Garnet Hughes | |
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Brigadier General Garnet Hughes, July 1916
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Born |
Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
22 April 1880
Died | 12 April 1937 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
(aged 56)
Allegiance | Canada |
Service/branch | Canadian Expeditionary Force |
Years of service | 1899–1920 |
Rank | Major General |
Commands held |
1st Canadian Division 5th Canadian Division |
Battles/wars | |
Awards |
Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George Distinguished Service Order Mentioned in Despatches |
Relations | Sam Hughes (father) |
Other work | Civil engineer |
Major General Garnet Burk Hughes CB, CMG, DSO (22 April 1880 – 13 April 1937) was a Canadian military officer during the First World War. Although he had shown promise as a cadet officer and was politically well-connected, he was judged not to be an able combat officer and, in the latter half of the war, was shunted away from the front lines to administrative roles.
Garnet Hughes was born on Homewood Avenue in Toronto, the first son of Nellie Hughes (née Burk), and Sam Hughes, his name possibly in honour of General Sir Garnet Wolseley, leader of the Red River Expedition of 1870. In 1892, when Garnet was 12, his father was elected to the House of Commons; by 1911, Sam Hughes had risen to the post of Minister of Militia in the government of Sir Robert Borden.
Garnet entered the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, taking the top entrance examination score. While there, he rose to battalion sergeant-major, and was awarded the gold medal, and the sword of honour. Upon graduation in 1901, he was placed on the Reserve of Officers as a Lieutenant of Engineers, and was offered a commission with the Royal Engineers at Woolwich, England. However, his father opposed this, so for some time he worked as an engineer for the Canadian Northern Railway, and later became Chief Engineer for the Dominion Department of Public Works on Vancouver Island. On arriving in Victoria, British Columbia, Hughes joined the Canadian militia as a part-time officer. He also met Elizabeth Irene Bayliss Newling and married her in 1910. The couple had one son, Samuel.