Ex-cadet #1271 Douglas W. Frederick

The RMC Museum was fortunate to receive a large collection of souvenirs, memorabilia and personal items which once belonged to #1271 Douglas W. Frederick who attended RMC  from August 1916 to November, 1917, was commissioned as a 2^nd Lt., Royal Garrison Artillery  and served in England, France, Belgium and Italy as a communications officer with a heavy siege battery. Frederick survived the war, finished his education at McGill and worked in the financial sector in Canada and the USA and as active in the ex-cadet club, including a spell as President of the Hamilton Chapter. He died in 1975.

The collection was researched, catalogued and photographed and is available on a national database to researchers interested in the period. Minimal restoration has been done to date. This work has been done principally by Branch members 8057 Ross McKenzie and 4976 Reg Watts. In the collection were 164 item groups. Some, such as the letter and postcard categories, contain hundreds of individual pieces.

 The main groupings are:

• RMC memorabilia.

• Letters to his parents and 4 small personal war diaries.

• Letters and postcards between Douglas and his infantryman brother.

• Service kit and sidearm.

• Trench maps, bombardment plans, and aerial bombardment recon photos.

• German army souvenirs.

• Post-war civilian items, including RMC club items.

A fortunate find, and among the items, several pieces of RMC kit and memorabilia of which only photographs existed previously.  Three slideshows of Frederick’s  memorabilia are shown below.

EPISODE 2- WAR KIT

EPISODE 3 - WAR SOUVENIRS AND DOCUMENTS