72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - waughfamily.ca

INTRODUCTIONada had drawn many immigrants from the "land of theheather and the flood."Scottish names are found in the history of the warlike doings of a century and a century and ahalf ago. Scottish names are abundant in the old directoriesof Montreal, Halifax, Toronto and Hamilton ;while furtherwest were found settlements in which the Scottish elementpredominated.When the trek to Vancouver took place, this Scottish element of the Eastern part of the Dominion furnished its fullquota. While there were many who came here direct fromScotland, there were more who came after they or theirfathers, and in some cases their grandfathers, had been formany years settled in Eastern Canada. Nor in consideringthe Scotsman in Western Canada must those Scottish explorers be forgotten, who, with characteristic energy andcourage, first penetrated Western Canadian wilds. The chieffactors of the Hudson s Bay Co. and other trading companieswere in many cases Scotchmen, and they and their descendants were among the earliest of the white population ofB.C.Given, therefore, a Scottish, and consequently a clannishelement in the population of Vancouver the; presence amongthem of men not only of financial standing but of publicspirit, and it is evident that the conditions were ripe for theformation of a Highland regiment, a military organizationthat should embody the soldierly ideas, the uniform and thespecial characteristics which have ever belonged to thewearer of the kilt.A regiment of the Canadian militia, the 6th, the honourable record of which has been worthily maintained in therecent war, had for some years existed in Vancouver, whenthe movement in favour of a Highland regiment came intobeing. We must look among the annals and traditions ofthe Scottish race for the impelling motives which were atthe back of the new and additional organization. Pursuingthis quest, we find that modern Vancouver is linked with