Lovers of the Horse 



149 



MAJOR JAMES HAROLD ELMSLEY 



MAJOR ELMSLEV l)elongs to an English family of niilitarv and true sports- 

 man tnulitions. His father is Remigius Elmsley, Esq., of Elmsley Place. 

 Toronto, whose jjicturesque residence at the head of a quiet little avenue off 

 St. Joseph Street is like a gal)led Old Country retreat rather than a home in the Itusv. 

 commercial centre of Ontario. The son. James Harold Elmsley. has always been 

 at home in the saddle, a fondness for the ]iony i)eing manifest as soon as the small Itov 

 was al)le to mount. The Elmsley family, like scvci-.-d of England's historic house- 

 holds, are attacheil to the Church of 

 Rome, and it was to Cardinal Newman's 

 College in England that the future Major 

 was sent for early instruction. It was 

 soon evident that he was destined for a 

 military career, and his attention became 

 directed to studies pertaining to soldierly 

 life and, incidentally, to all s})orts asso- 

 ciated with a horseman's activities. 



In 1898, the young candidate for 

 military honours obtained a commission 

 in the Governor-General's Hodv Guarfl, 



anil then in the Royal CanadianDragoons 

 When the war broke out between Briton 

 and Boer, he went to South Africa with 

 the first contingent from Canada, as 

 Lieutenant in "A" Squadron, Royal Can- 

 adian Dragoons. In the strenuous cam- 

 paigns of that (onthct. he ditl splendid 

 service, acting for some time as A.D.C. 

 to Major-General Ilutton. a former (ien- 

 eral Officer commanding in Canada, who 

 commanded a .Mounted Infantry Column. 

 In that stubbornlv-contested strife, good 

 horsemanship was of the utmost value, 

 and this young officer's skill and efficiency 

 in this respect was of good service, both in the personal and patriotic sense. He was 

 not without experience of the discomforts and dangers of actual warfare, and was 

 wounded in one engagement. However, the honour of being mentioned in the de- 

 spatches, and receiving the Queen's Medal with five clasps, was military distinction 

 worthy of suffering in the service. 



Promotion came rapidly in the days which callcil for prompt action, and the second 

 time this Canadian officer went out to South Afiica it was to the Western Transvaal, 



Major James Harold H)lmsley 



