A very Exciting Chapter in Moose Jaw’s History
Hello Readers! Over the next few weeks we hope to enlighten you about an amazing discovery we have made while doing some research on local history. We watched a documentary called THE TRUE INTREPID: The DOCUMENTARY. . The review of this Documentary stated:
“The True Intrepid: Documentary: Churchill’s Secret Weapon. Nazi Germany’s Greatest Foe. Ian Fleming’s Inspiration.
Discover how a hardware salesman changed the fate of nations and helped win WWII. Winner: Best Research, Yorkton Film Festival.”
This documentary was based on the book:
THE TRUE ‘INTREPID’ Sir William Stephenson and the Unknown Agents. The Secret War of William Stephenson—the ’Quiet Canadian’.
by Bill Macdonald which was reviewed by: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Studies in IntelligenceUnclassified Articles, Fall, 2002 They wrote the following: “In 1976 author William Stevenson published a hagiography of Sid William Stephenson “The Man Called Intrepid” (still in print). The book stirred vehement public controversy because reviewers alleged Stevenson had, to put it mildly, embellished the truth. Those familiar with these circumstances might well ask what more is there to be said on the matter. Bill Macdonald has answered ‘a very great deal, indeed.’” When you see a book reviewed by the Central Intelligence Agency it makes you “sit up and take notice.” Ann & I watched the documentary, (48 minutes, 2006) on the History Channel which was based on Macdonald’s book. While we were watching our attention was caught by the film’s taking note of Pat Bayly of Moose Jaw. That really got us excited. Like Wow! Here was a person of note from Moose Jaw and we had never heard anything about this before! The hunt was on! Well of course in the video’s credits it mentioned that the the video was based on this book. So without hesitation we headed over to one of our favorite book sourcing websites: “Abe Books” (www.abebooks. com) and were able to easily find this book. On reading this book we found a full chapter in Macdonald’s book about this man who grew up in Moose Jaw. Benjamin de Forest “Pat” Bayly was born June 20, 1903, in London, Ontario. His parents were Dr. Benjamin Moore Bayly and Alice de Foret (Seaborn) Bayly. Pat Bayly had no siblings. His father was a physician and his mother, Alice de Foret Seaborn, was a nurse. At an early age Bayly’s mother decided he would be known as “Pat”. She apparently shook the family tree and too many ‘Benjamins’ fell out. So we will honor his mother’s wishers and refer to him as “Pat.” In 1905, Dr. Benjamin Moore Bayly with his wife and son Pat moved to Moose Jaw where Dr. Benjamin Moore Bayly became Moose Jaw’s Medical Health Officer, a position he held for over thirty years. Dr. Bayly’s off ice was in the Hammond building on Main St. In a Moose Jaw Times Herald article dated Saturday, December 29, 1945 it is reported that Pat Bayly attended King George elementary school and Central Collegiate high school. In his early years, Pat’s also took music lessons from a Mrs. Mcclellan. This significance will give you a chuckle in a future installment of this article so stay tuned…