Artillery in Canada (5) Ontario: Owen Sound, Pelham, Pembroke, Penetanguishene, Perth, Petawawa, Peterborough, Petrolia and Picton

Owen Sound, Pelham, Pembroke, Penetanguishene, Perth, Petawawa, Peterborough, Petrolia and Picton

The aim of this website is to locate, identify and document every historical piece of artillery preserved in Canada.  Many contributors have assisted in the hunt for these guns to provide and update the data found on these web pages.  Photos are by the author unless otherwise credited.  Any errors found here are by the author, and any additions, corrections or amendments to this list of Guns and Artillery in Canada would be most welcome and may be e-mailed to the author at [email protected].

For all official data concerning the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery, please click on the link to their website:

Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery Website

According to the  1974 edition of ACP 125 Cansupp 1A, "Sheldrake" was the appointment title for the artillery representative in a headquarters.  "GOLF" was the arms indicator to be used by artillery callsigns on nets other than their own, especially those of the supported arms.

Owen Sound

Bronze 6-pounder Smoothbore Muzzleloading Gun, weight --5-21, Kinman, 1796, King George III cypher, broad arrow mark, Serial No. 164, CCIXXIX (228) on reinforcement ring.  Owen Sound Armoury, 10th St E & 8th Ave E.

Bronze 6-pounder Smoothbore Muzzleloading Gun, weight --6-3, J & H (John & Henry) King, 1798, King George III, broad arrow mark, Serial No. 739, DC on re-enforcement ring.  Owen Sound Armoury.

Pelham

German First World War 7.58-cm leichtes Minenwerfer neuer Art, (7.58-cm leMW), (Serial Nr. 7862), captured by the 31st Battalion during a raid on Vitasse, France, 24 June 1918.

Pembroke, 42nd Field Artillery Regiment (Lanark and Renfrew Scottish), RCA

The 42nd Field Artillery Regiment, is a Primary Reserve Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA) regiment of Land Force Central Area's 32 Canadian Brigade Group located in Pembroke, Ontario.  42nd Field Regiment sub-units include the 89th Field Battery and 109th Field Battery.

Penetanguishene

SBML probable Borgard 6-pounder Gun of 1716, weight 18-2-23 (2,095 lbs), Queen Anne cypher (1702 – 1714), resting on the remains of a 6-pounder iron garrison carriage, weight 14-3-25 (1,677 lbs) K, (Serial No. 23).  Discovery Harbour.

SBML Guns (three). One is possibly a Blomefield 24-pounder SBML, mounted on an iron garrison carriage situated outside the Kings Wharf Theatre and Bayfields Charthouse in Discovery Harbour, Penetanguishene.

Perth

There are two bronze 3-pounder SBML field guns mounted on wheeled carriages, on display in front of the Lanark Count Court House at Perth, known as the "Verbruggen Guns".  The inscription on the breech of each of the guns reads: “J. & R.  VERBRUGGEN, FECERUNT, 1775" on one, and "1776", on the other.  This is an indication that the guns were made in Flanders (the Netherlands) or Belgium.  The gun cast in 1775 is a ‘Pattison’ model ‘Grasshopper’, the only known surviving gun of its kind.  The other, cast in 1776, is a ‘Congreve’ model ‘Butterfly’.

The 3-Pounder “fired either round shot or a case round of 36 shot, with a charge of six or eight ounces of powder, and had a recoil of five feet at three degrees of elevation”.  The 3-Pounder classification relates to the weight of round-shot they were designed to fire.   Grasshoppers & Butterflies: The Light 3-Pounders of Pattison & Townshend, by Adrian B. Caruana (1980).

These bronze guns accompanied General John Burgoyne and the British Army in 1777 on his raid from Canada, along the Hudson River-Lake Champlain axis during the American Revolution.   These two 3-pounders arrived in Perth from Kingston in 1822 and were assigned to the Artillery Company of the 1st Regiment Lanark Militia as it was being formed.

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(Author Photos)

Bronze 3-pounder Smoothbore Muzzleloading Gun, weight 1-2-20 (188 lbs), J. & R.  Verbruggen, fecerunt 1775 inscribed on the breech, mounted on a wooden wheeled carriage, standing on the green sward in front of the town Court House, No. 1 of 2.  (This gun is reported to be “the only remaining Pattison” Gun, according to Stephen G. Strach, History of Three Pound Verbruggen Gun and Its Use in North America 1775-1783, Eastern National Park and Monument Association, 1986, unpublished, p. 1).

(Author Photos)

Bronze 3-pounder Smoothbore Muzzleloading Gun, weight 1-3-17 (213 lbs), J. & R.  Verbruggen, fecerunt 1776 inscribed on the breech, mounted on a wooden wheeled carriage, standing on the green sward in front of the town Court House, No. 2 of 2.

Petawawa

(Library & Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3613160)

2-pounder AT Gun manned by Canadians training in the UK, ca 1942.

(Author Photo)

Ordnance QF 2-pounder Anti-Tank Gun, Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 517.

The 2-pounder Mark 4 and 4A carriages were split-trail 6-pounder anti-tank gun carriages, with the cradle, slipper, and recoil system adapted to mount the 2-pounder Mk. 10 gun.  This allowed the 6-pounder carriage to get into production, while still using the 2-pounder gun.  Both Canadian General Electric and Regina Industries, Ltd, manufactured these carriages in Canada, and they were issued to training centres in Canada starting in December 1941.  The 5th Anti-tank Regiment, RCA, received 2-pounders on Mk. 4 carriages in April 1942.  British production of the 6-pounder was delayed after Dunkirk because they had to keep the 2-pounder in production, so Canada began manufacturing its own first (by a month or so).  We went straight to the 6-pounder carriage and adapted the 2-pounder to it as a temporary fix.  (Doug Knight)

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3613165)

Jeep towing a 2-pounder AT gun in the UK, ca 1942.

(Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3608072)

Canadian solders training in the UK, ca 1940, with a 2-pounder AT gun towed by a jeep in the UK.

(Author Photo, 2 Sep 2011)

(Author Photos, 11 Oct 2019)

155-mm C1 (M1A2) Medium Howitzer on M1A2 Carriage, aka M114, manufactured at Sorel Industries Limited in Quebec, Queen Elizabeth II cypher.  CFR 34421.  The carriage plate reads: CARR. HOW. 155MM M1A2 CDN. SOREL INDUSTRIES LTD. CANADA 1955, REG. NO. CDN 28, INSP (Symbol).  This Gun is located on the Southeast side of the Highway entering the village.  (Author Photo)

4 CDSB Petawawa.

Artillery on display at 4 Canadian Division Support Base Petawawa is listed on a separate page on this website.

Peterborough, 50th Field Artillery Regiment (The Prince of Wales Rangers), Royal Canadian Artillery

The 50th Field Artillery Regiment (The Prince of Wales Rangers), Royal Canadian Artillery was a Primary Reserve Royal Canadian Artillery (RCA) regiment based in Peterborough, Ontario.  The regiment currently exists on the Supplementary Order of Battle.

(Author Photos)

9-pounder 8-cwt Muzzleloading Rifle, weight 8-1-6 (930 lbs), RGF No. 226, I, 1872, Queen Victoria cypher, Firth’s Steel 2754 on the muzzle, mounted on a wheeled carriage.  The wheels on this gun actually belong to the SBML noted above.  Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment Armoury.

(Normand Roberg Photos)

Bronze 9-pounder Smoothbore Muzzleloading Gun, weight 1,539 lbs, 1822, Serial No. 744, 1858 carriage, recently restored.

Petrolia

(David Johnstone Photos)

German First World War 7.7-cm FK16 (Nr. 11761), 1917, likely captured in France in 1918.

Picton

(Maxwell Toms Photo

(Maxwell Toms Photo

(Terry Honour Photo)

(Maxwell Toms Photo

(jiggs11 Photos )

Blomefield Cast Iron 18-pounder Smoothbore Muzzleloading Gun, weight unknown, (Serial No. 79138, CARRON, 1812) on left trunnion, (18P) on right trunnion, mounted on a concrete stand, in front of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 78.

(Maxwell Toms Photo)

( Terry Honour Photos)

(jiggs11 Photos)

Blomefield Cast Iron 24-pounder Smoothbore Muzzleloading Gun, weight TBC, (Serial No. 70899, CARRON, 1807) on left trunnion, (24P) on right trunnion, King George III cypher, broad arrow mark,  mounted on a concrete stand, in front of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 78.

(Maxwell Toms Photo)

(jiggs11 Photo)

105-mm L5 Pack Howitzer, OTO Melara 1969, (Serial No. 05773), in front of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 78.

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