Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Canada General Service 1866-70, 2 clasps, Fenian Raid 1866, Fenian Raid 1870 (Sgt. C. E. Torrance 3rd V.V.R.) Canadian style impressed naming, unofficial rivets, otherwise good very fine £300-£360

Charles Torrance, a native of Montreal was born in Scotland in 1847 and was the brother of William Fraser Torrance, who was also entitled to a C.G.S. for Fenian Raid 1866, and the son of James and Jane Fraser who wed on 15 September 1846. His father was one of 15 Children of John Torrance, one of the most prominent business men in the city. His mother was one of the Frasers of Lovat. On 30 November 1881, he married Caroline Jackson who was 4 years his junior.

He and his family were photographed by William Notman on several occasions and copies of some Military examples are included in the lot. He appears in various Montreal Commercial Directories as a merchant or consignment agent in the 1880s but later emigrated to Riverside California and in the U.S. census of the day he is shown as a horticulturist.

The Victoria Rifles Company was organised in Montreal in 1861 by members of the Beaver Lacrosse Club in response to the strain in Anglo-American relations brought on by the American Civil War. In 1862 the Rifles were officially recognised as a Canadian militia unit under the name, the Third Battalion Victoria Volunteer Rifles.

Charles Torrence is shown as a Lieutenant at the time of the 1870 clasp and was promoted to Captain on 24 October 1874. Sold with copied portrait photographs, medal roll and Land Grant application.