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I I LI Ill- I it nil iii i iinni ilh 1 timings even llimigh the name has since been changed Queens York Hangers Regiment has historic links to York Region Although the Queens York officer and historian Jennings first visit by a Hanger Toronto was that of Major Robert Rogers the celebrated Indian fighter and commander of Rogers Rangers during the lirltish Seven Years War against Ihe French That was on When was appointed lieutenant- governor in he reraised a corps of Queens Rangers lo serve in Upper Canada In May of and a group of Rangers visited the site of Toronto a he decided a town and naval base there He named it York and that Rangers began clearing a site for 1812 though former Hangers of the present Queens In 1936 a militia reorganization saw the amalgamation of the York Rangers and the Queens Hangers as the Queens York Hangers 1st can Regiment The Rangers did not go Infantry Company and the Scar- Keswick The Rangers contributed to many early anadian Expeditionary Force World War were granted permission to matim of the Battalion until and returned early in World War Since World War the regiment has been at the Aurora Armoury for nearly 33 years down to the present day Until Story of Rangers covers years of our history By JANET To make sense of the a massive task says Cedric Jennings a Don Mills man who is undertaking the near- impossible an orderly accurate yet en tertaining history of the Queens York Rangers massive task is the self- imposed one of producing a book about the regiment which historically has considered the AuroraNewmarket area home territory and still maintains an armory in Aurora An amateur historian Jennings has the love of things and events historical needed to persevere through long months of tedious research in libraries and archives As a newspaperman and he has the in terviewing and writing skills needed to put the historical facts dates and figures he unearths into an entertaining story Today all across Canada we arc ex periencing a growing interest in our heritage Jennings says There is a real need Tor historical material which is entertaining comprehensible yet of 220 years is and dig Dig you until you yourself you have exhausted nil very satisfying Financial assistance for this orgy of research lias come from the Canada Council and from the Ontario government Yet there are financial limits to what can be done expensive travel to sources of information for example is large lephued frustrating letter writing Undoubtedly much valuable historical information on the Hangers will be omitted because the prohibitive expense of travel to find facts and artifacts Time loo imposes its limitations Jennings has reed Ilia researching and writing book should take one year being computed fur Willi Ill Hill It must be readable and it must be ac curate I refuse to give one priority There are all sorts of very readable books that have only coincidental relationships with the truth and at the other extreme there is a lot of historical information that is highly accurate but also highly academic What we need is a blend of both With conviction that the time was right last fall Jennings took a sabbatical from bis newspaper career in order to give bis full at tention to the Rangers history An Englishman by birth Jennings came to Canada in 1953 He had committed himself to the publishing world at age 17 when he became a junior reporter and its been newspapers or magazines ever since In Canada he was lanaging editor and assistant to the publisher of Theoretically 1 tunings says the longer you spend mi something Hit Ik Her it will he at least in terms of completeness and accuracy But there mo economic hunts Interest in Ihe subject will peak next year I97i is the US bicentennial and puhlicnlinii at that point in apparent the firemen were very mi needed not to the hut help ge going Jennings sold His interest in Qiccn York Hangers was cemented mil seeds planted for his research and As well be became public Writing a the would be tot simpler if Rangers had been allied ugh tin mil urn in a an Tin Hangs i rcgln ill The war of the 1837 Rebellion Fenian Raids in lHCii Ihe Kiel Rebellion and two world wars have kepi Hangers the going a broken chain which in spirit on desirable In Jennings interest in is a lite long one and during his newspaper days he wrote ex tensively on the hi IlVllhe involved in a drive to save bio acres of the Don Valley for public parkland differenl from IIS last lag United States lo New Hint even ill i months ia isnt sure jusl who was whe A begin g is mad in i in New Hampshire when Robert Rogers funned a company of senilis to assist the British Army during the Seven Years War lingers techniques for wilderness lighting made him when the War of fmlopenileh Years of newspaper deadlines gave him the feeling of being a journalistic shortorder cook Time limitation always meant that a subject could never be fully explored never fully researched Now with a year to spend on one subject hes enjoying the opportunity to lake every possible effort to check things out to do a thorough research and writing job on it You dig its decided lo re the landmark bailie of Montgomerys Tavern at which the rebels were defeated A quick cheek on history of the events revealed that the Queens Hangers under Samuel was Hit only battalion on the loyalist side lo take pari in Hie fray As part of the park land publicity endeavor Jennings contacted the Bangers by then re named the Queens York Bangers and made plans to re en the battle Authentic costumes historic musketry and artillery from old Fort York added lo the miry the bill tin real event was lo be the burning of a replica Montgomerys Tavern As a gesture lo modern- day respect for life and limb the North York Fire Department was invited lo stand by in event of mishap As Hie events it became 1 i tun point on Jennings says one can become hopelessly in Bangers but was dining the revolutionary war that Hangers established s is light troops a scouting unit used to probe into enemy territory the function lliey serve today Even that didnt slay constant for the Bangers became a under and during World War II became basically a training unit In the regiment became an armoured one using Sherman tanks for a short period In 17H when Jnlui Groves became Ihe first lieutenant of Upper Canada now Ontario Ihe Bangers look on a new image tinder the Queens Hangers maintained 111 lull mi bill iltt became a sort of public winks department charged with clearing building iokK also the again we culm selected be Bgeis for his sc v Ihe color ail Canadas aimed wilh the spirit to undertake similar toils and endure similar dangers The traditions inherited and perpetuated by the Bangers ate JO ears eld but history there are during the War of 1810 when rangers and served in militia there was no Queens BaUgeis such regiment volunteered fee service in World and for a period that war Regies illustrations and lie has hopes of present me a visual record regimen as well plu lis ha i already been assembled but a present be is mine concerned in finding out whats available for future use Families with rein nit and papers he says have been generous in a historian he but hope to use the skills of the jour together with the advice of academic produce a work which is readable yet Several publishers are interested in pi book and Jennings is hoping for a publisher The Queens York Bangers lineal sense lie sas Yet years Ihe links between lliq have been very strong nds of the men who served in Ihein The s were Rritish fighting in what Hie the later units Canadian But Canadian regiment prizes thetradilio