A plaque commemorating James (Boy) Dunsmuir was unveiled Friday at Hatley Castle, where he spent his school holidays, stabled his horse and kept his dogs.
Dunsmuir was on his way to England in 1915, eager to fight in the Great War, when he died in the sinking of the Lusitania by two German torpedoes. He was among almost 1,200 people killed.
Dunsmuir, 21 years old when he died, is the son of James Dunsmuir, a former premier and lieutenant governor who also owned the Daily Colonist for several years.
Michael Audain, his 79-year-old great-nephew, said in a speech written for the unveiling at Royal Roads University that Dunsmuir’s name does not appear on any war memorials. The plaque will ensure, he said, that his name “will not be lost in the mists of time.”
Hatley Castle, in Colwood, was built by Dunsmuir’s father, James, and Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria was built by his grandfather, Robert.
In the early 1940s, Hatley Castle was transformed into a dormitory and mess hall for cadets and staff at Royal Roads Military College. The vine-covered building now serves at the university’s administrative centre.
The memorial is significant because Dunsmuir’s body was never recovered after the sinking, said Audain, chairman of Polygon Homes Ltd. and a member of the Order of Canada.
Audain’s father believed the young man descended below the ship’s decks to be with his steed when there was no room in a lifeboat.
“It’s really commemorating the spirit of those days,” Audain said in an interview before the ceremony. “The call went out and young men all over the empire, as it was called in those days, rallied to the call to arms without any question.”
Dunsmuir had left the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles in Victoria with his father’s consent, and was on his way to join the Royal Scots Greys when he boarded the vessel. It was supposed to be the fastest transport from New York to the Western Front.
When the news arrived that Dunsmuir and other British Columbians had drowned, anti-German riots broke out in downtown Victoria, and businesses with German names — such as the Kaiserhof Hotel — were vandalized.
Audain said the senior James Dunsmuir was so pained by his son’s death that he became a recluse.
He would listen to his gramophone in the evening as Canadian singer Henry Burr sang Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight.
Audain said he unveiled the plaque, with the support of the university, on Friday because it marked both the former politician’s and his father’s birthdays.
“I hope people, when they visit this great house, will perhaps pause for a minute,” he said.
“It tells you something about the family that built it and once lived there and … one of Canada’s richest men, who lost his son under these conditions. I think it tells you something about the tragedy of those days.”
— With files from The Canadian Press
