Swift and bold -- Aurora's fighting roots on display in Queen's York Rangers exhibit

Exhibit, documentary trace history of Queen's York Rangers

Yorkregion.com
November 7, 2019
Simone Joseph

The intricacies, the details, the realities of war interest Jeremy Hood.

“Some find war distasteful but people who stand up (and fight) are fascinating to me,” said Hood, assistant curator at Queen’s York Ranger Regimental Museum (a Canadian Forces museum).

Hood helped put together "Swift & Bold: The Queen's York Rangers at the Aurora Museum & Archives" -- an exhibit and documentary that traces the history of the Rangers and its connection to Aurora through artifacts, written explanations and more. Museum staff worked closely with Mountain Goat Film Company to capture this part of Aurora's story.

Sharon, Newmarket and Aurora were rich with rebels so to speak. Many rebels who participated in the 1837 rebellion were from these areas, Hood said.

These uprisings were rebellions against the Crown. Rebels wanted responsible government -- an executive or cabinet that depends on the support of an elected assembly, rather than a monarch. A responsible government first appeared in Canada in the 1830s. It is the method by which Canada achieved independence from Britain without revolution.

The exhibit includes two small brown rebellion boxes from 1837 carved by Charles Doan while he was in prison for his participation in the Upper Canada Rebellion. Doan was the first postmaster of Aurora and is credited with naming the village.

You may want to take a look at a medal from 1899 awarded to G. Johnson who served with the Aurora Infantry Company during the Fenian Raids. The Fenians were a group of Irish ex-patriots who moved from Ireland to the United States. Some within this group wanted to invade Canada, enticing Britain to exchange Canadian land for Irish independence. These attacks were extinguished by government forces. Dozens of people were killed and wounded on both sides.

Or, look out for a silver bugle. The citizens of Aurora gave this to the Aurora infantry (named the Aurora Volunteer Company) after they returned from the Fenian raids.

“It shows how important the regiment was to the town,” Hood said.

The inscription reads: “Presented to the Aurora volunteers by the people of Aurora and surrounding country as a small expression of the universal satisfaction with which they have regarded their meritorious conduct during the recent trying crisis in the history of Canada July 1866.”

Another interesting piece in the exhibit is an order book from the Boer War which Hood says has been closed since 1902. It shows a list of seven members of the 12th regiment York Rangers who enlisted with the Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry during the conflict in South Africa.

The exhibition "Swift & Bold: The Queen's York Rangers at the Aurora Museum & Archives" closes Feb. 29, 2020.

https://www.aurora.ca/museum