Biography

Major John Alexander Henry Hope was born on 1 March, 1882. He was the son of Sir Edward Stanley Hope and Constance Christina Leslie. On 15 April, 1907, he married Elizabeth Maud “Bessie” Dunsmuir at St. Mark’s Church, North Audley Street, London, England. The prime minister of Canada, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, gave the bride away at the wedding ceremony.

Shortly after the marriage, Lt. Gov. James Dunsmuir and his wife, Laura, hired a new butler, William Packe, for their household at Government House. Packe had previously been the butler to John Hope’s father, Sir Edward Stanley Hope and doubtless came with good recommendation from the Hope family.

In the 1911 census, John and Bessie Hope are recorded as living in Shaughnessy Heights, Vancouver, British Columbia, in a household with two maids and a cook. The house was called “Luffness” and was located on Marpole Avenue.¹ At this time, John A. Hope was Vice President of D.E. Brown and Macaulay, Ltd, a brokerage firm dealing with real estate, insurance, railways, and steamships. He was also the postmaster at Shaughnessy Heights from 1911-1915.² While Vancouver was their principal residence, John and Bessie also spent time in London. John Hope maintained a membership with the Canada Lodge of the United Grand Lodge of England Freemasons from May 28, 1912 until at least 1921.³

Throughout his time in Vancouver, John Hope served with the Canadian Militia in the 72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada. During the First World War, men from the Seaforth Highlanders were drafted into the 16th Battalion (Canadian Scottish) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF). John Hope was appointed to the 16th Battalion with the commissioned rank of captain and later attained the rank of major. He served in England and France and was wounded on April 9, 1917, at Vimy Ridge, receiving a gunshot wound to the left hand and injury to his left knee caused by barbed wire.⁴  For his service during the war, he was Mentioned in Dispatches (11-7-19) and awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) (10-10-19). 

After the war ended, Major Hope joined the Canadian Military Police Corps (CMPC) and was appointed Assistant Provost Marshall (APM) of Military District 11. One of his duties in that role was to command the Royal Northwest Mounted Police bodyguard detachment during the visit of the Prince of Wales in September 1919.⁵ He was also briefly assigned the Special Guard of the Canadian Military Police Corps and was stationed at William Head on Vancouver Island from November 30, 1919. Here, his role was to organize the transport of the Chinese Labour Corps (CLC). The CLC had been recruited in 1917 to support troops in northern France and Belgium, digging trenches, delivering supplies, and repairing roads or other supply lines. As many as 100,000 Chinese men formed the CLC. At the end of the war, against the wishes of many members of the CLC, the men were sent back to China via Canada. The men were transported under special guard by train from Halifax to William Head where they were put onto ships bound for China. This mass deportation was completed by the end of April 1920.⁶    

John and Bessie Hope had two children, Edward Alexander (1911-1989) and Alexander Douglas Byng (1918-1990). The couple divorced in 1923.

Major John Hope died on 18 October, 1938 at the age of 56. 

1.    Henderson’s Greater Vancouver City Directory, Part 1, 1913, p.928
2.    Library and Archives Canada, Post Offices and Postmasters, http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=posoffposmas&id=28853&lang=eng, accessed September 1, 2023.
3.    England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemason Membership Registers, 1751-1921 https://www.ancestry.ca/sharing/6028189?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a226879716352666548797363716744744d57372f635534384b62383571575856756f2b4b4a6757394a43666b3d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d accessed September 1, 2023.
4.    Personnel Records of the First World War – CEF 400127a Hope, John Alexander Henry https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=458822 accessed September 1, 2023.
5. Daily Colonist, September 24, 1919, 'Loyal Thousands Extend Welcome to Prince of Wales', p.4.
6.    For more information about the Special Guard of the CMPC, see: https://www.cdnmilitarycollectors.com/t2570-special-guard-canadian-military-police-corps-cmpc. Last accessed September 1, 2023. Additionally, a short film about the CLC transit base at William Head is available at: https://warheritage.royalroads.ca/war-memories-across-canada/world-war-i/
 

Lifetime

March 1 1882 – October 18 1938