BIFHSGO November Meeting

The main presentation on Saturday, 18 November 2017 is:

Not So Quiet on the Western Front - The Grants of Formby in the Great War 
Presented by Tara Grant
10:00 am to 11:30 am.

Tara Grant’s grandfather, Alexander Henry Grant, and his three brothers, George, John Leslie and Douglas, all served with the British army during WWI. Enlisting in the Territorial Army, the brothers served in different regiments and battalions and fought at many of the major battles including Hill 60, Vimy, Carporetto, Canal du Nord and Cambrai. Combining their service records with the Regimental war diaries and newspapers it was possible to follow their military careers through the four years of the Great War. Overcoming her fear of researching the mass of First World War records (what is a brigade?) has added enormously to Tara’s understanding of the harrowing years her grandfather and his brothers experienced.

Tara Grant's ancestry is predominantly British and Scottish with a little Loyalist, German, French Huguenot and East India Company (although there is a half Dutch-Moroccan pirate way back on the tree). Working on her family history taught her more about Canadian and British history than she ever learned in school. Tara works as an archaeological conservator for the Canadian Conservation Institute (another way to learn history you were never taught in school).

The warm-up educational presentation is:

Using the Collections of the Military History Research Centre to Aid and Augment Genealogy 
Presented by Carol Reid
9:00 am to 9:30 am.
Carol Reid is the collections manager, one of two archivists in the Military History Research Centre at the Canadian War Museum. She trained as a museum professional and has more than 30 years of experience in a variety of museums and archives in Ottawa. She has been with the Canadian War Museum for the last 29 years and been responsible for the acquisition, cataloguing, and care of the museum’s paper and audio archive collections for 18 years.

Join us in The Chamber, Ben Franklin Place, 101 Centrepointe Drive, Ottawa, Ontario.

Between presentations there will be displays of military related artifacts from members.

REMINDER. A significant winter storm is expected this weekend. Ottawa is likely to be near the line between rain and snow -- not so quiet on the warm front! Before leaving for the meeting check your email for a possible cancellation notice sent to BIFHSGO members by 8 am.