ABSTRACT
The Royal Canadian Rifles were a hand-picked regiment in the British army. Desertion rates among British soldiers in regiments stationed in Canada were very high: 12.2 per cent of soldiers deserted in 1833, for example. It was easy for men to cross the American border, knowing that officials of the republic would not return them to the army in Canada. The Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment was formed in the early 1840s to combat the desertion problem, although its success in doing so is debatable: desertion rates did fall after the regiment’s formation, but later rose to 28.3 per cent in 1857. 7 Soldiers in the Royal Canadian Rifles were older, and steadier than most soldiers in the British army. The RCRs were better paid, and men who had been married on the strength retained that status when they transferred to the RCRs from other British regiments. This meant that while the officially allowed number of marriages was twelve per hundred men―twice the normal allowance―the RCRs were a “uniquely domestic regiment” 8 with a married establishment of 38 per cent in 1846. The regiment remained in existence until British troops were withdrawn from Canada in 1871.
By a General Order dated Montreal, 8th April, 1861, the well conducted wives of the Soldiers of this Regiment, who have been married with leave, together with their families, receive free rations. Women who drew rations in their husband’s former corps, continue to draw them in this. A woman’s allowance is half that of a soldier’s; their children under 7 years, one fourth; and children over 7 years, one third. On attaining the age of 14 years, children are struck off rations, nor can the Commanding Officer sanction their continuing to live with their parents in Barracks, it being time they should begin to shift for themselves.
When a married soldier dies, or the wife of a soldier, the family if they were on rations, are immediately struck off the Company’s returns, and are by the Quarter Master placed on the Widows’ and Orphans’ list, under certain regulations (See page 275, Commissariat Regulations and Instructions). On the death of the Father, the family will, if it desires to return to England, receive rations until an opportunity offers itself of sending it home. Families intending to remain in the Colony have no claim to rations for any period. On the death of a Mother, if the children are to be provided for in the Colony, they will have rations issued to them only for such time as may be necessary for them to complete their arrangements. The period of such issue is on no account to exceed three months. If it is the intention of the soldier to send his motherless children home to England, he is allowed three months to communicate with his friends, and rations will be allowed for the children until the occurrence of the first public conveyance after the expiration of the above period. These regulations apply equally to families who are not in receipt of rations previously to the death of the parent. Rations may at once be issued to widows and orphans under these regulations, but application for authority must be made forthwith by the Commanding Officer at the post to the Military Secretary on the station, and it must be clearly stated in the application whether the family intends returning to England, or to remain in the Colony.
