Crest Vol. 20 No. 3 Fall 2019

VOLUME 20 NUMBER 3 FALL 2019

THE CREST

NEWS AND VIEWS OF THE SALVATIONS ARMY
ARCHIVES CANADA AND BERMUDA TERRITORY

Order of the Founder
Descendants Visit
The Archives

Elizabeth Wilkins and Dorothy McCaughan visit-
ed the Archives for a very special occasion — to
make a treasured gift of their mother’s long ser-
vice medal and their grandfather’s original
“Order of the Founder” Certificate to the ar-
chives collection.

Elizabeth (l) presents her mother’s Their grandfather, Major Leonard Andrew Kirby Elizabeth (l) and Dorothy (r)
(Col. Isabella Kirby) long service was granted the Order of the Founder by Gen- hold the Red Cross banner that
medal, and Dorothy (r) presents her eral Eric Wickberg in 1972, and their father, flew from their father Colonel
grandfathers Order of The Founder Colonel Leonard Kirby received that distinction Leonard Kirby’s car during the
a decade later in 1982 from General Jarl Wahl-
Certificate to the Archives. strom. They are the only father and son to have Biafran relief efforts.

been so recognized since the Order was insti-
tuted in 1917. Though both father and son
claimed Canada as their homeland, neither had
an appointment in the Canada Bermuda Territo-
ry, but served their entire officership in Africa.

As we spent time with Elizabeth and Dorothy,
we retrieved a treasured item—a box contain-

ing sixteen scrapbooks, carefully bound in four

volumes. These scrapbooks were meticulously
kept, containing official correspondence, news-
Majors Leonard and Rose with son paper clippings, War Cry articles, personal let-
Leonard and daughter Rose in ters and cards, memoirs, photos, and countless

front of their first home at Howard. items that tell the story of these two greathearts

of the Army and their work and ministry. Rec-
orded in these pages is the unfolding narrative Baby Elizabeth pictured with
of over seven decades and two generations of parents Leonard and Isobel
remarkable mission endeavors from the early at Howard Institute.
1920’s to well into the 1990’s.

Elizabeth with friend at Howard

Major Leonard (sr), along with his wife Rose and Institute sitting on the school
family left the shores of their homeland and
‘bell’

Major Leonard at the 50th anni- landed in what was then Rhodesia in the early
versary of Howard Institute and 1920’s. Midst extraordinary hardships, flooded
the official opening of a new lands and homes, sleeping in temporary shel-

school for children with leprousy. ters, and with his own initiative and the help of
The school was named after him. the local people, constructed what is now the

(article continued on page 2)

THE CREST

Page 2

Salvationists Tour
Archives and Museum

CSM Wayne Scheer from Berkshire Corps in
Calgary, and Karen Vaughan from London,

Ontario were taken on a tour of some of the

Army’s historical sights in Toronto. After a
drive past the site of the old CFOT at 2130

Bayview Avenue (now located in Winnipeg),

Archives staff welcome Retired and the even older Training College on 24
CSM Wayne Scheer from Cal- Davisville Avenue, where the Meighan Cen-
gary Bershire Corps, and Karen Wayne proudly holds the original
tre now stands, they visited the Army’s plot HIllhurst flag he carried in Calgary
Bowden from London, Ontario. at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. Rising 30 me-
ters west of the impressive Empress of Ire- Stampede Parades for many years.

land monument is the Butchart and Eastwood Monument that
marks the place where the First Officers were buried in Mount

Pleasant Cemetery in 1884.

Highlight of the visit after a stop at the Museum, was the Ar-
chives. where Karen uncovered the original photo of her re-
ceiving the General’s Guide Award as a young girl. And
Wayne was able to hold once again, the original flag he car-
ried in Calgary Stampede Parades for over 30 years.

Karen displays the original Karen writes:
photo of her Receving the This is a department of our great organization that does not for-

General’s guide Award . get those that blazed the trail before. Thanks to The Archives
for the experience of a life time .

OF Descendants visit archives (continued from page 1)

world renowned Howard Institute and Hospital. Just a few years later,
his son, young Leonard, was appointed to that same place, where he

met and married a young nurse named Isobel, started their young

family, and served there for 11 years. These pages relate the pioneer
ingenuity of young Leonard as well, who, like his father, founded,

constructed, and established a new clinic at Tshelanyemba, Rhodesia

(now Zimbabwe). Recognizing a critical medical need in the area,
but with no resources for the foreseeable future, Col. Leonard set
Dorothy bids farewell to her parents,
about the task of gathering tons of bones from dead animals due to Cols. Len and Isobel upon their depar-
ture to take appointment as Territorial
the drought, and sold those bones to be ground into fertilizer. Funds Leaders of Nigeria. Dorothy re-
generated were used to construct the new hospital! mained behind in Salisbury, Rhodesia

This father/son impact continued well on into retire- (Zimbabwe) to continue her studies.
ment. The elder served for three decades in Zambia and Rhodesia mainly among lep-

ers and their families. Kirby the younger returned to Zimabwe to oversee resettlement

and relief work, and to Ghana to undertake temporary territorial leadership.

Our lives here at the archives have been enriched by this inspirational visit. Thanks to
Elizabeth and Dorothy for allowing us to share a couple of hours of with them.

For a fuller summary of this incredible story, see a series of 12 articles by Major Aubrey
Barfoot entitled Missionary with Many Caps in the April—June, 1989 War Cry See link or
visit https://salvationist.ca/archives-and-museum/war-cry-salvationist-archive/

VOLUME 20 NUMBER 3 FALL 2019

RED SHIELD SERVICES RESEARCHERS VISIT ARCHIVES Page 3

Matthew Piciotto and his wife Nicole are sol-
diers of Martinsburg, West Virginia Corps in
the USA Southern Territory. Matthew is an
EDS Volunteer and Nicole is employed by the
Army as a Social Worker.

They have a passionate interest in the Army’s Matthew Piciotto
Red Shield Services particularly during WWI I Chaplain Uniform
WWII. This pursuit has led them to contact
Army Archives from around the world. Re-
cently, Matthew, along with companion Cody
Fisher, and his father-in-law, paid his second visit to our Archives here in To-

ronto and spent an entire day pouring through the photos, documents, records,
and artifacts about Red Shield Services. Matthew notes that the Archives here
has one of the best collections on the topic that he has seen.

Matthew and Nicole put their knowledge and research to use by undertaking
re-enactments a number of times—particularly in May 2018, and May and Sep-
tember, 2019. This included setting up Red Shield Centers, making authentic
fresh WWII donuts, serving coffee, distributing items, providing entertain-
ment, and other interesting activities, just as they did in the original days.

Here are some scenes from those re-enactments

Nicole Piciotto
Khaki Uniform depicting

location in Egypt
Notice CVWW Badge

Council of Volunteer War Work

Matthew Writes:
Readers of “The Crest” may
want to seek out a copy of
“Red Shield in Action” by
Scott Young, published in
1949. It does an excellent
job of documenting the Ca-
nadian War Services of The
Salvation Army during
WW2.
Our Archives has a copy of this book. For further information, readers are in-
vited to visit the Canadian War Museum website at:

https://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibitions/salvationarmy/index_e.html

What an interesting and inspiring visit. Thanks to Matthew and his crew for
coming. We hope to see them again!

THE SALVATION ARMY ARCHIVES, CANADA AND BERMUDA TERRITORY
26 HOWDEN ROAD, TORONTO ON M1R 3E4

HIDDEN TREASURES WE ARE ON THE WEB:

By WWW.HERITAGE.SALVATIONARMY.CA

Major Donna Millar

One of the fascinating roles of ar-
chives staff is to respond to research
requests, which takes us to every
shelf, drawer, file cabinet, and cor-
ner of the archives room. While
searching for one item or topic, it is
common to come across other relat-
ed or even unrelated items. How
difficult it can be to suppress a new
and unexpected curiosity until there
is time for it. This was particularly
true one day when I found a “hidden
treasure”.

I had searched unsuccessfully for a
hundred-year-old photo. Our
search engine revealed that this pic-
ture was also in the form of a glass
side. But the slide was not in the in-
dicated box. Wanting to fulfill this
research request, I decided to look
in every box—about 1,500 slides.
No success. However, the second
last slide caused me to take in my breath, for here was a treasure, hidden in a century-old wooden box
on the bottom shelf at the far wall of the archives room.

Here is a drawing of Jesus Christ and William Booth. You can see Christ’s crown of thorns and the nail
print in His hand. You could say that Booth looks tired and worn, leaning into Jesus who is embracing
him, receiving him into heaven. Printed on the arch behind them are the words,

“WELL DONE THOU GOOD AND FAITHFUL SERVANT”.
There are three letters at the bottom right corner – “wja”.

This slide would have been shown through “magic lantern” projection. I wonder how many people
saw this image of Christ and William Booth, projected on a wall or a large screen, or even on the out-
side wall of a building. I wonder how this copy ended up in our collection.

We would be so pleased if anyone can help us discover the origin of this hidden treasure.

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YOUTH VOLUNTEERS AT ARCHIVES

Grade 8 student Sean Millar uses his PD day off
from school to volunteer at the Archives helping
his grandmother sort and orgnanize books. Both
are looking like they are having fun — but they
did get a lot of work done!