Description
Lt Harry Colebourn
And
Winnie-the-Bear
Doctor Harry Colebourn came to Canada in 1905 when he was 18 years of age. He settled in Toronto initially and, in order to finance his university education, he worked in menial jobs such as selling fruit from door to door on the streets in Toronto and as a deckhand on commercial vessels plying the Great Lakes. In 1908, he enrolled at the Ontario Veterinary College located in Guelph. On 25 April, 1911 he received his degree as a Veterinary Surgeon and following his graduation, he returned to Dewsbury, England to re-unite with his family. Following a short stay, he returned to Canada.
In the same year he joined the 18th Mounted Rifles as a Militia Officer and then was seconded to the 34th Regiment of Cavalry, (later named the 34th Fort Garry Horse), on 15 May 1912. He was one of the original officers of the 34th Fort Garry Horse. When The First World War broke out in August 1914, he was already a trained officer and immediately offered his services to his country. Subsequently, he was given leave of absence from the Department of Agriculture and left Winnipeg on 23 August 1914, bound for Valcartier, Quebec. While enroute to Valcartier, he was detached from the 34th Fort Garry Horse and transferred to the Winnipeg section of the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps. (C.A.V.C.)
On the 24 August, the train stopped at White River, Ontario where Harry purchased a small black female bear cub for the sum of 20 dollars from a hunter who had killed her mother. Shortly after this, Harry named his little cub “Winnie” after the City of Winnipeg, his home-town. On 12 September 1914, he was taken on strength of the Second Canadian Infantry Brigade Headquarters under the command of Lt. Colonel Arthur W. Currie, who was later on to become the commander of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.
Harry’s six diaries he kept of the war show that on 3 October 1914, he and “Winnie” embarked from Gaspe Bay enroute for England aboard the S.S. Manitou along with four other liners heading for England. On 17 October, they disembarked and left Davenport, England, for Salisbury Plain at 7:00 that morning. Winnie was to remain with him and a pet to the Second Canadian Infantry Brigade Headquarters and a mascot to the C.A.V.C. while he remained in England.
Winnie quickly became a pet to many of the soldiers and would follow them around like a tame dog in their off-duty hours at Salisbury Plain. There were numerous photos taken of her with the men and these photos often became a keepsake for them to treasure.
However, this situation was to change when Harry was given the order to remove Winnie from the Brigade Headquarters, as she would not be able to accompany them to the battlefields in France where the brigade was shortly to go. Consequently, on 9 December 1914, Harry proceeded to the London Zoo with Winnie where he left her in safe keeping until the end of the war. According to his diary writings, it was his full intention to bring Winnie back to Canada with him after the war was over. His diaries indicated that he was very fond of her and would often visit her when on leave from France.
When the war ended in 1918, Harry remained in England temporarily, and in 1919, he reversed his original intentions to bring Winnie home to Winnipeg. Instead, he donated her to the London Zoo as a gesture of his appreciation for the Zoo’s efforts in caring for her during those four war years. It was to be noted that Winnie had also become a feature attraction for the many thousands of visitors and especially young children. She was considered to be completely trustworthy by her bear keepers who said that of all the bears they had in the Zoo, Winnie was the only one they could say this about. She was also the tamest and best behaved bear that the Zoo ever had.
In 1919 the London Zoo held a dedication ceremony by erecting a plaque reading to the effect that Captain Harry Colebourn of the Canadian Army Veterinary Corps had donated her to the Zoo. Numerous newspaper stories were written telling about this extraordinary bear and her friendly nature and antics. Two of her admirers of that early period after the war were A.A. Milne, a writer, and his young son Christopher Robin. From 1924, they frequently visited the Zoo where the young Milne boy would always want to go and see “Winnie”. Christopher was even allowed inside the cage to feed her condensed milk.
In 1926 as a result of his son’s keen enjoyment in visiting with Winnie, Mr. Milne published the first and probably the best known of the series of books called “Winnie-The-Pooh.” The other books were titled, “The House at Pooh Corner”, “When We Were Very Young” and “Now We Are Six”.
A meeting between Christopher Robin Milne and Winnie is described as follows:
“So when Christopher Robin goes to the Zoo, he goes to where the Polar Bears are, and he whispers something to the third keeper from the left, and doors are unlocked, and we wander through dark passages and up steep stairs, until at last we come to the special cage, and the cage is opened, and out trots something brown and furry, and with a happy cry of “Oh, Bear!” Christopher Robin rushes into its arms. Now this bear’s name is Winnie, which shows what a good name for bears it is, but the funny thing is that we can’t remember whether Winnie is called after Pooh, or Pooh after Winnie. We did know once, but we have forgotten..”..
–Introduction to Winnie-the-Pooh
The bear was Christopher Robin’s inspiration for calling his own stuffed bear Winnie. In the first chapter of Winnie-the-Pooh, we see the following:
“When I first heard his name, I said, just as you are going to say, “But I thought he was a boy?”
“So did I,” said Christopher Robin. “Then you can’t call him Winnie?”
“I don’t.”
“But you said—”
“He’s Winnie-ther-Pooh. Don’t you know what ‘ther’ means?”
“Ah, yes, now I do,” I said quickly; and I hope you do too, because it is all the explanation you are going to get..”
Winnie-the-Bear passed away on 12 May 1934 at the ripe old age of 20 years, a good life span for a bear.
Later on in the war, Harry was to be honored for his services by being recommended for the O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire) by the Director of Canadian Veterinary Services, C.E. Edgett, D.S.O. “For his untiring devotion to his duties as Veterinary Officer first with the Units in the Field, with whom he served for over three years, then as Senior Veterinary Officer of Bramshott Area. This officer has always been most attentive to his professional charge and unsparing in his endeavors to produce efficiency, both when employed as an executive officer and as an administrative officer. He has been twice Mentioned in the Despatches of the Field Marshal, Commander in Chief, British Forces in France, and was previously recommended by this department for an Honour.” Despite the recommendation, he did not receive this award.
Following the end of the war, Captain Colebourn remained in England for a short while to further his veterinary education and training by taking a post-graduate course at the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in London. He was subsequently accorded the title of Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (M.R.C.V.S.) following his successful graduation from that institution.
On returning to Canada in early 1920, he went directly to Winnipeg, his former place of residence. He then opened his own veterinary practice located at 377 McMillan Avenue and practiced there until 1926. Because of declining health, he gave up his practice to accept a position with his former employer the Department of Agriculture, Health of Animals Branch, as a veterinarian specializing in postmortem work.
Although his health was not good, he did manage to maintain his military relationship with The Fort Garry Horse as their Veterinary Officer with the rank of Major from 15 January 1921 until his retirement from the military on 15 April 1929.
Throughout his 21½ years of service with the Department of Agriculture, Dominion Government of Canada, until his retirement on 19 May 1945, he continued to maintain his small animal private practice on a reduced scale. He built a small animal hospital at the rear of the family home located at 600 Corydon Avenue where he dedicated many hours of paid and unpaid service to numerous animals and their owners of that time. His dedicated love of animals prevailed throughout his life span until his death on 24 September 1947.
Major Harry Colebourn is buried Brookside Cemetery, Plot 1312, in the Field of Honour.
Harry also served on the Executive of the Army and Navy Veterans in Canada, Fort Garry Unit #60, during The Second World War.
Over the years, there have been several monuments to the association between the Colebourn, Winnie and his home city.
In 1981 a statue of a bear cub by sculptor Lorne McKean was unveiled at the London Zoo with a plaque commemorating Winnie.
In 1992 and 1993 statues of Harry and Winnie by sculptor William Epp were placed in the Winnipeg and London Zoos.
In 1997, the town of White River, Ontario, Winnie’s birthplace, put a plaque in the London Zoo commemorating their connection with the famous bear. There is also a statue of Pooh in his tree in White River.
On 30 May 1999, a special plaque commemorating the service of Harry Colebourn to The Fort Garry Horse and Canadian Army Veterinary Corps was placed in the London Zoo at Mappin Terraces near the site of Winnie’s home for 20 years. A special musical tribute, “The Fort Garry Suite” was composed for the occasion and played for the first time in public at the ceremony.
Parts of this Biographic Sketch was prepared by Harry Colebourn’s son, the late Fred Colebourn, in May 1988.
Edited and corrected by Gordon Crossley, FGH Museum and Archives, May 1999/August 2000. Original document on file with the FGH Museum.
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