Col. Sir Sam Hughes
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In October, as the main contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force was preparing to sail for Britain, Hughes insisted they take 6,000 additional men for whom there was no space - ensuring an overcrowded and miserable crossing of the North Atlantic. Patronage was a Hughes’ trademark. He dispensed government contracts and created honourary colonels on a whim with some very odd results. He invented the MacAdam trench spade, which had a hole in the center through which troops could observe the enemy. With a steel handle, this useless digging spade weighed 5 lbs. Some 25,000 of these were produced, all of which were subsequently sold for scrap. He was a heavy supporter of the Ross rifle which, although quite accurate, jammed easily under combat conditions.
Stories of Hughes’ blustering arrogance are legion. He once mistook a lieutenant for a captain, and when contradicted he promoted the startled officer on the spot. At the outbreak of the war he created the Canadian Aviation Corps, with one plane and three officers, and shipped them to England with the first Canadian troops. The cabinet quickly killed off Hughes’ unauthorized air force and the plane and airmen were left to languish in Britain. Over the next two years Hughes’ inept management of the war effort led to a series of disasters, scandals and concerns over his mental stability. He was eventually replaced. Yet while Hughes is mostly remembered for his meddling and eccentricity, he was fiercely proud of his country and determined that Canada’s contribution to the war effort should be both significant and properly recognized. That both goals were eventually met was due in some measure to the energy and determination of the pompous, bull-headed, thin-skinned Sam Hughes.
- Article excerpted in part from 'Canada In the 20th Century'. -