Col.
Walker Powell, formerly adjt.-general of the militia of Canada, passed
away last Thursday morning at his residence, 273 Friel street, Ottawa.
Colonel Powell, although ailing for some years owing to his advanced
age, had been sick but a few days from pneumonia.
He was 87 years of
age and was, possibly, the oldest officer in the Canadian militia,
having entered the first regiment of Norfolk in 1847.
Reliable
and efficient were the terms in which the late Sir John Macdonald
eulogized Colonel Powell in the discharge of his duties, and generally
he was acknowledged throughout the Dominion as the most valuable
officer connected with the volunteer force.
Colonel
Powell is survived by a widow, two sons, C. Berkeley Powell, Ottawa,
director of the Upper Ottawa Improvement Co.; Dr. Fred H. Powell,
Ottawa; and three daughters, Mrs. McLeod Stewart, Ottawa; Mrs. Douglas
Farmer, King, Ont.; and Miss Edith Powell, at home.
Colonel
Powell was born at Waterford, Ont., on May 20, 1828, being the eldest
son of the late Israel Wood Powell, of United Empire Loyalist stock.
His father represented Norfolk County in the Canadian Parliament from
1840 to 1847.
He
received his early education in the county grammar school and later
was graduated from Victoria University, Colborg.
In those early years
he took a keen interest in municipal affairs and was warden of the
County of Norfolk for several years.
He was a member of Parliament for
Norfolk from 1857 to 1861, being elected as a Liberal.
He was a
personal friend of Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir George E. Cartier,
D'Arcy McGee, and other leading statesmen of his time.
In
1862 he received the appointment of deputy adjutant-general of militia
for Upper Canada, and a few years later was made deputy
adjutant-general, which post he filled with the greatest efficiency
until 1896, when he retired.
He
took an important part in the militia service at the time of the Trent
affair, the Fenian Raids and the two rebellions in the Northwest. In
1885, he was recommended for a C.M.G.
It
was largely the result of his work that the Royal Military College at
Kingston was established, and for many years he was president of it
board of visitors.
In
1887 he was sent on an important trade mission to the Hawaiian Islands
and another important work was as member of the militia commission to
enquire and report upon the condition of Canadian fortifications.
In
1893 he was elected president of the Rideau Club. He was an honorary
member of the Canadian Militia Institute.
He
was twice married, first in 1863 to Catherine Emma, daughter of
Lt.-Colonel Joseph Culver of Woodhouse. By this marriage there was one
child, Mrs. McLeod Stewart, of Ottawa, who is a cousin through their
mothers of the sons and daughters of the late Hiram Bowlby of
Woodhouse.
Colonel Powell's second wife was Mary Ursula, daughter of
Adam Bowlby of Townsend. Adam Bowlby was a grandfather of Dr. D. A.
Bowlby, who is consequently a cousin of Colonel Powell's second family.
---
Col.
Walker Powell, who died lately at Ottawa at eighty-seven, was a fine
specimen of the Canadian public men of half a century past.
He entered
the former Canadian Parliament at thirty, nearly sixty years ago, as a
member for the County of Norfolk.
Though admirably fitted for a public
life, he was drawn into a military career, and he did more than any
other one man in Canada to lay the foundations of our military system.
From 1875 he served as adjutant-general under many
commanders-in-chief,
and always with exemplary efficiency and general acceptance. --
Toronto Globe.
