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The Canada which John Stuttaford knew was part of the
British Empire. The North West Mounted Police was founded and sent
westward in 1874 to establish and maintain law and order in the name of Queen
Victoria - in other words, to enforce British-style justice. In this Issue, Hugh Lodge writes about Sarah Stuttaford who, by
chance, became closely involved with the first women to be imprisoned in
Canada under this system.
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Courtesy
of Rattlesnake Jack
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Sarah was the wife of George Stuttaford who was
granted land by the Canadian Government and settled near his brother
John Morehouse Stuttaford (see Issue 4). Her story was pieced
together by Hugh through extracts from a book called
"Mounted Police Life in Canada" by Captain Burton Deane,
published in 1916. |
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Courtesy of Rattlesnake
Jack
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John
Stuttaford and the men who made the "Long March" went to pre-designated
locations such as Fort MacLeod and Fort Walsh and set up a permanent presence in each, eventually being
joined by their wives and families. As the years went by, a
grudging respect developed between the Native Indians and the "Mounties".
But this huge tract of land had many other residents. Fur
traders from France and Scotland had settled there many years previously
and
their mixed-blood descendents, known as "Metis", wanted the
right to continue to live in their own way. In 1885 there was a fully armed
revolution in which some of the Native Indian tribes joined. It was put
down by the North West Mounted Police, supported by nearly 4000 troops,
and the ringleaders were executed or imprisoned. These stirring times
were the backdrop to Sarah's life as a married woman and, later,
as a widow.
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