Lieutenant Harold Lothrop Borden Memorial

This memorial is dedicated to Lieutenant Harold Lothrop Borden who was killed in action during the South African War. On one side of the base is a granite water fountain filled from the mouth of a cast bronze lion's head above it. On the other side is a horse trough filled with flowers. The sculptor was Hamilton MacCarthy. The Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company was a prominent New York City art foundry. It operated under the name E. Henry & Bonnard from 1872 to 1881 and as The Henry-Bonnard Bronze Company from 1882 to 1926.

Hamilton P. MacCarthy was born on 28 July 1846 in London, England. He studied with his father, sculptor Hamilton Wright McCarthy and at the Royal Academy Schools. MacCarthy moved to Toronto, Ontario, in 1885. Thirteen years later he moved to Ottawa and studied at the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. MacCarthy had 15 children and his son Coeur de Lion MacCarthy was a sculptor who produced numerous commemorative works after the First World War.

Other memorials by Hamilton MacCarthy include: South African War Memorial in Nova Scotia; Soldiers Monument in Prince Edward Island; South African War Memorial and General Isaac Brock Monument in Ontario.

[west face/face ouest]
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

[east face/face est]
WHITPOORT

HAMILTON MacCARTHY, SCULPT

[north face/face nord]
VET RIVER