Acts of Remembrance: Canadian Great War Memory and the Public Funerals of Sir Arthur Currie and Canon F.G. Scott

The author notes that Canadian public memory of the Great War was initially fragmented, centered around specific locations and events, before becoming more nationalistic in the 1930s. After the outbreak of the Second World War the public memory became more distant still from the experience of 1914-1918 although specific commemorations of the war remained most meaningful to those who had been directly affected. The author looks briefly at Armistice/Remembrance Day rituals and uses the public funerals of two Great War heroes, General Sir Arthur Currie (1933) and Canon F.G. Scott (1944), to illustrate the changes in Canadian public memory after 1918. Currie (1875-1933) commanded the Canadian Corps in Europe from June 1917 until its disbandment in late 1919. In 1920, he was appointed principal and vice-chancellor of McGill University, a position he held until 1933. The Montreal-born Canon Scott (1861-1944) enlisted to fight in the First World War in 1914, when he was 50 years old. He served as Senior Chaplain to the 1st Canadian Division.

Études canadiennes / Canadian Studies

Vol. 80

109-127

2016

en