Abstract
The Northern Review 44 (2017): 267–291 Major-General Sir Samuel Benfield Steele, the iconic Western Canadian policeman famed for helping to tame the West and the rowdy miners of the Yukon, was also a senior military commander in the chaotic administration of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in England in the First World War. Called by one biographer called the “Lion of the Frontier,” Steele was less successful in his First World War command than popular narratives of his life have portrayed. This article demonstrates how he floundered under the strains of total war. In the Yukon, Steele’s natural decisiveness and independence received free rein, where he did not have to defer and get approval from multiple authorities for decisions, and where the scale of his responsibility was such that he could directly interact with all involved. In those conditions, Steele thrived. He was a leader made by the frontier and performed best in that environment. In England, now in the centre and far from the frontier, the attributes, character, and experience that served him so well did not translate. Steele was not the primary culprit or cause of the chaos in the administration in England, but neither was he blameless or innocent of contributing to it. In effect, the Lion of the Frontier became the Lion in Winter. This article is part of a special collection of papers originally presented at a conference on “The North and the First World War,” held May 2016 in Whitehorse, Yukon. https://doi.org/10.22584/nr44.2017.012
Highlights
Major-General Sir Samuel Benfield Steele, the iconic Western Canadian police officer famed for helping to tame the West and the rowdy miners of the Yukon, was a senior military commander in the chao c administra on of the Canadian Expedi onary Force in England in the First World War
Steele was at a crossroads with the ending of his Yukon mission, as he had no other major assignment and the size and continued existence of the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) was in question.[41]
The scale, scope, and nature of the First World War were unprecedented challenges for Canada, as it vastly increased its army from one Permanent Force (PF) regiment to fifty active service battalions by the end of the war.[77]
Summary
Steele’s determination to fashion his reputation meant he provided several dates for his birth ranging from 1848 to 1852 depending on the situation.[19]. Its actual purpose was multifold, including protection against the depredations of whiskey traders, assertion of Canadian sovereignty and control over the Canadian West, and, as Rod Macleod states, to act as “Agents of the National Policy”— Steele would be involved with all these aspects.[23] Steele operated throughout his NWMP career in the Canadian borderlands that were a transition zone between the Canadian heartland, the United States, and the realm of the Indigenous peoples.[24] The senior NWMP command recognized his leadership strengths, and he rose quickly through the ranks. He had some justification for his disappointment as his record was superb, but this suggests that while he played the political game, he was not that skilled and possibly had clashed too often with party interests.[29]
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