The Colonel John McCrae Birthplace & Memorial Gardens
Municipality/Province: Guelph, ON
Memorial number: 35026-005
Type: Garden, house, book, wall, plaques
Address: 108 Water Street
Location: Colonel John McCrae Birthplace & Memorial Gardens
GPS coordinates: Lat: 43.5363224 Long: -80.2448662
Submitted by: Kathleen Wall, Terry MacDonald, Hellmut Shade. The Royal Canadian Legion Br. 234 Guelph.
Photo credit: Tim Laye, Ontario War Memorials
The limestone cottage located within The Colonel John McCrae Birthplace & Memorial Gardens was the birthplace of John McCrae, author of In Flanders Fields, the famous poem written in May 1915 during the Second Battle of Ypres. McCrae House was designated a national historic site of Canada in 1966 for its significance to the history of architecture; and because it is the birthplace of John McCrae.
In the early 1940s, W.T. Bedford gave the Canadian Legion Branch 257 this lot on Water Street located immediately adjacent to the home where the late Colonel John McCrae was born. After much discussion as to what purpose the lot should be used for, it was decided on the memorial garden to Colonel John McCrae. This was a large undertaking for a small group of Veterans, but it was successfully completed, paid for, and was officially dedicated on 5 August 1946.
Stone fencing surrounds the garden. The monument is elevated and bordered by several steps. A cast bronze book lays open, on which “In Flanders Fields” is inscribed in full. The book sits atop a section of limestone engraved with the phrase “Lest we forget.” A curved wall of limestone surrounds the book and a bronze torch sits in an alcove in the center of the wall. The architect for the memorial was A.C. Burnett Nicol of Toronto; the contractors for the stone work were from Sharp Brothers Cut Stone Co. of Hamilton; and the contractor for the building work was William Parker of Guelph. The property is now owned by the City of Guelph.
Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae was born in Guelph, Ontario in 1872, he served with an artillery battery in the South African War and had a successful civilian medical career. When the First World War broke out in 1914, the patriotic 41-year-old enlisted again and would be appointed as a medical officer with the First Brigade of the Canadian Field Artillery.
During the Second Battle of Ypres in the spring of 1915, McCrae was tending to the wounded in a part of Belgium traditionally called Flanders. On May 2, a close friend was killed in action and this painful loss inspired McCrae to write In Flanders Fields the next day. It would be published in Britain’s Punch magazine and quickly became one of the best-known poems of the war, helping make the poppy an international symbol of remembrance. Sadly, Lieutenant-Colonel McCrae would not survive the conflict, dying of illness in January 1918.
Inscription found on memorial
[sign]
THE
COLONEL
JOHN McCRAE
BIRTHPLACE &
MEMORIAL GARDENS
[plaque]
MCCRAE HOUSE
LA MAISON MCCRAE
This limestone cottage was the birthplace of John
McCrae, author of In Flanders Fields, the famous
poem written in May 1915 during the Second Battle
of Ypres. Built in 1858, the house is a typical mid-
nineteenth-century Ontario cottage with its trellised
verandah and cedar shingle roof. The exterior has
been carefully restored to its appearance in the
1870s, when it was the McCrae family home.
Dans cette petite maison de pierre à chaux, construite
en 1858, est né John McCrae, l'auteur de In Flanders
Fields, célèbre poème composé en mai 1915 durant la
seconde bataille d'ypres. Avec sa galerie ornée de
treillis et son toit de bardeaux de cèdre, cette
demeure évoque les maisons ontariennes du milieu du
XIXe siècle. Restaurée avec soin, elle a retrouvé son
apparence extérieure des années 1870 alors qu'elle
était habitée par la famille de John McCrae.
Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada
Commission des lieux et monuments historiques du Canada
[plaque]
ERECECTED by
the GOVERNMENT
of CANADA
LT-COL JOHN McCRAE
CANADIAN POET, PHYSICIAN AND SOLDIER,
McCRAE WAS BORN IN THIS HOUSE NOVEMBER
30, 1872. HE DIED AT WIMEREUX, FRANCE,
JANUARY 28, 1918. WHILE MEDICAL OFFICER
TO THE 1ST ARTILLERY BRIGADE, HE WROTE
HIS FAMOUS POEM "IN FLANDERS FIELDS" IN
A DUGOUT NEAR YPRES IN APRIL, 1915.
LE LT-COL. JOHN MCCRAE
POÈTE, MÉDECIN ET COMBATTANT. JOHN
MCCRAE NAQUIT LE 30 NOVEMBRE 1872
EN CETTE MAISON. MÉDECIN DE L'UNITÉ À
LA PREMIÈRE BRIGADE D'ARTILLERIE, C'EST
DANS UN ABRI BLINDÉ QU'IL COMPOSA SON
FAMEUX "IN FLANDERS FIELDS", PRÈS D'YPRES
EN AVRIL 1915. IL MOURUT À WIMEREUX,
FRANCE. LE 28 JANVIER 1918.
HISTORIC SITES AND MONUMENTS
BOARD OF CANADA
[gate plaques]
ERECTED
BY BRANCH 257
CANADIAN
LEGION
1946
COLONEL
JOHN MCCRAE
MEMORIAL GARDEN
[cast bronze book]
IN FLANDERS
FIELDS
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the dead. Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields
John McCrae
LEST WE FORGET
[curved limestone wall]
ERECTED
TO
THE MEMORY
OF
LIEUTENANT COLONEL
JOHN MCCRAE
PHYSICIAN, AUTHOR, SOLDIER
BORN GUELPH, ONTARIO
30TH NOV. 1872
DIED
ON ACTIVE SERVICE
28TH JAN. 1918
BURIED IN
WIMEREAUX CEMETERY
FRANCE
Street view
Note
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