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With the failure of many commemorative initiatives in Toronto in 1912, little momentum carried into 1913. There was the laying of wreaths on Empire Day in May at the Queen’s Park portrait of Laura Secord (the heroine of Beaver Dams) and at the monument to the soldiers of 1812–14, erected in 1902 at Victoria Square by the Army and Navy Veterans, who had a long interest, from at least the 1880s, in the war’s cemeteries and battlefields. As a major publishing centre, Toronto also saw a number of war-related works in 1913–14. The Battle of York, by F. Barlow Cumberland, an imperially minded shipping executive, was the only one that dealt primarily with Toronto. What other commemorative interests then were displayed by Torontonians or in Ontario’s capital? Not all observed the anniversary locally. In October 1912 many enthusiasts and dignitaries had travelled to Niagara to celebrate Brock’s victory at Queenston, an event recounted by archivist Alexander Fraser in 1913. In that year thousands went to mark the victories at Stoney Creek and Crysler’s Farm (east of Morrisburg) and in June 1914 the Canada Steamship Lines ran trips from Toronto to Niagara-on-the-Lake, where excursionists viewed “relics of 1812” and other attractions. The following month, jubilant groups, among them Laura Secord’s cultish devotees, went from Toronto to Lundy’s Lane and Beaver Dams for celebrations at these famous Niagara battle sites. In Toronto remembrance could also be shaped by living memory: with numerous local veterans of the North-West uprising of 1885 still alive in May 1913, fêting the battle of Batoche had a vibrant core. An obvious focus in Toronto in 1913 was the anniversary of the battle of York, fought on 27 April 1813. The event was marked by Cumberland’s enthusiastic booklet, which received a little advertisement in the Globe. At best, most local dailies and weeklies published only small articles or notices on the Centennial, with no mentions of the old fort’s fate. The piece appeared in the “Romance of the Mail and Empire’s Past: Stories Gathered from the History of Toronto and Its Environs,” a column by “E.L.M.” Far more prominent was the illustrated, two-page spread written for John Ross Robertson’s by Lyman B. Jackes, then an aspiring young Evening Telegram journalist. The original manuscript of York’s capitulation, on display at the Toronto Public Library, was reproduced in the on 28 April. As well, Robertson commissioned a Telegram panoramic painting of the battle by Owen Staples, part of a group intended for display at City Hall. By and large, British defeats were not popular for commemorations throughout Ontario in 1912–14. Newspaper coverage understandably centred more on current news,
Locally, interest in the 1812 war waned after April 1913. Cumberland would die on 1 September. His booklet was the proposed beginning of a centennial series on the war by the William Briggs firm, but nothing followed. Quickly outdated, is riddled with historical inaccuracies The Battle of York and bias. Still, as a noble mission of commemoration, it unapologetically promoted the defence of York, “our Upper Canada field of Abraham,” and the campaign in 1913 to restore the the old fort and maintain it “as a national monument,” overcoming public neglect. Indeed, restoration of the fort was the main effort carried over from 1912, only to falter before bureaucratic disinterest and the requirements of an all-engrossing new war. In 1912, under pressure from various historical groups, the city, which had taken over the site, had committed to restoring the dilapidated fort to commemorate the War of 1812. But in 1913 only some repair work was accomplished, just as commemorative events elsewhere in the province were grandly unfolding. By 1914, with ongoing financial quibbling in city council, new gates had been erected and some more repairs were undertaken by the city. With Cumberland gone, most of the supplication was made by Major William A. Collins, the public-spirited, long-time president of the local Army and Navy Veterans’ Association, who equally understood the needs of the army. Since buildings were still in use by the ordnance department, the use of the fort and grounds for martial purposes gained priority as war clouds darkened. In August 1914, after the outbreak of World War I overseas, the city formally turned over to the military the road through the fort, which had serviced the CNE’s eastern entrance. Troop assembly and the guarding of ordnance now took precedence. Erecting telephone poles and restoration work such as strengthening floors were geared to military ends rather than conservation. By the fall city staff, reflecting the mindset of many on council, were stating that budget estimates were meant to maintain the fort merely as a park or to meet military exigencies. As Canada cast itself as a dominion at war, interest in the long-ago conflict of 1812–14 faded. An article on naval battles by Mrs. M. E. Harlow in (Toronto) in Maclean’s December 1913 was a rare return to the yarns of 1812–14. In March 1914 W. R. Riddell, a judge known for his provocative opinions, felt at liberty to characterize the War
of 1812–14, the reported, “as the most inhumane and Star unnecessary in history.” Periodic references to the struggle in the Toronto press ranged from explanations of current war policy to the “memories” of three local lawyers whose British grandfather had survived the conflict’s last battle at New Orleans. If there was any commemorative continuity, it was provided by J. R. Robertson and the Army and Navy Veterans. The single most important celebratory project in Toronto, Fort York, would have to wait more than a decade for forgetfulness to dispel and restoration to resume. Paradoxically, the most lasting reminder in Toronto of the 1812 Centennial was the founding of Laura Secord Candy Shops by Frank O’Connor. He opened his first outlet on Yonge Street on 20 October 1913 and named it for a woman whose reputation had become synonymous with Canadian heroism. The company was incorporated in November 1916 during the Great War, thus moving Laura from one patriotic front to another.
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