A 50th Regiment, Gordon Highanders of Canada Colour Sergeant marching in Victoria with their St Bernard dog mascot and young girls, 1913 - 1914. Two of them are carrying teddy bears. Believed to be in Victoria. [It may also be a Canadian Scottish photo as Wallace did not appear officially until 1939]. The SFU caption states: "Seaforth Highlander walking in a procession with two girls in an unknown location. Numerous other girls are shown in the procession." On the back of the original postcard it states: "[Back] Post Card; Made In Canada; Correspondence Here; 1914 50th Gordon Highlander of Canada with mascot Wallace? 1st; Name And Address Here; Place Stamp Here". When the 88th Regiment (Victoria Fusiliers) was formed in 1912, it was felt by a large number of people in Victoria who were of Scottish origin or descent that the Victoria Fusiliers represented the English community, and that they, too, should be represented. This resulted in a series of meetings in the spring of 1913, the first of which, according to press reports, was called by a Captain Chambers to discuss the formation of a Highland Regiment in Victoria. The large and powerful pro-Scottish citizenry of Victoria appealed for the formation of a Highland regiment in Victoria to augment the 88th Regiment (Fusiliers), which had been formed in September 3rd, 1912. Thus on August 15th, 1913 the 50th Regiment (Gordon Highlanders) was authorized. Victorians of Scottish heritage immediately purchased equipment and uniforms to fully outfit 500 men. In August the sanction of the Minister of Militia, Colonel Sam Hughes was received, and on 4 September, 1913, an official announcement from Ottawa authorized the new Highland regiment, to be known as the 50th Regiment (Gordon Highlanders) wearing the uniform of the Imperial Gordon Highlanders with the Gordon crest, a stag's head, as its cap badge. On the same day the first fifteen or twenty men were sworn in, although the regiment was not yet actually in existence, and was temporarily administered by a civilian committee. On 25 October it was announced that an experienced officer with a strong Scottish background, Lieut.-Col. Arthur Currie, of the 5th Regiment C.G.A. (Canadian Garrison Artillery) would be appointed to command. On the next day Major Lorne Ross was appointed Second-in-Command, and Major Garnett Hughes (only son of the Minister) as junior major. The Saint Andrew's and Caledonia Society of Victoria offered their full support. Upon the declaration of war, Currie was promoted and placed in command of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade. A superb tactician, his “Mobile Tactics of War”, was put into effect at Vimy in 1917. These broke the stalemated slaughter of trench warfare and were later perfected in the Second World War. In 1917 he was dubbed Knight Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Currie, KCMG. On the 21st of November Mr. W.H. Coy became the Honorary Lieut.-Colonel. He promptly gave $35,000 to the Regiment, with which 500 full dress uniforms and equipment was to be purchased, much of which was to remain in use for decades with the Canadian Scottish Regiment for guards of honour. The first parade of the new Regiment was on Monday, February 16, 1914 at the Knights of Pythius Hall on Douglas at Pandora. It was here that Lieut.-Col. Currie and his officers met the men in a body for the first time. The Regimental Pipe Band was present, and later in the evening played in the street outside, attracting a large and delighted audience. The following Sunday, the Pipe Band was present at the Menzies Street Drill Hall for the decorating of the commemorative tablet honouring the sons of Victoria who fell in the South African War, the Pipes and Drums then leading the way to the divine service at the Cathedral. There were to be many other parades in the next few months. One of the more moving parades being the send off for the 30th Battalion, C.E.F. which took place on Feb. 15, 1915 in which all the military bands then in Victoria took part. The rifle companies paraded weekday evenings at the Knights of Pythius Hall and the buglers at the Regimental Headquarters at 1175 Fort Street. The people of Victoria did not have long to admire the Regiment in their resplendent uniforms (which arrived in early May, 1914) --tall white-plumed feather bonnets, scarlet or white shell doublets, gold lace and snowy pipe-clayed equipment --for only six months after its first parade, they were mobilized for war! When war broke out in August, 1914, Canada's militia was mobilized. The 50th Regiment, with its pipe band in the lead, marched to the Exhibition Grounds at the Willows where the unit, along with the 88th Regiment (Victoria Fusiliers) were to be encamped. There was no call-up of regiments, but drafts of volunteers to form numbered battalions. The 88th Regiment Victoria Fusiliers and the 50th Regiment were placed on active service on August 10th, 1914 for local protective duty. These Regiments contributed to the 7th and 16th Battalions, Canadian Expeditionary Force, on their respective formation in September 1914. Later they recruited for the 48th, 67th, 88th 103rd, and 143rd Battalions, CEF. The 16th Battalion (The Canadian Scottish) was formed from four companies of unrelated highland regiments. On the sea voyage to England the battalion was still dressed in four different styles, tartans and badges. The Camerons and Seaforths both sent their own battalions, the 43rd and 72nd respectively, later in the war. Attempts were made by the 50th Regiment to raise an overseas battalion of its own, but without success. They were fated to remain throughout the war as a mobilized militia unit, filling guard duties and sending drafts to newly-raised battalions such as the 30th, 48th, and 67th (Western Scots). The 67th Btn was raised in Victoria in June of 1915. A number of pipers from the 50th Regiment enlisted in the 67th Btn. When a depot for B.C. was formed at the Willows Camp in 1917, the Gordons still maintained their organization, their drafts into the overseas formations retaining their kilts. At the Willows, the Gordons also maintained a pipe band, with C. Coutts as Pipe Major. The buglers and pipers of the Regiment took an active part in the daily routine of the Willows Camp, sharing reveille and tattoo with the band of the 88th Regiment (the 50th band playing on odd days, the fife and drum band of the 88th, on even days). It appears that a Gordon Highlanders' pipe band remained intact after the war. At the Vancouver Games held August 4, 1919, the 50th Regiment from Victoria won third prize in the pipe band competition. At the Games held on August 17, 1920, the Vancouver Daily World of August 19th reported that the Gordon Highlanders came first, out of five bands, and thus won the Stewart Trophy. However, engraved on the trophy itself as the winner was "Comrades of the Great War, Victoria", under Pipe Major Donald Cameron. A photograph of this band with the trophy shows the band apparently in Gordon Highlander uniforms. No explanation is known for this 'double naming'. This, however, would be the last parade for the Pipes and Drums of the 50th Regiment as a new Highland Regiment would be formed in Victoria the following year, the 1st Battalion, The Canadian Scottish Regiment.