The Riverside Consolidated School - Some Little Known Facts
If you haven't heard the Riverside Consolidated School could be closed as early as June, 2015. Here is a link for further news and who you can write to in support of the school.
Some Facts on RCS:
- Construction of the Riverside Consolidated School began in July of 1904.
- Designed by architect, W. E. Reid, who was the youngest of three sons who all followed the same profession. He was born in Harvey, New Brunswick to William J. Reid and Lucinda Robinson. He studied at Mount Allison University and about 1888, he joined his brothers James W. and Merritt in California, where he ran their San Diego office, overseeing construction of the massive Hotel del Coronado to his brother's designs. He returned to Canada in 1899 and had a few commissions there under the auspices of Senator Abner Reid McClelan. These included the Riverside Consolidated School and the Albert County Court House.
- The consolidated school cost $20,000 to build and included eight class rooms, an office, two lunchrooms, a library, a laboratory, and two playrooms. (This would be about $420,000.00 today)
- The construction was partially funded by a $5000 donation from Riverside resident and former Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick, Abner Reid McClelan, with the stipulation that manual training, household science, and nature work classes were to be provided, in addition to the more traditional subjects. The province paid $1,000 and the remaining $14,000 was paid by local taxpayers.
- Riverside Consolidated opened in September of 1905, 225 students filed through the doors and experienced the most modern facilities available at the time. The school had five departments and staff of seven teachers. The Albert County Grammar school was one department, enabling students to prepare for University Matriculation. The other departments included Household or Domestic Science, manual Training, Agriculture and school Gardening.
- The new school was staffed by seven teachers and a janitor.
- Students were brought by horse-drawn van from surrounding communities like Chester, Beaver Brook, Midway, Harvey, and Hopewell Hill during the spring and fall and by horse-drawn sleigh during the winter.
- The formal opening ceremony took place June 15, 1906. New Brunswick Premier Tweedie, Chief Superintendent of Education, J.R. Inch and many other officials arrived by way of the steamer “Wilfred C.” at the Riverside Wharf. There they were met by Honourable A.R. McClelan and the drum and bugle of Albert performed.
- Premier Tweedie as well as many other dignitaries were all quite impressed with the new facility, declaring it a model for other educational facilities across the Province.
- Today after 100+ years of operation, the Riverside Consolidated School is the oldest operating consolidated school in New Brunswick. Children from communities as far away as Lower Cape and Alma, attend the school from kindergarten to grade five.
- Historic Places Link
Prepare to be Be-dazzled - Part 3 Dazzle Camouflage
PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)
'Factory, Horta de Ebbo', 1909 (oil on canvas)
The cannons in Hopewell Cape were not always painted the drab grey they are now, but in multi-coloured geometric shapes in bright greens, browns and even orange. This was to counter the Optical Range Finder which could pin-point the location of a ship or cannon with deadly accuracy. The purpose of the multi-coloured shapes and designs was to confuse the operator of the Range finder so they could not accurately line up the ship or cannon in the range finder.
So where did the idea for this come from? Surprisingly the world of art, and in particular the movement called Cubism. The idea behind cubism is to take a shape that exists in the world as we perceive it naturally, break it up into different constituent pieces, and then reconstruct it in a way that appears almost alien to the human eye, mainly by painting those pieces from several different points of view simultaneously. Pablo Picasso is the most famous Cubism painter, and you can see his Factory painting to the right.
It was the French (and soon afterward the Germans and British) who realized that some of the same aesthetic principles behind cubism could be put to use breaking up the otherwise easily distinguishable shapes of distant objects. Painting potential targets in ways designed to break down their form makes it difficult for adversaries to line those images up properly, particularly at longer distances where atmospheric effects, battlefield smoke, surrounding terrain and other factors can make even an undisguised target difficult enough to fixate accurately.
In other words, dazzle camouflage was intended so that you could never be quite sure just what you're looking at, especially when you view it through an optical range-finder. If you can't line up what you're looking at you can't determine the range and location of the piece, so you can't hit it accurately from a distance.
The museum plans on restoring the two German cannons to their as captured condition painted in the original dazzle camouflage. You will definitely notice them as you're driving by.
Now that's a story worth exploring!
The Victory Cannon Campaign is raising funds to restore two captured World War One cannons situated in the square in Hopewell Cape. These cannons were captured by Canadians during the Great War, and were awarded to the people of Albert County. You can donate online to the Victory Cannon Campaign here, and you'll be sent a tax receipt! Click Here to Donate!
Prepare to be Be-Dazzled Part 2 - The Optical Range finder
The Cannons in Hopewell Cape used to be painted in Dazzle Camouflage to disrupt the Optical (Coincidence) Range Finder. Which was developed by an American in 1890. The range finder is basically a pair of binoculars, with the eyepieces normal distance apart, but the objective lenses spaced very far apart. Such that when you look through the device at, say, a German Battleship, you see an image that looks like the one to the right.
Note that the very top of the mast is off by just a tad--the images from the two objective lenses do not quite match up. The range-finder operator then adjusts the knobs on the range-finder until the mast lines up exactly. See figure to the right.
By some very basic trigonometric principles you can then calculate the distance to the target to a very high degree of precision. Note that in order to use the device properly, the operator needs to have a good idea of what, exactly, he is looking at so he can match up the images properly.
Once the Americans came up with this, every major power at the turn of the 20th c. invested in it even further, and all the major powers used range-finders to guide their naval guns and field artillery. Next week we'll introduce the invention of dazzle camouflage.
Now that's a story worth exploring!
The Victory Cannon Campaign is raising funds to restore the two captured World War One cannons situated in the square in Hopewell Cape. These cannons were captured by Canadians during the Great War, and were awarded to the people of Albert County. You can donate online to the Victory Cannon Campaign here, and best of all you'll be sent a tax receipt! Click Here to Donate!
Prepare to be Be-dazzled.
Did you know the cannons in Hopewell Cape were not always painted the drab grey they are now, but multi-coloured in bright greens, browns and even orange? Quite often the camouflage used in World War One was not solely used to hide something, but to make it more difficult to determine its true distance and range for artillery bombardment. The term was Dazzle Camouflage, and it was developed to counter the newly devised optical (coincidence) range finder.
In 1890, US Navy Rear Admiral Bradley Fiske was granted a patent for an optical device that was to have enormous implications for both naval and land-based warfare in the next several decades: the range-finder.
Prior to the advent of the coincidence range-finder, deciding how high or low to elevate your guns in order to hit a distant target usually meant having to guess how far away it was. But thanks to Fiske's range-finder device, you could now determine precisely how far away an enemy ship was before wasting your first salvo. So how did the Coincidence Range Finder work and how did Dazzle Camouflage counter it? Come back next week for the answer.
Now that's a story worth exploring!
The Victory Cannon Campaign is raising funds to restore the two captured World War One cannons situated in the square in Hopewell Cape. These cannons were captured by Canadians during the Great War, and were awarded to the people of Albert County. You can donate online to the Victory Cannon Campaign here, and best of all you'll be sent a tax receipt! Click Here to Donate!
A Walk with the Men - The Secret War Diaries of the 26th Battalion
The majority of the men who joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) from Albert County joined the 26th Battalion, The New Brunswick Battalion.
The famed "Fighting 26th" participated in all of the major battles in which the Canadian Corps was involved: Mount Sorrel; Somme 1916, 1918; Flers-de Courcelette; Thiepval; Ancre Heights; Arras 1917, 1918; Vimy 1917; Arleux; Scarpe 1917, 1918; Hill 70; Ypres 1917; Passchendaele; Amiens; Hindenburg Line; Canal du Nord; Cambrai 1918; Pursuit to Mons. The battalion was disbanded on 30 August 1920. The 26th is continued today by the Royal New Brunswick Regiment.
You can follow the battalion from its birth in Saint John to the final disbanding in 1920 by reading its Secret War Diaries. They begin in November 1914 and end in May 1919 and give a fascinating glimpse into the life of the battalion at war.
1914/11/02-1917/07/3
1917/08/01-1918/06/30
1918/07/01-1919/05/10
Now that's a story worth exploring!
The Victory Cannon Campaign is raising funds to restore the two captured World War One cannons situated in the square in Hopewell Cape. These cannons were captured by Canadians during the Great War, and were awarded to the people of Albert County. You can donate online to the Victory Cannon Campaign here, and best of all you'll be sent a tax receipt! Click Here to Donate!
Did You See the Whiz Bang in Hopewell Cape?
That's right, smack dab in downtown Hopewell Cape, a real live Whiz Bang and you can see it today. If you don't know what a Whiz Bang is, or have never seen one before then you're in luck, because we have a live one.
The term "whiz-bang" was used widely by Allied (most often British and Commonwealth) servicemen to describe any form of German field artillery shells, however the 'whiz bang' was originally attributed to the noise made by shells from German 77mm field guns. The guns that fired the shells were subsequently called Whiz Bang guns. (The smaller cannon in Hopewell Cape is a 77mm FK96 or a Whiz Bang!) In all cases however the name was derived from the fact that shells fired from light or field artillery travelled faster than the speed of sound.
Thus soldiers heard the typical "whizz" noise of a travelling shell before the "bang" issued by the gun itself. Whiz bangs were consequently much feared since the net result was that defending infantrymen were given virtually no warning of incoming high-velocity artillery fire as they were from enemy howitzers.
Now that's a story worth saving!
The Victory Cannon Campaign is raising funds to restore the two captured World War One cannons situated in the square in Hopewell Cape. These cannons were captured by Canadians during the Great War, and were awarded to the people of Albert County. You can donate online to the Victory Cannon Campaign here, and best of all you'll be sent a tax receipt! Click Here to Donate!
Do Opposites Attract? A Tale of Two Cannons.
Last week we were happy to announce that the Victory Cannon Campaign sits just shy of $5000.00 and 1/3 of the total needed, and we talked about how the large 110 mm cannon arrived in Hopewell Cape. This week we're going to tell the tale of the smaller 77mm FK96 field cannon.
Now the information we have on the two cannons couldn't be more opposite, with the 110mm K14 we know almost everything you could wish to know about the capture and history of the cannon. However, it's counterpart the 77mm FK96 field cannon we know almost nothing. In the records on captured war trophies from the Great War there is nothing recorded on a 77mm cannon with the serial number 784, it is recorded in the War Trophies Allocations Record from 1920, but no mention of where or when it was captured is listed.
What we do know is why this cannon sits in the square in Hopewell Cape. The 77mm FK96 was awarded to the people of Albert County in recognition of the number of men from Albert County who volunteered to fight. Albert County has the distinction of being the county with the most people per capita joining the CEF in all of Canada. A remarkable achievement and a testament to the bravery of the men from AC!
Now that's a story worth saving!
The Victory Cannon Campaign is raising funds to restore the two captured World War One cannons situated in the square in Hopewell Cape. These cannons were captured by Canadians during the Great War, and were awarded to the people of Albert County. You can donate online to the Victory Cannon Campaign here, and best of all you'll be sent a tax receipt! Click Here to Donate!
Drum Roll Please... Victory Cannon Campaign nearing 1/3 of it's Target
The Victory Cannon Campaign ended the year on a very high note, adding over $1500 in December. The Victory Cannon Campaign now sits at $4649.70 just shy of the 1/3 mark of the $15000.00 needed to restore the cannons.
The Victory Cannon Campaign is raising funds to restore the two captured World War One cannons situated in the square in Hopewell Cape. These cannons were captured by Canadians at the famous Battle of Vimy Ridge, and were awarded to the people of Albert County.
The larger of the two cannons, the mighty 110mm K14, is probably one of the most important War Trophies in existence in Canada. The K14 was captured by the 27th Battalion on April 9, 1917, during the attack at Farbus, near Vimy Ridge. Through the War Diaries of the 27th Battalion you can read about the exciting capture of the cannon, from Bandman Patty Smith playing the regimental march on his piccolo throughout the attack, to the last final 50 yard charge to over-whelm the cannon firing point-blank muzzle rounds. The detail of the capture is so accurate that we can pinpoint the location of the gun today on Google Earth with the exact coordinates given in 1917. It's an astounding story of courage and bravery.
Now as amazing story as that is, it gets better, with how the K14 cannon got to Hopewell Cape. As the War came to a close in 1918, the government still had the enormous costs of repatriating and settling the men who fought, so they ran a final Victory Loan Campaign. The 1919 Victory Loans Committee created goals for each area of the country to meet to raise the monies necessary. They also created a number of incentives to encourage people to meet these goals, one such incentive was the awarding of a War Trophy to the area that raised the most money over their set target. One prize was to be awarded to each province. The Victory Loans Committee set a goal of $110000.00 for Albert County, which is a sizable sum for 1919. (This would be equivalent to $2.2 million today (According to Bank of Canada Inflation index)). Albert County not only raised the set goal but surpassed it by $207000.00 for a final total of $317000.00. (In today's dollars $6.5 million) This was with a population less than 10000 people! The people of Albert County surpassed their set goal by the largest percentage of any area in the province, and were award the War Trophy, the 110 mm K14 cannon! What a testament for the people of Albert County!
That's not all though! It turns out that the K14 cannon is extremely rare, in fact there are only 7 left in the entire world!
Now that's a story worth saving!
You can donate online to the Victory Cannon Campaign here, and best of all you'll be sent a tax receipt! Click Here to Donate!
A Window on the Great War - Training, December 5, 1914 Saint John, New Brunswick
One Hundred years ago, Hugh C. Wright from Shepody, Albert County, NB was busy training with the 26th New Brunswick battalion in Saint John. He was only 19 years old. This was his second letter home and was written December 5 & 6, 1914.
Hugh was one of the hundreds of Albert County men who volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), the majority joining the New Brunswick 26th Battalion. It was because of their sacrifices that Albert County was awarded the 77mm field cannon which sits in the square in Hopewell Cape. The museum is in process of restoring this cannon to help preserve their stories. If you have not done so, please donate to the Victory Cannon Campaign. You can donate online here.
(Notes from the letter: Clarke was Hugh's brother who was working at a bank in St.John, he joined the 26th Battalion on Oct 19, 1915 and went overseas. Colonel McAvity was commanding officer of the 62nd Fusiliers Regiment, McAvity organized the 26th Battalion from New Brunswick in spring 1915. The 26th deployed to France in 1915 as part of the 5th Infantry Brigade in the 2nd Division. On May 29 1916, Lieutenant Colonel A. E. G. McKenzie took over the 26th and McAvity returned home that summer.)
With many thanks to Hugh Wright's great niece, Dawne McLean who kindly submitted the letter.
“Saturday, December 5, 1914
St. John Armory, St. John, NB
Dear Father,
I received your letter a few nights ago and was very glad to hear from you. This is Saturday night but I didn’t feel like going out as we did some pretty stiff marching today. We left here a little after two o’clock and got back at five and did about 10 miles. So you see we went quite a distance and I was nearly played out when we got in. Colonel McAvity and Captain Brown were on horseback and we followed them all the way. Yesterday we marched out to Rockwood Park in the forenoon and away round to Carleton in the afternoon and across the ferry last night. Tonight the muscles in my legs are so sore I can hardly walk. I have just had a good shower bath and changed my clothes as one week is enough to wear these heavy woollen underwear. Most of the men have a terrible cold and me in the bargain. We get colds by laying down on the damp ground shooting.
I must stop writing now and clean my boots for church tomorrow. I will finish the letter Sunday pm.
Sunday, December 6
We marched to church this morning and heard the Chaplin of the Second Contingent preach. This afternoon Clarke said he was coming down but has not showed up yet. Today right after dinner a large box of cake came to our room for some boys from McAdam, sent by the women from there. So we had a good feed of cake.
Must close as I can’t think of anything more. Will write again as soon as I can.
Hugh”
A Window on the Great War: 100 Year Old First Letter Home
One Hundred years ago, Hugh C. Wright from Shepody, Albert County, NB arrived by train in St. John on Saturday, Nov. 22 and signed up to join the 26th Battalion on the same day. He was only 19 years old. His first letter was written to his father Monday, November 24, 1914. After training in St. John for 8 months the 26th Battalion left for England on June 13, 1915 on board the ship “Caledonia”.
Hugh was one of the hundreds of Albert County men who volunteered for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), the majority joining the New Brunswick 26th Battalion. It was because of their sacrifices that Albert County was awarded the 77mm field cannon which sits in the square in Hopewell Cape. The museum is in process of restoring this cannon to help preserve their stories. If you have not done so, please donate to the Victory Cannon Campaign. You can donate online here.
(Notes from the letter: Harvey was Hugh's oldest brother who was responsible for the farm at home. Clarke was another brother who was working at a bank in St.John, he joined the 26th Battalion on Oct 19, 1915 and went overseas. Albert Steeves was killed overseas.)
With many thanks to Hugh Wright's great niece, Dawne McLean who kindly submitted the letter.
“St. John Armory, 5th Company
November 24th, 1914
Dear Father,
I got here Saturday night at 5:30pm. Clarke was at the station, but I had to come up to the Armory with some soldiers that they sent down to meet us. They took us into a restaurant to get our supper.
Danahy and I fell in with a couple of men from Chatham and one fellow is a Boer War veteran and is Sergeant of our Company. So I am all right.
We haven’t been over stocked with grub till today at noon. They got things straightened out and we had a good dinner of boiled meat and potatoes, parsnips and carrots. They have bread there three times a day and tea and jam and beans for breakfast and bread and jam for supper.
I fell in with Albert Steeves, Jud’s boy on Sunday and I tell you was he ever glad to find someone from his own hometown.
Howe Stevens is here some place but I haven’t spoken to him yet, but am going to hunt him up. There are a lot of very nice fellows here and our officers are all nice.
Albert and I got a pass out last night and went to the theatre. We met Clarke and he went with us. A soldier can walk right in and doesn’t have to pay a cent. I am going to get a safety razor and a fountain pen right away.
The buglers are getting ready to blow the fall in call and I must get ready for the afternoon’s work. I will try to write again in a few days. Send my mail to 5th Company, 26th Battalion, St. John Armory, St. John, NB
Hugh
P.S. I would write you more but I want to write a letter to Harvey. ”
The HOPEWELL HILL HERO - Albert County's Victoria Cross Winner
Victoria Cross Background:
The Victoria Cross (VC), instituted in 1856 by Queen Victoria, is the Commonwealth’s highest military decoration for valour. It is awarded in recognition of the most exceptional bravery displayed in the presence of the enemy, although in rare instances the decoration has been given to mark other courageous acts.
Since its inception during the Crimean War, the VC has been awarded 1,356 times, 300 of them posthumously. Depending on which of a variety of sources is cited and on the selection criteria applied, somewhere between 94 and 98 Victoria Crosses have been awarded to Canadians or to others serving with the Canadian Forces. A distinctly Canadian version of the medal was introduced in 1993. To date no one has been awarded the Canadian medal.
LCol Cyrus Wesley Peck:
Cyrus Wesley Peck was born in Hopewell Hill, New Brunswick, on April 26, 1871, and was educated at Hopewell Hill Superior School. In June 1887, at the age of 16, he and his family moved to New Westminster, British Columbia, then later to Skeena, BC.
As a young man, he pioneered in the Klondike, and set himself up as a broker in salmon canning, sawmills and towing operations. He was also an elected Unionist Member of Parliament for the Skeena riding. As a member of the militia, Peck was given a captain's commission and attached to the 30th Battalion, with which he sailed to England. In April 1915, he was promoted to major and later transferred to the 16th Battalion, Canadian Scottish. He was wounded in both legs during fighting around the town of Festubert, France, May 21, 1915. In January 1916, he was given command of the regiment.
In addition to the Victoria Cross, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) twice and Mentioned in Dispatches five times. In 1917, while he was overseas, he was elected to the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for Skeena in British Columbia.
VC Citation: Lieutenant-Colonel Peck was awarded the Victoria Cross for his courageous leadership on September 2, 1918, during the fighting for the Drocourt-Quéant Line, near Cagnicourt in France.
“For most conspicuous bravery and skilful leading when in attack under intense fire. His command quickly captured the first objective, but progress to the further objective was held up by enemy machine-gun fire on his right flank. The situation being critical in the extreme, Colonel Peck pushed forward and made a personal reconnaissance under heavy machine-gun and sniping fire, across a stretch of ground which was heavily swept by fire. Having reconnoitred the position he returned, reorganised his battalion, and, acting upon the knowledge personally gained, pushed them forward and arranged to protect his flanks. He then went out under the most intense artillery and machine gun fire, intercepted the Tanks, gave them the necessary directions, pointing out where they were to make for, and thus pave the way for a Canadian Infantry battalion to push forward. To this battalion he subsequently gave requisite support. His magnificent display of courage and fine qualities of leadership enabled the advance to be continued, although always under heavy artillery and machine-gun fire, and contributed largely to the success of the brigade attack.”
The London Gazette, November 15, 1918
Post War: At the end of the war, Peck returned home to Skeena, and reclaimed his seat in the House of Commons, being active in veterans' rights issues. In 1924, he became a Legislative Member for British Columbia. He later acted as aide-decamp for two of Canada's Governors General. Peck died in Sydney, British Columbia on September 27, 1956.
Gravesite: He is buried in the New Westminster Crematorium in Vancouver, BC.
Medal Location: His Victoria Cross is held at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ontario.
Post Script: As the Canadian Corps moved against the Drocourt-Quéant defensive line from 1 to 4 September 1918, six other VCs were awarded to Canadians in addition to that of Lieutenant-Colonel Peck. They were Captain Bellenden Seymour Hutcheson, Sergeant Arthur George Knight, Lance- Corporal William Henry Metcalf and Privates Claude Joseph Patrick Nunney, Walter Leigh Rayfield and John Francis Young.
Peck is reputedly the only Member of Parliament in the British Empire/Commonwealth to have been awarded the Victoria Cross while in office.
