McKenzie Block is named in honour of Thomas McKenzie, the first soldier to enroll in the Infantry School Corps thereby becoming the first soldier to join the permanent Infantry forces of Canada.
Thomas McKenzie was born in 1830 in Gibralter, the son of Sergeant Duncan McKenzie of the 94th Regiment. Thomas joined the 64th Regiment (North Staffordshire Regiment) at the age of eleven as a bugler and drummer. In 1849, the 64th was posted to India; while there, Thomas was promoted to corporal in 1851 and to sergeant in 1854. In 1856, Sergeant McKenzie participated in the Persian War and later saw action at the reliefs of Cawnpore and Lucknow, during the India Mutiny (1857-59). In 1861, the British Army asked for volunteers to go to British North America to train the militia and McKenzie was selected.
Sergeant McKenzie arrived in Saint John, NB in February 1862, and was employed training militia units in New Brunswick, primarily the 62nd Battalion of the New Brunswick Militia. He was mobilized as the Regimental Sergeant Major with the Saint John Volunteer Battalion during the Fenian threat in 1865/66. In 1868, he was formally discharged from the British Army but remained in Canada.
In 1871, McKenzie was employed as a Militia Stores Keeper, living in Fredericton with his family. When the Canadian Government established a Military School of Instruction at Fredericton in 1872, McKenzie was selected as the school’s drill instructor, and served in this capacity for the next eleven years. In December 1883, the Canadian Government established its first regular (permanent) infantry unit, called the Infantry School Corps. McKenzie joined the Corps as its first member on 7 January 1884, and was appointed the Corps Regimental Sergeant Major, a position he held until he retired in 1895. After retirement he served as custodian of the Fredericton Armouries and Military Compound. He died on 26 February 1910, and is buried in the Rural Cemetery in Fredericton.
