THE MONUMENTS MAN
At the end of the Great War, communities across Canada felt compelled to honour the war heroes who had died overseas. Medicine Hat was no exception.
Fundraising began in 1918 for a suitable memorial that would pay tribute to the war dead and be a permanent reminder to future generations. In Medicine Hat, a war memorial committee was established, supported by various groups, such as the Great War Veterans’ Association, the Great War Next of Kin Association and the I.O.D.E.
Donations for the memorial came from citizens, local merchants, churches, and service clubs. Even school children contributed to the collection boxes set up throughout the schools. By 1922, over $4,000 in funds ($59,400 today) had been raised and a site in Riverside Park had been chosen for a war monument.
Calgary monument sculptor, Albert James Hart (1878-1957) was commissioned for the project. Hart, who was born in Ontario, came West to Manitoba with his parents and seven siblings. After his father died as the result of a blizzard, Hart and his brothers dropped out of school to learn a trade to support the family and their widowed mother. Albert apprenticed and worked as a marble cutter in Brandon. In 1906, Albert, his wife and three children moved to Calgary where Hart set up his own business. Through a dealer in Hamilton, Ontario, Hart imported slabs of granite and marble from Europe from which he created his lifelike statues. As Hart’s reputation for his artistic ability as a sculptor grew, so did his business.
Hart was approached by the Great War Next of Kin Association in Medicine Hat to create a Cenotaph, a monument to honour fallen soldiers whose remains were buried overseas. The landmark war memorial Hart sculpted features a 5’6” statue of a lone soldier which is made of white Carrera marble, placed on a three-leveled, tapered foursided red granite column supported by a rough grey granite base. The full height of the Cenotaph is 19 feet. It is believed that the model for the white marble statue of the lone soldier was Hart’s young teenage son, Reg. Albert Hart’s success with the Medicine Hat Cenotaph resulted in two other similar commissions in Alberta. Hart created the Cenotaphs at Lacombe and Nanton, each featuring a lone soldier but in different poses, with the model likely being Reg Hart.
Albert J. Hart is buried in Calgary. His epitaph reads “Rock of ages, cleft for me”. Reg Hart became a doctor and practiced as a general practitioner in Vancouver. His cousin Stu Hart, son of Albert’s brother Edward, became a famous Calgary sports figure and father to well-known wrestler Bret “Hitman” Hart.
Engraved into the red granite column are the names of 235 soldiers who died in World War I, mainly in France. Included are the names of two nurses. The nearly 100-year old Medicine Hat Cenotaph has withstood the test of time thanks to the skill of memorial sculptor Albert J. Hart whose own name is etched at the foot of the column.
PHOTOS:
1. Cenotaph 1920s (Esplanade)
2. Fundraising concert advertisement (Medicine Hat News c1921)
3. Albert J. Hart, 1924 (Carol Ritchie)