Major Duncan Stuart, officer and lawyer
While some soldiers experience difficulties in transitioning between military and civilian life, that was never the case for Duncan Stuart.
Stuart moved seamlessly between the worlds of ranching, law, mining, writing and war during his lifetime.
Born in Ontario, Stuart first turned to ranching as a livelihood while still a young adult. However, he soon became attracted to the idea of becoming a lawyer and moved to London, Ont., where he studied and practised law.
While there, a call went out for Canadians to enlist and help fight in the Boer War. Stuart answered that call, joining the London Regiment and serving in South Africa until the war ended.
South Africa was a unique place — very different from his homeland of Canada — so when the war ended, Stuart decided to stay and experience more of the country. He became registrar of mining rights in Johannesburg until 1908 when he decided it was time to return home.
After a short stint in Edmonton, Stuart landed in Calgary where he worked as a lawyer and became well known around town.
However, when the First World War started, Stuart again answered the call to serve his country. His first post was as commander of the internment camp at Castle Mountain.
The camps had been established to intern some immigrants from Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria. The Canadian government was worried these people were, or could become, “enemy aliens” and hamper the Allied war effort.
More than 8,000 immigrants became prisoners of war in Canada.
At the same time, the government was allocating less budget to its national parks; so, the parks commissioner successfully lobbied the government to allow these prisoners of war to become low-cost labourers.
After Stuart’s posting at the Banff internment camp, he was sent to Europe with the rank of major. Among the honours he received for his work there was the Military Cross, awarded for leading a trench raid in February 1916.
When the war ended, Stuart returned to Calgary where he became a lawyer and community leader.
He became increasingly concerned with land management, soil erosion and water issues, which resulted in him writing a number of pamphlets and articles, and finally a book (The Canadian Desert) on the topic.
“To predict trouble is an ungrateful task, but to conceal the truth is an unworthy one,” Stuart wrote, noting that repetitive farming of a single crop on the same parcel of land was damaging to the soil. He advocated crop rotation and mixed farming as ways to keep farmland fertile in Western Canada.
Always an organizer, he also rounded up a group of local golfers to found the city’s Earl Grey Golf Course in 1919. He led the charge on leasing land from Canadian Pacific Railways and building a course that originally consisted of five holes.
He died in Calgary in 1946.