Colonel Louis Scott, DCM
By Lt. Will Shandro,
Official Canadian Historian, History and Archives Section,
Legion of Frontiersmen (Countess Mountbatten's Own)
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Louis Scott was born in Brighton, England in July 1887. He qualified as an architect but then served in the Royal Engineers and the Royal Sussex Garrison Artillery until he moved to Canada in 1909 and there he worked as a Civil Engineer. At the outbreak of War in 1914 he joined P.P.C.L.I.. He was wounded at Ypres in June 1916 and again at Vimy in May 1917. At Ypres he rescued the regimental colours from a mortally wounded Canadian soldier and carried them back through enemy lines to headquarters. He was awarded the D.C.M., was commissioned, and finished as a Major. In 1918 the R.A.F. borrowed Scott as instructor for officer training and Commandant of the Central School of Instruction. One of the trainees was Prince Albert, Duke of York, later King George VI, and one day on the parade ground Prince Albert broke ranks without permission. As punishment, Scott ordered the Prince to get a haircut. |
In 1919 Scott returned to Canada where he worked for the Soldier Settlement Board. The Legion of Frontiersmen had been strong in Canada before the War, but efforts in the 1920s to re-invigorate them had proved largely unsuccessful until Scott was approached and became Dominion Commandant. This proved a good move as he was the right man for the task and the Legion went from strength to strength. This culminated in October 1936 with the official affiliation of the Legion of Frontiersmen to the R.C.M.P. Scott had already organised a splendid Field Headquarters at Fort Scott on Hastings Lake where a monument, which is clearly visible today, was erected in memory of all Frontiersmen who had given their lives.
When King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited Canada in 1939 the Frontiersmen were asked to help. It was on this trip that Queen Elizabeth (known to us as the Queen Mother) broke with tradition and made the first ever "Royal walkabout" in the crowd. On the film of the occasion it is just possible to see some Frontiersmen controlling the crowd and holding the car door for the Queen. At Edmonton the King asked to meet Scott again and they had a friendly chat. "You haven't changed much", the King said to Scott.
| Unfortunately, the Frontiersmen have always suffered the odd member whose ability did not equal his ambition. On a visit to London in 1938, a Captain Fitzgerald of Quebec went to see the Commandant-General, Brigadier Morton. He suggested that Canada was too big a country for one man. Morton agreed, and unilaterally decreed that Fitzgerald should command Eastern Canada and Scott should only command Western Canada. This caused a furore that ended with the R.C.M.P. terminating their affiliation and Canadian Division seceding, causing wounds that have not yet fully healed over 60 years later. Morton's great success was the coming together of the Legion of Frontiersmen and the I.O.L. of F., but he is remembered today solely for his foolhardy action over Canada.
In the Second War, Col. Scott became a recruiting officer and then moved to Calgary to take charge of advanced training. |
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After the War he returned to his birth place of Brighton and died there in May, 1967. So passed another great Frontiersman who the Legion never honoured as it should. Col. Scott had one son, Kenneth, who was living in Kingston-on Thames in 1967. It would be nice to trace him or his family, so if anyone can help us with this we would be grateful.
INFORMATION FROM Edmonton City Archives and "The History of the Legion of Frontiersmen (Canadian Division)" by Brigadier A. Mack
God Guard Thee
Legion of Frontiersmen Australian Division, Copyright 2002 ©.
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www.frontiersmen.org.au
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