TORONTO OF OLD. 109 



Brigade at Balaclava in ISoO, now so renowned in history and song, but who, of all the six 

 hundred there, won the highest meed of glory. Six feet three inches in stature, a most 

 jiowerfnl and most skilful swordsman, and a stranger to fear, Lieut. Dunn, instead of consulting 

 his own safety in the midst of that frightful and untoward mele, deliberately interposed for the 

 protection of his comrades in arms. Old troopers of the Eleventh Hussars long told with 

 kindly eyes how the young lieutenant seeing Sergeant Bentley of his own regiment attacked 

 from behind by two or three Russian lancers, rushed upon them single-handed, and cut them 

 down ; how he saved the life of Sergeant Bond ; how Private Levett owed his safety to the 

 same friendly arm, when assailed by a Russian Hussar. Kinglake, the historian of the 

 Crimean war, records that tlie Victoria Cross placed at the disposal of the Eleventh Hussars 

 was unanimously awarded by them to Lieut. Dunn ; the only cavalry officer who obtained the 

 distinction. To the enthusiasm inspired by his brOliant reputation was mainly due the speedy 

 formation in Canada of the Hundredth Regiment, the Prince of Wales' Royal Canadian 

 Regiment, in 1857. Of this regiment, chiefly raised tlirough his instrumentality, Mr. Dunn was 

 gazetted the first major ; and on the retirement of the Baron de Rottenburg from its com- 

 mand, he succeeded as its Lieutenant Colonel. In 1864 he was gazetted full Colonel : at the 

 time he had barely completed his twenty-seventh year. Impatient of inactivity, he caused 

 himself to be transferred to a command in India, where he speedily attracted the notice of 

 General Napier, afterwards Lord Napier of Magdala ; and he accompanied that officer in the 

 expedition against King Theodore of Abyssinia. While halting at Senate in that country, he 

 was accidently killed by the sudden explosion of his rifle while out shooting deer. The 

 sequel can best be given, as well as an impression of the feelings of his immediate associates 

 on tire deplorable occasion, by quoting the touching words of a letter addressed at the time to 

 a near relative of Colonel Dunn, by a brother officer : 



"In no regiment," says this friend, "was ever a commanding officer so missed as the one we 

 have just so unhappily lost : such a courteous, thorough gentleman in word and deed, so 

 thoughtful for others, so perfect a soldier, so confldence-inspiring a leader. Every soldier in 

 the regiment misses Colonel Dunn ; he was a friend, and felt to be such, to every one of them. 

 The regiment will never have so universally esteemed a commander again. We aU feel that. 

 For myself I feel that I have lost a brother who can never be replaced. I can scarcely jet - 

 realize that the dear fellow is really dead, and as I pass his tent every morning I involuntarily 

 turn my head, expecting to hear his usual kind salutation, and to see the dear, handsome face 

 that has never looked at me but with kindness. I breakfasted with him on the morning of the 

 25th, and he looked so well as he started off with our surgeon for a day's shooting. Little did 

 I think that I had looked on his dear old face for the last time in life. * * * i cannot describe 

 to you what a shock the sad news was to every one, both in my regiment and indeed in every 

 one in tlie camp. Our dear Colonel was so well known, and so universally liked and 

 respected." 



" Next day, Sunday, the 26th of January, he was buried about 4 o'clock p.m. I went to look 

 at the dear old fellow, before his coffin was closed, and his poor face, though looking so cold, 

 ■was yet so handsome, and the expression of it, so peaceful and happy. I cut oflf some of his 

 hair, which lately he wore very short, a lock of which I now send you, keeping one for myself, 

 as the most valuable souvenir I could have of one I loved very dearly. And I knelt down to 

 give his cold forehead a long farewell kiss. He was buried in uniform, as he had often expressed 

 a wish to me to that effect. Every officer in the camp .attended his funeral, and, of course, the 

 whole of his own regiment, in which there was not a single dry eye, as all stood round the 

 grave of their lost commander. He has been buried in a piece of ground near where our camij 

 now stands, at the foot of a small hill covered with shrubbery and many wild flowers. We 

 have had railings put round the grave, and a stone is to be placed there with the inscription : 

 In memory of A. R. Dunn, V.C., Col. 33rd Regiment, who died at Senafe on the 25th January, 

 1S6S, aged 34 years and 7 months." 



Thus in remote Abyssinia rest the mortal remains of one who in the happy unconscious- 

 ness of cliildhood, sported here in the grounds and groves which we are now passing on 

 Queen Street. In numerous other regions of the earth, once seemingly as unlikely to be their 

 respective final resting-places, repose the remains of Canadian youth, who have died in the 

 public service of England. We are sharing in the fortune and history of the mother country, 



