History of the Governor General's Foot Guards

This regimental history was initiated by Major A. R. Jessup's account of the part played by the Governor General's Foot Guards personnel while actively serving in Europe during the Second World War. The regiment decided, however, that the subject matter should be expanded to recount its complete history, taking Major Jessup's fine start as the core of the work.

Major Jessup completed his first draft while awaiting the regiment's repatriation from Europe but despite a dramatic increase in the writing staff it took a further three years to bring the book to publication in 1948. This additional time did allow for minor alterations to be made in the light of information which was not available when the first draft was being written, as well as the addition of numerous wonderful situation / route maps and illustrating photographs. Several of the photographs come in the form of panoramic records of complete companies of the regiment's personnel.

The book starts with the regiment's origins as a part time militia made up of members of the Civil Service of Canada while the government was seated in Quebec in 1861. At that time, its duties were mainly to form a military presence at formal ceremonies and to provide honor guards for visiting dignitaries. The account continues to follow the sometimes-checkered fortunes of the unit including its contributions to such important episodes as The Nile Voyagers, the North West Rebellion, The Boer War and the Great (1914 - 1918) War in Europe. Starting at the mobilization of the GGFG as a component of the WWII Canadian Expeditionary Force the history becomes a lot more detailed and provides more "firsthand" experiences of the consequence of the larger events.

The account concludes after the return to Canada and the regiment's demobilization.