Hugh Wilderspin Niven, PPCLI
 

Hugh Wilderspin Niven, 1876-1969. He was an "original" PPCLI member, enlisted August 1914. He was wounded twice, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order with bar, Military Cross, and was Mentioned in Despatches 3 times. He was briefly CO of PPCLI at the end of the disastrous Battle of Frezenberg, and was again CO 1932-1937.

DR,

On the off chance that you are not aware of the following, and might like to know, here are some further details on Lt. Col. Niven.

He was born on May 22, 1876. I don't know if he was from the UK or Canada. He was commissioned into the 26th Infantry Regiment as a Provisional 2Lt on May 16, 1896. The 26th Infantry Regiment was a Non-Permanent unit (reservists) headquartered in Brampton, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto. This unit would eventually become the Lorne Scots (Halton and Peel Regiment).

Niven was promoted to Lieutenant on June 1, 1897, and to Captain 11 days later on June 12, 1897. He was a Captain until his Non-Permanent service ended on May 30, 1900

On August 12, 1914, he was commissioned again into the Canadian Militia as a Lieutenant. The Minister of Defence of the day insisted that all soldiers attested into the Canadian Expeditionary Force as officers also be commissioned into the Canadian Militia; the Militia and the CEF being two different components of the Military Forces of Canada at the time. (Don't try to understand this, as most historians get confused by it.) In short, it means that Niven went in to the PPCLI as a Lieutenant at the ripe old age of 38.

He was promoted to Brevet Major in the CM on June 20, 1917.

On April 1, 1919, when the PPCLI was constituted as a regiment within the Permanent Force (the Canadian name for the Regulars), he was made a substantive Major within it.

On January 20, 1932, he was promoted to Lt. Col. and took command of the Regiment which was headquartered in Winnipeg. He was the Commanding Officer until February 1937 and retired just before the start of the Second World War.

Cheers,
Dan.

Dan, clarification. The 26th Regiment was Middlesex (London Ontario), while the 36th Regiment, was known as the Peel Regiment, in Brampton & area.

You are, of course, correct. In my haste to answer I misinterpreted the order of precedence I had with the original number allocated on establishment. No offence intended to either the late Middlesex and Huron Regiment or to the Lorne Scots!

Cheers,
Dan.