They were also offered the prospect of a pension upon completion of 21 years of military service and free grants of land. Starting in 1840, the regiment was spread out in detachments from St. John's in Newfoundland to

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

in Manitoba. Another unusual feature of the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment was its uniform and tactical employment. While most infantry in the British Army wore redcoats into the 1880s and 1890s and fought with smoothbore muskets into the 1850s, during the Napoleonic Wars the Army had experimented with regiments of rifle-armed infantry who wore green uniforms in an early attempt at camouflage. Deployed as skirmishers, these men of the

King's Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United Sta ...

, the 60th Regiment, and the 95th Regiment, performed sterling service throughout the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

and the Waterloo Campaign in 1815. After the War of 1812, the

Duke of Wellington Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they ar ...

opined that

light infantry Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often fought ...

and rifle-armed skirmishers would prove of great value in any future campaigns in North America. Taking this advice, the British Army elected to embody the new, veterans' regiment as a

rifle regiment A rifle regiment is a military unit consisting of a regiment of infantry troops armed with rifles and known as Rifleman, riflemen. While all infantry units in modern armies are typically armed with rifled weapons the term is still used to denote r ...

rather than a more traditional infantry regiment. The initial weapon of the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment was the

Baker rifle The Pattern 1800 Infantry Rifle, better known as the Baker rifle, was a flintlock rifle designed by English gunsmith Ezekiel Baker and used by the British Armed Forces from 1801 to 1837. First seeing action during the French Revolutionary and Na ...

. In 1841, the Army adopted a percussion lock rifle called the Brunswick rifle. In 1862 it absorbed the Royal Newfoundland Companies, formed in 1824 as Royal Veteran Companies and renamed in 1842.

Disbandment

The Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment was disbanded on 30 September 1870 at

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

. Fort Wellington is a national historic site operated by

Parks Canada Parks Canada ()Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 37 National Parks, three National Marine Co ...

and depicts the period 1846. At this time, a company of the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment was in garrison at the Fort and visitors can see guides in the uniform of this regiment as well as a restored barracks.

Ice hockey within the regiment

In 1941, the

Canadian Amateur Hockey Association The Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA; ) was the national governing body of amateur ice hockey in Canada from 1914 until 1994, when it merged with Hockey Canada. Its jurisdiction included senior ice hockey leagues and the Allan Cup, ...

(CAHA) appointed a committee to write a history of hockey in Canada, led by James T. Sutherland, including

W. A. Hewitt William Abraham Hewitt (May 15, 1875September 8, 1966) was a Canadian sports executive and journalist, also widely known as Billy Hewitt. He was secretary of the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) from 1903 to 1966, and sports editor of the ''To ...

and Quebec hockey executive George Slater. In 1943, the committee concluded that hockey had been played in Canada since 1855, and that

and Halifax had equal claims to be the birthplace of hockey, since both cities hosted games played by the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment. The report also stated that Kingston had the first recognized hockey league in 1885, which merged into the

Ontario Hockey Association The Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) is the governing body for the majority of junior and senior level ice hockey teams in the province of Ontario. Founded in 1890, the OHA is sanctioned by the Ontario Hockey Federation along with the Northern ...

in 1890.{{free access

References

External links

*Encyclopaedic history of the British Army: https://web.archive.org/web/20071017215746/http://regiments.org/regiments/na-canada/inf/840rcrr.htm * Fort Wellington National Historic site: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/on/wellington * http://cmhg-phmc.forces.gc.ca/cmh-pmc/image-407-eng.aspx?page=466 Rifle regiments of the British Army Military units and formations established in 1840