Hughes, Garnet Burk

DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: John MacFarlane, “HUGHES, GARNET BURK,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 16, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/hughes_garnet_burk_16E.html
DCB profile notes:
- Civil engineer, militia and army officer, and businessman; b. 22 April 1880 in Toronto, son of Samuel Hughes and Mary Emily Burk; m. 15 Oct. 1910 Elizabeth Irene Bayliss Newling (29 April 1882–19 Nov. 1928) in Victoria, and they had one son; d. 12 April 1937 in Toronto.
- When Garnet B. Hughes was five years old, his father gave up his teaching position in Toronto to run a Conservative newspaper in Lindsay. Garnet attended classes there, and during his high-school years he trained with the 45th (West Durham) Battalion of Infantry. In 1898 he was accepted into the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) in Kingston with the highest entrance mark. His father, who had been promoted lieutenant-colonel of the 45th Battalion the year before, undoubtedly encouraged Garnet’s military training, but later correspondence between the two suggests that paternal direction was not heavy-handed.
- Hughes was employed by the Canadian Northern Railway (CNR) and worked in Ontario, Quebec, and the western provinces. In 1909 or 1910 he relocated to Victoria; according to the 1910–11 city directory he was still employed by Mackenzie and Mann. He subsequently served as chief engineer for projects undertaken by the federal Department of Public Works on the west coast. There he joined the militia as a part-time officer, and he also met Elizabeth Irene Bayliss Newling, who had immigrated from England with her mother in 1890. They married in October 1910, and three years later Samuel Harvey Shirecliffe Hughes would be born.
- Since 1892 the elder Samuel Hughes had been the House of Commons representative for the Ontario riding of Victoria North (Victoria and Haliburton as of 1903). In October 1911 he was named minister of militia and defence, and two years later he authorized the formation of the 50th Regiment (Gordon Highlanders of Canada) in British Columbia’s capital. Garnet played an active role in the birth of the unit and was made second in command to Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur William Currie. When war broke out in August 1914 and the minister took charge of preparing the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF), both young men benefited from their connections. Garnet was of course aided by his father; within a few months of enlisting he was a major, but the rank was not completely out of line with his credentials. It was on Garnet’s recommendation that the minister had offered Currie command of the 2nd (Provisional) Infantry Brigade of the Canadian Division (which would become the 1st Canadian Division in May 1915).
- His pedigree was not always an asset, however: he was passed over for positions, partly because of increasing animosity between his father and his friend Arthur Currie. The Canadian Corps had been formed in September 1915 and Currie, now a major-general, had been given command of the 1st Division. He opposed the minister’s demand that his son be placed in charge of a brigade in the 2nd Division, which had been established earlier that year with Turner (now also a major-general) at its head. Currie wanted the post to go to an experienced leader, and he strongly resented political interference in military appointments. Neither he nor Lieutenant-General Alderson, the Corps commander, felt that Garnet Hughes was suitable. Alderson, who did not like the idea of Hughes and Turner working together again, resolved the dispute by saying that he wanted Hughes to have a role inside the 1st Division, where he would be under Currie’s supervision. Hughes took over the 1st Infantry Brigade, but Currie was not happy about it. He explained his reasons directly to his friend, which reduced tensions between the two, but reconciliation with the elder Hughes would be impossible.
- Bad blood between Sir Sam Hughes and Sir Arthur Currie continued to circulate after the war. As the former minister told his son, “I created him on your recommendation; made him what he is; covered his blunders; hid his cowardice and his reward for my decency was giving it to you in the neck and, as far as possible, to me.” He told Garnet that he had heard from many people that the 5th Division had been the best. Publicly, he criticized Currie’s performance and linked it to the high number of casualties in the final months of the conflict, stating in parliament in March 1919 that the celebrated war hero had unnecessarily sacrificed soldiers’ lives. In a letter to a friend Currie fumed that Sir Sam’s only thought regarding the huge loss of Canadian soldiers was that it required more reinforcements and the breaking up of the new unit: “As his son commanded the 5th Division, a division created solely that his son might be made a Major General, discloses to everyone the reason for Sir Sam’s animosity.” Even after the elder Hughes died in 1921, negative references to Currie continued to surface. In 1927 a newspaper published an article on Sir Sam’s opinion that Currie was a butcher. Currie blamed Garnet Hughes for what he called a “smear campaign.” The result was a famous libel trial the following spring, which Currie won. Yet, despite everything, after 1928 the two veterans continued to share a genuine affection, and Hughes even acted as a pall-bearer at Currie’s funeral in 1933.
Third Great Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=8621
Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/95938361/garnet-burk-hughes