1. Percy Girouard's father was a wealthy French-Canadian lawyer who went on to become a Conservative MP and Supreme Court justice while his mother was an Irish immigrant.
19 Facts About Percy Girouard
1. 2.
Percy Girouard graduated first in his class as an engineer, and was the first Roman Catholic ever to be awarded a degree in engineering at the Royal Military College.
3.
Percy Girouard worked for two years on the Canadian Pacific Railway's "International Railway of Maine" in Greenville, Maine, before he was commissioned in the Royal Engineers in 1888.
4.
Quickly earning a reputation as a very able and tough railroad man due to his work in Maine led to Percy Girouard being offered a position in Britain in 1890.
5.
Percy Girouard's family wanted him to stay in Canada, but Percy Girouard wanted to see the world by building railroads all over the British Empire.
6.
On 20 March 1896, the town of Akasheh was taken by Sir Archibald Hunter, and Percy Girouard went to work building a railroad across the desert.
7.
Percy Girouard had to establish two technical schools to train his Sudanese workers about how to work as station masters, yard shunters and signalers as none of those skills were known in the Sudan which had never known railroads.
8.
Percy Girouard frequently traveled up and down the railroad, supervising the work as he had little faith in the ability of his Sudanese workers to build a railroad on their own.
9.
When Kitchener purchased several locomotives that Percy Girouard deemed too light to operate in the desert, the latter went to Britain to personally buy heavier locomotives from the United States and while borrowing several more from Cecil Rhodes in South Africa.
10.
The strong-willed Percy Girouard was well known for his willingness to argue with Kitchener, a man whom many found to be very intimidating, and despite their frequent disagreements Kitchener never sacked him.
11.
Percy Girouard received the Distinguished Service Order following the defeat of the Sudanese.
12.
In October 1899 Percy Girouard was sent by the War Office to South Africa to advise on the railway situation of the Cape Colony.
13.
Percy Girouard was mentioned in dispatches, received the South Africa Medal, and in November 1900 he was knighted as a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George for his service in the war.
14.
Percy Girouard remained in South Africa as Commissioner of the Railways until pressure from the Johannesburg mine owners to reduce railway expenses forced his resignation in 1904.
15.
Percy Girouard was responsible for building a railway from Baro, on the Niger River, 366 miles north to the ancient city of Kano.
16.
Percy Girouard then served as Commissioner of the British East Africa Protectorate from 1909 to 1912.
17.
From 1912 until 1923 Percy Girouard remained at Armstrong's except for a brief period in 1915 when the "Shell Crisis" forced the British Government to abandon its "business as usual" policy.
18.
Mount Percy Girouard, which is located in the Bow River Valley south of Lake Minnewanka, Fairholme Range, in Banff National Park, Alberta.
19.
The Percy Girouard Academic Building at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, was named in his honour in 1977.