Captain Alfred A. Farley
The RCA Museum has a striking collection of B Battery heritage photographs showing Captain Alfred A. Farley, a good-natured and ubiquitous soldier in B Battery and the Royal School of Gunnery in the 1880s. Captain Farley joined B Battery as an Active Militia soldier in 1882, then as a founding member of the Regiment of Canadian Artillery in 1883 and as a Permanent Corps soldier in 1884.
In 1880, Captain Farley was a reservist with the 15th Battalion, Argyle Light Infantry, in Belleville, Ontario. At this time, the Canadian Militia was a volunteer force organized for the defence of Canada. The Militia consisted primarily of part-time soldiers who trained during weekends and holidays. The volunteer force included contracted full-time teaching staff and leadership at the gunnery schools, the officers and non-commissioned personnel at A Battery and B Battery. At the schools, the federal government established a new system of training that emphasized marksmanship and field training. Despite improvements, the Canadian Militia remained an imperfect force, with low levels of funding and limited resources, which made it challenging to maintain readiness for potential threats.
Captain Farley in Kingston, circa 1882-84.
In 1880, Queen Victoria approved the Royal School of Gunnery’s new title. Also, in 1880, B Battery exchanged quarters and provinces with A Battery. Major-General R. G. A. Luard, the General Officer Commanding the Canadian Militia, became disillusioned with the Royal Schools of Gunnery’s low-efficiency standards and decided to have each battery switch location. Both batteries departed from their respective forts, with A Battery leaving Fort Henry in Kingston and heading to the Citadel in Quebec City, while B Battery went in the opposite direction. They stayed in their newly appointed quarters for five years, with the battery’s triumphant return to their original forts and provinces starting in September 1885.
The Officers of B Battery at the Citadel in 1886, (Captain Farley, bottom right).
In 1883, the Commanding Officer of B Battery in Kingston, Ontario, was Lieutenant-Colonel Charles E. Montizambert, a veteran of the Fenian Raids and highly regarded military leader, taking over for Major-General Strange in 1881. Strange received forced retirement at 51. Major-General Luard said Strange was an “able and well-known officer of the Royal Artillery who has devoted ten of the best years of his life and has been like a father to the Artillery of Canada.” The “able and well-known” phrasing does not adequately reflect Strange’s prodigious, larger-than-life legacy as the father of the Canadian Artillery.
In 1883, the official regimental lineage of the RCA started with the authorization of the Regiment of Canadian Artillery by Militia General Order 18/83. The Commanding Officer of the Regiment and Inspector of the Artillery for all of Canada was the prior A Battery Commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Irwin. Irwin carried out with great insight and pragmatism much-needed reforms delegated by Major-General Luard. The reforms included adding a third training battery and a school of gunnery called C Battery on the West Coast (formed in 1887). Other reforms included combining the three batteries and Royal Schools of Gunnery under one brigade or regimental unit with standardized policy and efficiency standards.
The teaching staff at the Royal School of Gunnery, including Captain Farley, built friendly and engaging relationships with the Active Militia artillery students. The Canadian Militia regarded the staff officers and non-commissioned staff as paid instructors on short-term contracts rather than regular army soldiers. Their principal functions at the batteries were managing British weaponry left behind and instructing the Active Militia. Until 1884, A and B Batteries of Artillery and Schools of Gunnery were treated no differently regarding status than the rest of the militia. Before this date, the staff were part of the Active Militia or Canada’s part-time volunteer army, not the regular army or permanent force, which did not exist. In 1884, Canada updated the Militia Act and approved the formation of the Permanent Corps. The first reference to the Permanent Corps came from General Order No. 2 of 2 May 1884. In 1884, the Canadian Militia enlisted Permanent Corps personnel, such as Captain Farley, into the Regiment of Canadian Artillery for General Service, which excluded foreign service but not active operations in Canada.
The Officers of B Battery at the Citadel in 1886, (Captain Farley, front center).
The Regiment of Canadian Artillery, including Captain Farley, participated in active operations during the North-West Rebellion or North-West Resistance from March 1885 to July 1885. After the last battle and surrender of Big Bear, reservists or members of the Non-Permanent Active Militia returned to their homes. Still, regular units, including A and B Batteries, stayed in the West to maintain order and assist the NWMP. In the winter of 1885, married officers and non-commissioned personnel returned to their wives and family, but single soldiers stayed behind. Captain Farley remained in the West and returned in June 1886. After the conclusion of the active operations, the officers and non-commissioned personnel luckily and joyfully returned to their original forts – A Battery to Fort Henry and B Battery to the Citadel.
The heritage photos of Captain Farley and other soldiers reflect a stirring and dramatic period in RCA history. While historians appropriately mention the founding of A Battery and B Battery in 1871, representing the first full-time and permanent subunits of Canada’s Active Militia, they routinely overlook the formation of the Regiment of Canadian Artillery and Permanent Corps in 1883 and 1884. Also, the punitive five-year transfer of quarters between A and B Batteries and the harsh 15 months in the West during the rebellion and subsequent return to their original barracks are worthy of further discussion. As for Captain Farley, he was promoted up the ranks to Lieutenant-Colonel and continued in Permanent Corps until 1905, and died of ill health the following year.
By Andrew Oakden