16 Facts About Kenneth Stuart

Kenneth Stuart joined the Royal Canadian Engineers and received further training at the School of Military Engineering in Chatham, England.

Kenneth Stuart returned to Canada in 1913 and was posted to the 1st Fortress Company in Halifax.

At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Kenneth Stuart commanded a battery of searchlights in the harbour of Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Kenneth Stuart remained in this post for several more months, during which time he received a promotion from lieutenant to captain on 5 July 1915, before being sent overseas to France in late 1915, where he initially served with the 1st Army Troops Company, Canadian Engineers, one of the first mechanized engineer units then on the Western Front.

Kenneth Stuart subsequently joined the 7th Field Company, part of the 3rd Canadian Division, and, after being promoted again, this time to the brevet rank of major, on 26 February 1917, he won the Military Cross in 1917, although he was slightly wounded in the process.

Kenneth Stuart was promoted to the acting rank of lieutenant-colonel a week later.

Kenneth Stuart was to remain in the army during the interwar period, returning to Canada soon after the armistice.

Kenneth Stuart's service was typical for an officer of that time period, moving to and from several military districts, initially as Temporary Senior Engineer Officer with the 13th Military District in Calgary, Alberta, a post he held from May 1919 until May 1920.

Shortly after the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Kenneth Stuart was appointed commandant of the Royal Military College of Canada and was promoted to the temporary rank of brigadier on October 15,1939.

Kenneth Stuart succeeded Harry Crerar, who went to London in a senior staff appointment.

Kenneth Stuart tried numerous times to escape over the next few months but it would not be until July 1940 when his wish was granted due to Crerar returning to Canada where he assumed the position of Chief of the General Staff.

Kenneth Stuart immediately made Stuart deputy chief of the general staff, which included being an army member on the Permanent Joint Board on Defence.

In December 1943 he was appointed acting general officer commanding of the First Canadian Army in England and then, after Crerar returned from Italy to assume command, in March 1944 Kenneth Stuart was made chief of staff at Canadian Military Headquarters in England.

Kenneth Stuart died, due in large part to the illnesses which had been a constant grievance for many years, on 3 November 1945, just a few weeks after his fifty-fourth birthday.

Kenneth Stuart's estate was tiny and, although his military career had spanned thirty-five years, his widow received a pension of just $180 a month.

Kenneth Stuart was married to Marguerite Dorothy Kenneth Stuart, nee Bauld, of Halifax; he had met her in England in 1916.