Historical information combined from various sources about this cannon
The cannon was captured by the British during the Crimean War in Russia (1853-56).
Typically these Russian cannons came from the siege of Sebastopol (also spelled
Sevastopol), confiscated by the British when they captured that city in 1856. The captured
cannons were offered to towns throughout the British Empire for public display. The
cannon is distinguished by various Russian markings as well as the Imperial Coat of Arms
of Russia (two-headed eagle).
Old Town Council minutes have been reviewed. This entry was in the Accounts section of
the minutes for the November 26, 1860: “Wm. Perry, Drawing a Cannon from the Depot
$1..50” This was likely for transporting the cannon from the train station to Victoria Park.
There is a similar gun in Cambridge Ontario. Its arrival in 1864 is documented. See
Appendix C.
In 1861, the Committee on Buildings and Squares was undertaking much work in the
public square (Victoria Park) including landscaping and fencing. In particular this is
mentioned: May 20, 1861, page 86: “The Committee on Buildings & Squares reported
recommending: 2nd – That the Russian gun be suitably mounted on the public square at a
cost not exceeding $40.
1
The print of Victoria Park (published in the
Canadian Illustrated News, April 29, 1871)
shows a cannon in front of the central
flagpole.
Victoria Park and the cannon are mentioned
in Warner Beers & Co.’s History of Brant
County published in 1883: “The Victoria
Park was graded on plans furnished by John
Turner, architect, and planted with trees and
shrubbery during the summer of 1861, at the
same time receiving the name it is known
now by. A flagstaff was erected in the center,
and the City Council voted an appropriation
of $40. for the purpose of suitably mounting
the Russian gun, captured at the most
extraordinary of all sieges, the siege of
Sebastopol. This however, has never been accomplished, as the gun lies (i.e. in
1883) just as it was received.”
A November 17, 1895 Expositor article on the history of Brantford’s parks, indicated that
the Russian gun at the time of writing the article was lying half buried in the sand in
Alexandra Park.
Thus it is speculated that the cannon was moved to Alexandra Park sometime between
1883 and November 17,1895. It was probably moved before the erection of the Brant
Monument in 1886.
2
An Expositor photo (estimated date 1890’s) shows the cannon in Alexandra Park sitting
on some timbers by a large flagpole (St. Jude’s Church at Peel and Dalhousie is in the
background).
It appears than this Russian cannon was without a suitable base from when it arrived in
Brantford between in 1860 until a stone or concrete base was constructed for it in
Alexandra Park in 1901: “On May 9, 1901, The Expositor reported “the cannon which has
been lying embedded in the mud at Alexandra Park for some years is just now receiving
attention. A squad of corporation employees are engaged in constructing a granolithic
platform on the spot where the gun lay.””i The article suggests the cannon was on a
vertical stone base in Alexandra Park prior to 1901, but the base did not have a foundation
and sunk into the ground, so the gun ended up in the mud.
The cannons without their carriages, were taken from Sebastopol by the British. They
were then shipped out to towns that way. Brantford was not the only place where it took
some time to come up with a suitable base for the gun.
3
Crimean War Cannon bases
Cannons are located in many Canadian towns and cities, as well as in other British
Commonwealth countries and in Europe. In Canada there are iron cannons from the 1812
War era, later British cannons, and Russian cannons from the Crimean War. Parks and
Forts sometimes have some of each. The cannons have dates of manufacture and weight
stamped on them (usually on the trunnions).
There are many different bases under these cannons. Many are sitting on simple blocks of
concrete. Other cannons are sitting on wheeled carriages of heavy timbers, or on wheeled
carriages of cast steel/iron. Others sit on concrete bases resembling more or less the
shape of wheeled carriages. Sometimes Information about the gun is cast into the
concrete base, or on a metal plaque attached to the base. See Appendix A.
4
Appendix A
Cannons in other Cites and Towns
Examples of simple concrete or stone bases
Victoria Park, London, Ontario
Figure 1: London , ON - Victoria Park
Figure 2: London, ON - Victoria Park
Queen’s Square, Cambridge, Ontario
Note bronze plaque in base
5
Queen’s Park Toronto
Inscription: Taken at the
capture of Sebastopol by
the allied armies of Great
Britain & France and
presented by Queen
Victoria to the citizens of
Toronto 1859.
6
Examples of cannons on “naval carriages” made of heavy timber with wheels
Figure 3: Cannon at Old Fort Erie/Historic Fort Erie operated by
the Niagara parks Commission
Figure 4: Derby Arboretum, UK (1939 photo)
Figure 5: Derby Arboretum, UK (1939 photo)
7
ii
Figure 6: British Canon in Odessa, Ukraineiii
Figure 7: historic photo of cannon in Odessa, Ukraine – this is actually a British cannon
8
Upper Canada Village, Morrisburg, Ontario
Charlottetown, PEI
Charlottetown's Victoria Park
PARO Acc. 3218/214
Military parade at Fort Edward. Late
1890s
Land for the Prince Edward Battery, now
known as Fort Edward, was appropriated
in 1805, for the use of the Battery which
was relocated from its Great George
Street location. Victoria Park has long
been used for military parades, school
processions, and other official functions.
The brick magazine was built by 1868.
Visible in the distance are West Kent
School and Beaconsfield.
PARO Acc. 2602/21
Fort Edward, circa 1900
The most photographed feature of
Victoria Park, the cannons at Fort
Edward continue to attract young and
old alike. The wooden planks under the
cannons were replaced by cement in the
1930s. In 1915, the City of
Charlottetown purchased a "one horse
9
grass cutter" for keeping the grass in Victoria Park and the Squares and streets in
Charlottetown neatly trimmed.iv
The wooden carriages in the old
pictures were replaced by concrete
versions in 1960-61.
Cannons in Charlottetown overlooking
the harbour, 2004
Here are pictures of the concrete bases in October 2004.
10
Other examples of concrete bases resembling the shape of naval carriages
Figure 8: Windsor, ON, Assumption & Centennial Parks
Figure 9: outside Officers' Club, Hamilton, ON
Figure 10: outside Officers' Club, Hamilton, ON
11
Appendix B
Cannon terminology
The term CANNON describes the large, smoothbored, muzzle-loading guns used before the advent
of breech-loading, rifled guns firing shells.
…By the 18th century cannons were classified by
the weight of the round shot that they fired. Thus the
demi cannon was described as a 32-pounder.
Smaller guns were 18-pounders (culverin), 12pounders, 9 pounders and 6-pounders. The gun
barrel is mounted on a wheeled carriage, as shown
in the drawing, balanced on two trunnions, the short
metal projections on either side of the barrel, the invention of some unknown Dutchman.
The angle of elevation could be altered by moving a wooden wedge under the rear end of
the gun. v
There is a specialized vocabulary for the different parts of a cannon. These are a few
basic terms:
•
•
•
•
the end from which the projectile emerges is the muzzle
the end with the round knob is the breech
the round knob attached to the breech is the cascabel, which means bell in
Spanish
the short arms projecting from the sides of the barrel about half way down its
length are the trunnions. They allow the cannon to be mounted on a carriage.
It is by no means certain when wheeled carriages were introduced. They must have gradually
appeared as a means of surmounting the difficulties engendered by the recoil of the piece and of
transport of the early guns and their cradles.
Cast iron standing carriages were also, about 1825, used on land for hot climates and situations
not much exposed.vi
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Appendix C
About the cannon in Queen’s Square, Cambridge, Ontario
From: http://cambridgeweb.net/historical/cannon.html
When the Crimean War started in 1853 it was just another of the countless wars of empire
waged by European nations in their constant maneuvering for power, influence and glory.
It was a war in which "the angel of the lamp" Florence Nightingale became famous. It was
a war that produced the "balaklava" hat which helped British soldiers endure the harsh
Russian winter of 1854-55. It was a war of military ineptitude and senseless slaughter
immortalized by Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "Charge of the Light Brigade". It was also a
war with significant local economic impact.
Unlike the Imperial wars, there were no local men among the British forces fighting in
Russia but the war raised the prices of produce in Canada to an unusually high level.
An observer of the local scene reported that in the Galt area "farmers became wealthy;
property went up in value; building lots, on back streets, sold at fabulous prices; new
enterprises, both public and private, were freely entered into, and the people generally
were seized with a spirit of enterprise, progress and it must be added, of extravagance,
which subsequent events did not justify".
The war ended in 1856 a few months after the Russians were forced to evacuate the city
of Sevastopol which had been under siege by the forces of Britain, France and Ottoman
Turkey for a year. The Russians destroyed the fort at Sevastopol before they evacuated
but apparently not all of the city's cannons were destroyed and a number fell into British
hands. These were shipped to England where they remained for a number of years until it
was decided to distribute them to municipalities throughout the Canadian colonies.
Galt, as a strong supporter of the Empire and as the largest municipality in Waterloo
County, was chosen to receive one of the "Russian guns".
In November 1864 Galt Council received a letter from the Governor-General Viscount
Monck "ordering that one of the Crimean Guns be presented to the Town of Galt".
Such a gift, of course, could not be refused and Council was grateful when the manager of
the Great Western Railway offered to transport the 24 pound cannon with a six inch bore
from Hamilton wharf to Galt free of charge. The cannon was not long arriving and the local
press announced on December 2, 1864 that the "Russian gun has been removed from the
railway station and now stands awaiting its carriage in the centre of Queen's Square. It
attracts considerable attention".
It is not clear what part, if any, the "Russian gun" played in the Victoria Day celebrations of
1865 but plans for the 1866 celebrations to mark Queen Victoria's 47th birthday called for
quoits, boat races, horse races, an Art Exhibition sponsored by the Mechanics Institute
and, at 12 o'clock "a Royal Salute of 21 guns will be fire from the Russian gun".
13
According to a contemporary account of Victoria Day, May 24, 1866 "dawned must
auspiciously. The weather was delightful and everything betokened a day of amusement
such as Galt never before witnessed". The Town bells began pealing at 6:00 a.m. and
soon people were gathering for the day's activities. Quoits began at 9:00 a.m. and the
boat and horse races went off well.
As noon approached final preparations were made for the firing of the cannon which had
been moved from Queen's Square to the Cricket Ground "near the face of the hill
overlooking the dam". The firing of the cannon had been delegated by the Gun Committee
to Mr. William Boge who had served for several years as an infantry soldier in the British
Army. He lacked direct experience in the use of field artillery but felt himself to be fully
acquainted with artillery practice and had convinced the authorities that he had sufficient
knowledge to manage to the cannon properly.
Mr. Boge was assisted by Mr. James Armstrong, who attended to the ramming of the
muzzle loading the gun, and by Mr. David Galletly who was working the vent of the gun.
Three rounds had been safely fired when the powder for the fourth round was placed in
the muzzle. Next came the wadding, which consisted of sod, with Mr. Boge and Mr.
Armstrong ramming it home. Suddenly and unexpectedly a fearful roar rent the holiday air
as the powder exploded prematurely. Perhaps the report of the contemporary press best
expresses the shock and horror which descended upon the spectators as the smoke
cleared. "The body of Boge had been driven about seven yards to the front and a little to
the right. Armstrong's body was blown about the same distance to the left side close up to
the fence. Both were rightfully disfigured, The upper portions of the bodies were entirely
denuded of clothing and blackened an charred almost out of human resemblance. From
Mr. Boge's body one arm had been blown off at the elbow and the other hand was
missing. Armstrong's right arm was torn out at the shoulder blade and the left hand was
also gone".
Mr. Galletly who had been attending to his duties at the vent when the accident occurred
had his thumb badly lacerated and his hand burned. The only other injuries were to two
boys who had been watching the firing of the gun. One unnamed boy suffered a slightly
scratched cheek from the flying splinter. Another boy, John Lapraik, 7 years of age,
received an ugly cut on the cheek when he was struck by a small piece of ramrod. His
wound was speedily treated and soon healed.
Immediately following the accident the bodies of Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Boge were taken
to the old school house on Dickson Street where an inquest was held at the direction of
coroner, Dr. Phillips. Several witnesses were called, including David Galletly but none
were able to give a satisfactory explanation of the direct cause of the premature firing of
the gun. It was speculated however, that the firing was too rapid and that the cannon
muzzle had not been adequately sponged after the third round was fired. It was though
that burning embers remained in the cannon and had ignited the powder charge too soon.
The jury ruled "that said William Boge and James Armstrong came to their deaths through
accident caused by inexperience of the parties to whom the firing of the 24 pound gun was
entrusted."
14
The games that had been scheduled for the afternoon were canceled as the Town's joy
turned to sorrow and Galt prepared to bury its two sons. The coroner ordered that the
bodies by buried without undue delay so the funeral was held at 8:00 p.m. that same
evening at the old School House. Both deceased men had been members of the Galt Fire
Brigade which turned out in force to honour their fallen comrades. The bodies were placed
on Fire Engine No. 1 and, after a short service conducted by the Rev. Mr. Campbell, were
taken for burial to St. Andrew's Cemetery.
William Boge was 27 years old when he was killed, a native of Roxboroughshire,
Scotland. He and his wife had immigrated to Canada two years previously and for some
time he had worked for Turnbull and Deans, the predecessor of Charles Turnbull Co. Ltd.
Mrs. Boge was a well known local vocalist and a women of frail health. She was in the
crowd watching the cannon and witnessed the accident. The shock was such that she
fainted "and it was only by the most unremitting attention that she was brought out of the
heavy swoons that rapidly succeeded one another". She was taken home and remained in
serious condition. For some time it was feared that she might not survive but eventually
she came around and "strong hopes" were held for her full recovery.
James Armstrong had been born in Havick in Scotland and was about 32 years of age. He
was not married, had lived in Canada for about nine years and was employed as a wool
sorter in the Robinson and Howell Woollen Mill. Both men were described as "steady and
industrious and much respected by their acquaintances."
For some time the accident scene was avoided by the Town's people and a full week after
the accident "the old cannon still stood on the brow of the hill as no one made any effort to
move it to its old resting place in Queen's Square. It was almost as it the horror of the
accident continued to hang over the cannon and few seemed willing to approach it. The
gun was eventually returned to its resting place in Queen's Square but thereafter suffered
a certain amount of neglect.
In 1885 it was reported that the old cannon was "resting close to the sod" as the carriage
upon which it rested was rotting away. It is thought that the gun rested on another wooden
frame until May 1910 when the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire had the
cannon remounted on a cement base. In the base was embedded the plaque:
"Taken by the British at Sevastopal September 10, 1855.
Given by Great Britain to Canada and brought to Galt."
At about the same time the Defense Department is reported to have given the various
municipalities which possessed cannons some 60 cannon balls. These were stacked in
six pyramids of 10 cannon balls each which flanked the cannon. The cannon balls were
removed in the years following World War II because it was feared that the local children
who insisted on playing with them might be hurt.
15
The cannon itself was not threatened with removal along with the cannon balls but this
had not been the case a few years earlier when in 1942 the Galt City Council received a
letter from the Department of Munitions and Supply requesting that "every available piece
of scrap metal" to be salvaged and made available to the Department in an effort to keep
war industries operating at peak production. The letter specifically requested the donation
of the 105mm. gun, a relic of World War I, which had been positioned on the front lawn of
the Galt Soldiers Memorial Home since the end of the war. Also requested were any war
"trophies you may have stationed in your parks, square or public places". In an editorial
reporting the request, the local newspaper concluded that "the bronze veteran of Crimean
days -- is now to go into the fray for the Russians once more, but this time also for the
British.
Apparently Galt's Council did not believe that the federal government's request included
the "Queen's Square relic" for they agreed to make available only "the guns at the
Memorial Home and in Soper Park" as well as the City's old Sawyer-Massey road roller.
Although another order of the City Council required that "all war relics owned by the City of
Galt, be turned over to the Department of Munitions and Supply", the Crimean cannon
was not included in the shipment.
It has been suggested that the "Russian gun" was not sent because of strong local
sentiment attached to the gun. It seems unlikely, however, that mere "local sentiment"
could win out over the call for an "All Out" war effort that had resulted in the rationing of
gasoline and sugar and in the regular salvage collections which were gathering copper
wire, piping and tubing, roofing, boiler bottoms, brass valves, aluminum wire and cables
and even type writer ribbon spools and the metal ends on light bulbs for the war effort. At
a time when housewives who hoarded sugar were thought unpatriotic, it can not be
doubted that similar condemnation would fall upon a Council that refused to transfer an
old cannon merely for sentimental reasons.
It can be concluded that Council assumed that since the letter from the Department of
Munitions and Supply mentioned war trophies of World War I vintage, only those trophies,
and not the older ones like the Crimean War cannon were needed.
Whatever the reason, the "Russian gun" escaped the scrap pile and remains in Queen's
Square, a witness of Cambridge's history and a gun with something of a history of its own.
i
From an article in the Expositor, August 24, 2002
The cannons in the Derby Arboretum were taken away during the Second World War, allegedly to be
melted down as part of the war effort.
iii
from www.theodessaguide.com/P9C_Crimean_war_cannon.htm - a British cannon Crimean War trophy,
taken from a sunken British ship
iv
From: http://www.edu.pe.ca/paro/exhibits/display.asp?vicpark.1.1
v
From: http://www.cronab.demon.co.uk/gen1.htm
vi
FroM: http://32.1911encyclopedia.org/O/OR/ORDNANCE.htm
ii
16