Northman

I have been doing research on a what I think maybe a "remittance man" that went by the name of Watson. This soldier served in the Canadian military from around 1896 until 1900 when he met his death in the Yukon Territory during the Klondike Gold Rush. Tim

Hello Rupert,

Yes I am still interested in your relative, sort of. I am interested in if the Lt Col had any siblings or relatives that may have came to Canada in the 1890's.

Bolye was buried in England and in 1983 his family managed to convince authorities to have his remains exhumed and reburied in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada. The original Romanian cross, urn and engraved grave slab cover were also brought back and placed over the new grave. But in time these were replaced with newer granite items. At least two biographies were written about Joe Boyle and with his adventures, as I said, a movie should be done about him. I will try to add an image of his grave on another post but I am still trying to figure it out.

Queen Marie had an affair with a Canadian Lt. Col. Joseph Whiteside Boyle in 1918/1919. You should google his name to see more. Boyle was decorated three times from Romania with one of these awards being this order. He did allot of work and negotiations for Romania after the war. This is but a tip in the iceberg of stuff he did. He was also awarded with three awards from Russia (for services in Russia), DSO from Britian, Croix de Geurre from France but nothing, not even service medals, from his home country Canada. Marie loved him so much that when Boyle died she placed a special Romania cross on his grave. She also placed a huge slab covering the grave engraved with his name and this cross and her sigil in one corner. Marie also put an granite urn in which she potted orange lillies. Each year at the anniversary of Boyle's death, a woman dressed in black was always seen at the graveside replacing the lillies. After Marie's death, the lady in black stopped coming. It is wonder that a full length movie was never done about him. No surprise there because he was a Canadian. He is a true Canadian hero.

This is great news and thank you very much. I will get to work on the newspaper search. Tim

I am looking into the bio of Lt. Col. J.K. Watson and who his family was. His father was Maj. Gen. James Watson, late 60th Rifles. What I am wanting to know if J.K. Watson had any siblings ?

J.K. Watson had a colourful military career and served in Burma, India, Egypt, South Africa and 1st WW. He was close friends with Lord Kitchener. He was also decorated by France, Sweden, Belgium and Romania.

Hi Mike

I got the ancestry.com articles and they look great. I do have a picture of his memorial from Dawson City. It is along with a bunch of other soldiers fro the Yukon. For some reason I can not find the snap. I might have scanned it into my computer but my printer/scanner is down right now.

Tim

OK, I'm having a go, having emailed them in French. I've cleared their anti-spam filter.

Do you have a photo of the Yukon monument? He's remembered on at least four in France: http://www.memorial-...hp?nom=Troccaz. The Digne one has a question mark because they originally showed him as 1939-45.

Mike

I can be reached at scully01"at"sasktel.net. I tried the french web site for the military and even tried to translate by using their translate button. I did send a request but nothing came back.

Tim

PM me your email and I can send along the links to the ancestry material (it's done through their site, so I can't just forward it.)

Did you get a reply from the Archives? That is the most important, as it will give his service information. And since he was born over 120 years ago there should be no problem getting it released.

This information is excellant. Really appreicate the help from you. I was not getting anywhere with the French vets web site. I did receive an email from them, in French, verifying my email address or soemthing like this but after that I was stuck on how to navigate the web site.

Anyhow what you have sent has been most helpful. If you can find out more, please send it along.

Tim

Hi Chris

Yes it is the same man. He was a junior officer in the NWR. By 1989 he was a Maj and a reserve officer and was attached to the Yukon Field Force in 1898. He did go to the Boer War as an officer and came back. He went back again as an enlisted man and the was MID an awarded a DCM. He did serve again in the 1st WW and was commissioned briefly as an officer but finishing out the war as a senior NCO in service or veterarnian corps. He died in Scotland in the 1930's and was listed a Lt. Col. on his death certificate. Now that is interesting and how did he obtain such a rank ? He was commissioned by three sovereigns.

Tim

Hi Tim

Another interesting fact i came across was that there was a Lt. D C F Bliss in the Midland Battalion during the Northwest canada rebellion i wonder if they're the same man? I'm going to keep looking for that citation now.

Cheers

Chris

Many thanks Peter for the info. Much appreciated. I will have to do some research to see if there are any unit diaries for the Boer War. Might be a tall order I think.

Tim

Tim

Unit diaries or divisional orders may be the only way. I re-searched the Gazette with only the following results.

London Gazette, 29 JUL 1902, p4837

I would also beg to bring to notice the

following names:—

Lieut. - General Sir H. M. L. Rundle,

K.C.B., K.C.M.G., D.S.O.

Lieut.-General H. J. T. Hildyard, K.C.B.

Major-General Sir B. Blood, K.C.B. ...…

p4854

OVERSEA COLONIALS.

CANADIAN CONTINGENT.

Lieut-Colonel T. D. B. Evans, C.B.

Captain T. H. Callaghan.

Lieutenant R. H. Ryan.

Lieutenant and Adjutant F. Church.

Squadron Serjeant-Major M. Docherty.

Serjeant D. P. Bliss.

OVERSEA COLONIALS—•continued.

[column 2, p4854]

CANADIAN "SCOUTS.

Major C. Ross, D.S.O.

Captain A. McMillan.

Captain T. H. A. Williams.

Serjeant-Major K. J. Stallwood.

Regimental Quarter-Master-Serjeant G. Saunders.

Private A. Chesworth.

The dispatch starts somewhere before page 4837 for that date and, starting at Generals and the Life Guards, covers MIDs for virtually every unit in the British Army! As each page requires a separate download to get past my ‘net nanny’ program, I didn’t go all the way back to the first page. The despatch ends on page 4858 with the following signature:

I have, &c.,

KITCHENER, General,

Commanding-in-Ghief,South Africa

I suspect that this is the only ‘citation’ which exists, as there do not appear to be any other references in the Gazette to your Bliss between 1 January 1901 and 30 December 1902. . But if you go to this site, you can do that at your leisure:

http://www.gazettes-...LISS%2c/start=1

Peter

Thanks for your help Peter. I am trying to find the citation for the DCM. Maybe the unit diaries might help if I know where to find them.

Tim

London Gazette, OCT 31, 1902

"To Have the Distinguished Medal

p1609

"Sergeant D. P. Bliss, Canadian Rifles"

p6911

"2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles.

For "Staff Sergeant D. P. Bliss" read "Staff

Sergeant D. C. Forster Bliss." "

Sorry, no details - the list runs 3 full pages, 100s of names.

here's the site for LG searches:

http://www.london-ga...ulation/start=1

Peter

Thanks alot Peter. I am trying to find the citation for the medal.

Tim

Hello,

I wonder if anyone can help me with a citation for a DCM for the Boer War. If so the recipient is:

S/Sgt D.C.F. BLISS, CMR, (LG 31 Oct 1902). He was also MID as a Sgt in the same unit (LG 29 July 1902).

Regards,

Tim

Hello,

I wonder if anyone can help me with a citation for a DCM for the Boer War. If so the recipient is:

S/Sgt D.C.F. BLISS, CMR, (LG 31 Oct 1902). He was also MID as a Sgt in the same unit (LG 29 July 1902).

Regards,

Tim

If you look at the links page of my Romanian section, you will find acknowledgement to the dealers who have very kindly allowed me to use pictures from their catalogues - this might be a good starting point for your quest.

Great and thanks. I will check it out.

Is the officer Joseph Boyle? Some photos show him wearing the wartime Order of the Star of Romania with swords, not the peacetime military insignia. Are you familiar with the different insignia of the Romanian orders: civilian, peacetime military, wartime?

Yes the officer is Joe W. Boyle. I have two bios on him and in each it describes the awards. Not enough credit was given to him because he spoke his mind and rubbed some of the higher officials the wrong way. I think they should do a movie about him. I am becoming more familiar with the grades of the awards that I am looking for. On that, I am trying to find a picture of the Order of Regina Marie that Boyle would have been awarded. I assume it would be an officer grade but what level I will have to re-read the chapters in the books I have and maybe it will have a clue there.

When Boyle died, Marie looked after his burial and placed a Romanian headstone and urn on top of his grave. The flat slab concrete is inscribed with his name etc and the Order of Regina Marie along with her personal royal monogram. Once a year she would attend to his grave, clean it up and place a bunch of orange lilies in the urn. Orange lilies the colour of the ribbon of the order ? Yes I do believe she truly loved him.

Is the officer Joseph Boyle? Some photos show him wearing the wartime Order of the Star of Romania with swords, not the peacetime military insignia. Are you familiar with the different insignia of the Romanian orders: civilian, peacetime military, wartime?

Yes the officer is Joe W. Boyle. I have two bios on him and in each it describes the awards. Not enough credit was given to him because he spoke his mind and rubbed some of the higher officials the wrong way. I think they should do a movie about him. I am becoming more familiar with the grades of the awards that I am looking for. On that, I am trying to find a picture of the Order of Regina Marie that Boyle would have been awarded. I assume it would be an officer grade but what level I will have to re-read the chapters in the books I have and maybe it will have a clue there.

When Boyle died, Marie looked after his burial and placed a Romanian headstone and urn on top of his grave. The flat slab concrete is inscribed with his name etc and the Order of Regina Marie along with her personal royal monogram. Once a year she would attend to his grave, clean it up and place a bunch of orange lilies in the urn. Orange lilies the colour of the ribbon of the order ? Yes I do believe she truly loved him.

Do you know the type and the division of the awards? Megan's site could be a good starting point to look for information on these awards.

I am looking for ones that would be issued during the 1st WW and Military divison. These three medals were awarded to a Canadian officer who had a love affair with Queen Maria and a confidant of the Romanian Royal family. He was also awarded three White Russian awards during the same time as well awarded a DSO from the British and a Croix de Guerre by the French. But yet no award, let alone any service medals, what so ever by the Cdn Govt.

Five years is a long time yet to go. I should be retired myself from the RCMP by then. By the way, I did get almost an immediate response from the corrected email for the French military archives. You don't speak French, do you ? I will have to find an interpreter.