Thomas Bland Strange

Thomas Bland Strange
Nickname(s)	Gunner Jingo
Born	(1831-09-15)15 September 1831 Meerut, India
Died	9 July 1925(1925-07-09) (aged 93) Camberley, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom Dominion of Canada
Service / branch	British Army Canadian Militia
Years of service	1851–1885
Rank	Major-General
Commands	Alberta Field Force
Battles / wars	Indian Rebellion of 1857 North-West Rebellion Battle of Frenchman's Butte

Thomas Bland Strange (15 September 1831 – 9 July 1925), known as 'Gunner Jingo', was a British soldier noted for his service with the Canadian militia during the North-West Rebellion of 1885. Strange was a retired major-general at the time of the rebellion, and was raising cavalry horses near modern Calgary, Alberta. At the outbreak of the rebellion, his old friend Adolphe-Philippe Caron, who was minister of militia and defence in the government of Sir John A. Macdonald, asked Strange to organize a field force for the District of Alberta. This force, consisting primarily of inexperienced militiamen and a few members of the North-West Mounted Police, participated in the Battle of Frenchman's Butte fighting against forces under the command of Cree leader Big Bear.

Strange's greater importance is as the father of the Canadian artillery and one of the initial organizers of the Canadian army.

External links

• Works by or about Thomas Bland Strange at the Internet Archive
• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online

References

Strange, Thomas Bland. (1893) Gunner Jingo's jubilee, London. Strange's autobiography.