CANADA : Incredible Childrens' Bravery

[Mervyn Mitton]

I came across this incredible story of devotion and bravery in an old catalogue of Spink's. The original action took place in 1916 and the children - brother and sister, were 11 and 8 respectively. Both were very severly injured and the Govt. Gazette made clear just how, at that young age, they had defended each other.

Both were awarded the ALBERT Medal for Bravery and when this was discontinued they were given the George Cross in it's place. The incident and the awards are famous - however, they are not easily found. I am showing the full write-up from Spink's as a lot of research was included. The reason for this was that the sister's GC was on their sale.

I should explain that Puma's or, Mountain Lions are found in North America. They are about the size of a Leopard, but are very fierce. They are prone to sudden - and usually, fatal attacks.

This is the sister's GC mounted with the bow for a lady to wear.

[Mervyn Mitton]

This appeared in an Illustrated Magazine of the times. Remember - he was 8 and she was 11 - so the scale is fairly accurate.

[Mervyn Mitton]

Introductory paragraph.

[Mervyn Mitton]

This is the Government Gazette entry for the Albert Medals.

[Mervyn Mitton]

Anthony and Doreen after the award of their Albert Medals

[Mervyn Mitton]

Page 1 of the catalogue write-up. I hope it is clear enough to read.

[Mervyn Mitton]

Page Two :

[Mervyn Mitton]

Page Three :

[Mervyn Mitton]

Created in 1866 in honour of Prince Albert - Queen Victoria's husband - the Prince Consort. Originally it was to mark great bravery at sea and included an anchor in the design - the bottom picture. Later it was altered to show bravery on land - and it was this top one that the two children received.

[peter monahan]

"I came across this incredible story of devotion and bravery in an old catalogue of Spink's. The original action took place in 1916 and the children - brother and sister, were 11 and 8 respectively. Both were very severly injured and the Govt. Gazette made clear just how, at that young age, they had defended each other."

We self effacing and incredibly modest Canadians don't like to talk about these things. Not done, donncherknow!

Seriously though: cougar attacks are becoming not uncommon as the big cat population rebounds from decades of hunting. It has now been decided that these beautiful animals are to be protected but, unfortunately, there are more and more people impinging on their territory. Several joggers have been attacked in British Columbia, at least one fatally. I'm not sure whether the running has anything to do with sparking the attacks, but cougars can and do pull down adult whitetail deer - 200 to 400 pounds on the hoof.

While meaning no disrespect to the heroic siblings, and it was very definitely heroic, in this day and age I root for the cats! And grizzly bears, who also eat the occasional hiker. They were here first and there are far fewer of them than there are joggers! And the joggers can, if they wish, read signs, pamphlets and web sites on why jogging can in fact be bad for your health if practiced under certain circumstances and what to do to minimize one's chances of becoming a hot lunch.

Peter

Edited July 2, 2011 by peter monahan

[peter monahan]

"I came across this incredible story of devotion and bravery in an old catalogue of Spink's. The original action took place in 1916 and the children - brother and sister, were 11 and 8 respectively. Both were very severly injured and the Govt. Gazette made clear just how, at that young age, they had defended each other."

Somewhat after I posted my rather flippant response to Mervyn's story, it occurred to me that the tone may have seemed rather callous. I didn't mean to imply that the story of the two Canadian siblings was one of anything less than incredible bravery. Nor did I mean to suggest that wild animal attacks are a source of amusement. In fact, in the last week there have been two stories out of British Columbia, one involving a bear attack on a man, who survived, and the other an account of black bears - not normally considered maneaters - feeding on the body of a woman who may or may not have been killed by one of them. Four bears were shot by the authorities in the second case.

I hope that my over-hasty response and attempts to be clever has not offended anyone.

Edited July 7, 2011 by peter monahan

[Mervyn Mitton]

Peter - your comments could be considered in line with modern thinking. Wild animals have few to defend them and in Sth. Africa we suffer from the - 'if it moves shoot it' syndrome. Fortunately many are fiercely defensive of the animals and I fully support this thinking. I am a FZS of London and think cameras only should be used for 'shooting' wildlife.

However, when I read the story of these young children, I thought it a genuine act of bravery - after all they were 8 and 11. Mind you, Canada has some quite vicious animals and if people walk amongst them they should take some precautions. Mervyn