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Jan 24, 2019 · The direct, serious eyes of Sam Steele were a sign of the strength and leadership to come. Born at Purbrooke, Medonte Township near Orillia, Upper Canada (Ontario) on January 5, 1849, Samuel Benfield Steele’s father, Elmes Steel, was a Captain in the Royal Navy for 30 years, his grandfather and uncle were also military men.
- Early Life and Education
- North-West Mounted Police
- North-West Rebellion
- Klondike Gold Rush
- South African War
- First World War
- Family and Personal Life
- Significance and Legacy
- Honours and Awards
Sam Steele was the first child of his father, Elmes Steele’s, second marriage, to Anne MacIan Macdonald. Elmes was a naval officer and politician. His mother died when he was nine and he was raised from that point by his older half-brother, John Steele. He attended school in Orillia, Canada West. Steele wanted to be a soldier from his earliest year...
When the Canadian government organized the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) in 1873, Sam Steele was one of the first to join as staff constable (a rank later changed to troop sergeant major). His first important duties came in 1876 and 1877, when he made arrangements for the negotiations of Treaty 6 and Treaty 7 (see also Numbered Treaties). Promot...
Moving west with the advancing rails, Sam Steele was in the Rogers Pass when the North-West Rebellion began in March 1885. Steele was recalled to Calgary, where he was tasked with organizing and commanding the scouting contingent for Major General T.B. Strange’s Alberta Field Force. Steele’s Scouts performed well, which led to his promotion to supe...
Large gold discoveries in the Yukon in 1896 caught the Canadian government completely unprepared (see Klondike Gold Rush). International press criticism of the chaotic situation there resulted in Sam Steele’s appointment to command a large contingent of 250 NWMP in the territory. Travelling to Skagway, Alaska, in January 1898, Steele organized cust...
War had broken out by that time in South Africa between the British and the Boer republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State (see Canada and the South African War). At the end of 1899, the Canadian government had bowed to public pressure and agreed to send military support to the British. In December, Sam Steele was appointed second-in-com...
When the First World War began in 1914, Sam Steele was 66 and contemplating retirement, but his experience and reputation were too valuable to ignore. Once it became apparent that the war would not be over by Christmas, he was promoted to major general and given command of the 2nd Canadian Division, although the British secretary of state for war, ...
In 1889, Sam Steele met Marie Elizabeth de Lotbinière Harwood, who was visiting her aunt at Fort Macleod from her home at Vaudreuil, Quebec. The two immediately fell in love and married 15 January 1890. In 1891, their first child, Mary Charlotte Flora Macdonald, was born. She was followed by Gertrude Alexandra Elizabeth in 1895 and Harwood Elmes Ro...
Sam Steele was one of the most important builders of Canada as it expanded from coast to coast to coast in the first half century after Confederation. As a military man, he was one of the most capable leaders of Canadian soldiers in the country’s first important overseas conflict (see South African War). His work during the First World War helped l...
Companion of the Order of the Bath (1901)Knight Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (1918)Sam Steele. Major-general Sir Samuel Benfield Steele KCMG CB MVO (5 January 1848 – 30 January 1919) was a Canadian soldier and policeman. He was an officer of the North-West Mounted Police, head of the Yukon detachment during the Klondike Gold Rush, and commanding officer of Strathcona's Horse during the Boer War.
Apr 18, 2017 · The Northern Review 44 (2017): 267–291Major-General Sir Samuel Benfield Steele, the iconic Western Canadian policeman famed for helping to tame the West and the rowdy miners of the Yukon, was also a senior military commander in the chaotic administration of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in England in the First World War.
Dec 9, 2019 · He remained in Africa to help establish the South African Constabulary on the NWMP model. When he returned to Canada in 1907, it was to an annoyingly quiet life. At age 64, Steele wanted to fight in the First World War. A little too old to fight at the front, Steele was made a Major-General and placed in command of Canadian troops in Britain.
Jun 12, 2006 · A most remarkable and legendary figure of the NWMP’s critical early years was a man whose very name sounded as if it had been made up by a dime novelist: Inspector Sam Steele. Samuel Benfield Steele was born on January 5, 1851, at Purbrook, near Orillia, Upper Canada (later Ontario), the son of Royal Navy Captain Elmes Steele and Anne Macdonald.
May 15, 2017 · Regina Leader-Post. ‘Original Mountie’ policing pioneer. 2017-05-15 - CRAIG BAIRD. If there was ever a stereotypical member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, it would be Sam Steele. Born to a military family in Upper Canada in 1849, Steele came from a long line of military men, so it came as no surprise when he enrolled at the Royal ...
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