Lieutenant Harold Lothrop Borden Memorial

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TO COMMEMORATE THE PATRIOTISM AND COURAGE OF
LIEUT. HAROLD LOTHROP BORDEN
WHO WAS KILLED AT WHITPOORT, SOUTH AFRICA, JULY 15, 1900, WHILE LEADING HIS MEN TO VICTORY.
(ERECTED BY FRIENDS IN KINGS COUNTY AND ELSEWHERE.)
THE ONLY SON OF THE HONOURABLE SIR FREDERIC W. BORDEN, K.C.M.C., MINISTER OF MILITIA AND DEFENCE, AND JULIA
M. HIS WIFE, DAUGHTER OF THE LATE JOHN H. CLARKE ESQ. HE WAS BORN AT CANNING, MAY 23, 1876. HE WAS A GRADUATE
IN ARTS OF MOUNT ALLISON UNIVERSITY ’97 AND HAD ENTERED HIS THIRD YEAR IN MEDICINE AT McGILL UNIVERSITY. BEGINNING
HIS MILITARY CAREER AS A TROOPER IN THE KING’S CANADIAN HUSSARS IN 1893 HE EARNED RAPID PROMOTION AND WAS APPOINTED
MAJOR IN COMMAND IN 1899. AS MEMBER OF THE QUEEN’S DIAMOND JUBILEE CONTINGENT IN 1897 HE RECEIVED THE JUBILEE MEDAL.
AT THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR HE VOLUNTEERED HIS SERVICES AND LATER HAVING SURRENDERED HIS RANK AS MAJOR, WAS APPOINTED
TO A LIEUTENANCY IN THE ROYAL CANADIAN DRAGOONS 2ND CONTINGENT. BEFORE LEAVING HOME HE SAID: “I WILL NOT SEND THOSE UNDER
ME ANYWHERE I WILL NOT GO MYSELF.” HOW FAITHFULLY HE KEPT HIS WORD!

LORD ROBERTS, COMMANDER IN CHIEF, REPORTED HIS DEATH SUBSTANTIALLY AS FOLLOWS: “LIEUT. BORDEN WAS
KILLED WHILE GALLANTLY LEADING HIS MEN IN A COUNTER ATTACK UPON THE ENEMY’S FLANK, AT THE CRITICAL JUNCTURE OF
AN ASSAULT UPON OUR POSITION. HE HAD TWICE BEFORE BEEN BROUGHT TO MY NOTICE IN DESPATCHES FOR GALLANT AND
INTREPID CONDUCT.” THE TWO OCCASIONS REFERRED TO WERE SPECIALLY REPORTED TO THE COMMANDER
IN CHIEF JULY 2ND 1900 IN A LIST OF NAMES NOW IN THE WAR OFFICE AS FOLLOWS:
”LIEUT. H.L. BORDEN… GALLANT CONDUCT IN SWIMMING THE VET RIVER UNDER FIRE
5TH MAY AND IN CAPTURING SOME OF THE ENEMY’S WEAPONS ON 30TH MAY.”

SEMPER HONOR NOMENQUE TUUM LAUDESQUE MANEBUNT

THE HENRY-BONNARD BRONZE CO.
FOUNDERS N.Y. - 1903

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WHITPOORT

HAMILTON MacCARTHY, SCULPT

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VET RIVER