Perry, Aylesworth Bowen

  • From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: See full biography at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aylesworth_Bowen_Perry
  • Wiki Biography:
    • Aylesworth Bowen Perry, CMG (August 21, 1860 – February 14, 1956) served as the sixth Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, from August 1, 1900, to March 31, 1923.
    • Aylesworth Perry was born at Violet, near Napanee, Ontario, on August 21, 1860. His father William Perry was a Justice of the Peace, deputy-reeve, and member of the Lennox and Addington County Council. William Perry operated a flour mill and sawmill on Mill Creek in Violet and approximately half of his acres was under cultivation. William Perry married Eleanor Fraser in 1848. 
    • He was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers. When the Royal Engineer’s medical staff determined that Perry’s leg was not yet properly healed, his commanding officer advised him to return to Canada. He subsequently resigned his commission. He worked as a surveyor in what is now northern Ontario. From 1881 to 1882 Perry worked with the Geological Survey of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, as a librarian.
    • On January 24, 1882, he was appointed an inspector in the North-West Mounted Police. During the North-West Rebellion of 1885, he was appointed a major in the Canadian Militia, and received command of the second section of the Alberta Field Force. He led a march from Calgary, Alberta, to Edmonton, Alberta. While crossing the Red Deer River, he nearly died landing a tow rope attached to the raft carrying a field gun. Following the rebellion, he was appointed superintendent of the Prince Albert district, on August 1, 1885.
    • He was appointed Commissioner of the North-West Mounted Police from August 1, 1900, and served until his retirement on April 1, 1923. He served for nearly 23 years in office, and was the longest-serving commissioner of the RCMP. He found it difficult to get convictions in local courts for cattle-killers, mail-robbers and others since jurymen and others sympathized with the accused “I regret that convictions for the serious crimes were not secured against the guilty parties. Evidence was produced for the defence which could well be doubted. Not only has this case produced sympathy for crime, but in other cases, it has been plainly manifested. Petitions have been forwarded to lessen the penalties where laws of the country have wilfully and knowingly been broken. So notorious has this become, that it has disheartened us in attempting to secure criminal convictions. There seems to be an absurd idea that the dismissal of a charge means a snub to the Mounted Police, whereas it strikes home at the root of society and threatens the lives and property of the very men who jeer and flaunt.
    • In 1909, he was appointed Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George. In 1920 he was given the title “Honorary Aide-de-camp to His Excellency The Governor General”. Upon his retirement, he was awarded the rank of Major-General by the Canadian Militia. In 1948, he was the only member of the “Old Eighteen” to be present at the re-opening of the Royal Military College of Canada and he took the salute for the match past of the “New Hundred”.
    • The Royal Canadian Mounted Police named the A.B. Perry building at the Depot, Regina in his honour. In 2009, 13 Major-General A.B. Perry, CMG ADC (1860–1956) was added to the wall of honour at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario. Bowen Island, St. Joseph Channel, Algoma was named in honour of Major General Aylesworth Bowen Perry (RMC 1880), Commissioner, Royal Northwest Mounted Police.
  • Great Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=6530
  • Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/102221585/per