Brooding Soldier -- 1st Floor Vestibule, SK Legislative Assembly Building, Regina SK CAN - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

This sign of history is located in the first floor vestibule of the Saskatchewan Legislative Building in Regina. This is the entrance that all members of the public must use in order to access this building.

Because guided tours are given and people need something to look at while waiting for the tour, the government of Saskatchewan has placed a multitude of plaques artifacts memorials and other interesting things to entertain and inform the tourists before they go on their tour.

The sign reads as follows:

"THE BROODING SOLDIER

This statuette marks the St. Julien battlefield in Belgium where the Canadian First Division suffered some 2,000 casualties in heavy fighting from April 22 to 24, 1915, during the first gas attacks of the First World War. This is a model of the 11 metre-tall sculpture by former Regina architect and sculptor Frederick Chapman Clemesha.

Clemesha, born in Preston, Lancashire, England, on August 3, 1876, came to Canada in 1901. He and his architectural partner, Francis Henry Portnall, designed many of Regina’s early buildings. In the First World War, both served in the 46th (South Saskatchewan) Battalion, nicknamed “The Suicide Battalion” because nine out of every 10 men in it were casualties. Both survived, though Clemesha was wounded.

Following the war, the Imperial War Graves Commission awarded the Canadian government eight battle sites in Europe on which to erect formal memorials. Clemesha’s “Brooding Soldier” placed second out of 160 entries from around the world in the design competition, and was chosen for St. Julien, where it was unveiled on July 8, 1923. By that time Clemesha was no longer living in Regina, though his partner Portnall continued to practice architecture here and was influential in having elements of “The Brooding Soldier” incorporated into the Regina Cenotaph in Victoria Park, unveiled in 1926.

Clemesha died in 1958."

Group that erected the marker: Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link] Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly Regina, Saskatchewan Canada

Visit Instructions:
Take a picture of the marker, preferably including yourself or your GPSr in the photo. A very detailed description of your visit may be substituted for a photo. In any case please provide a description of your visit. A description of only "Visited" or "Saw it while on vacation" by anyone other than the person creating the waymark may be deleted by the waymark owner or the category officers.

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Date Logged Log   03/12/2023 Benchmark Blasterz visited it