Thursday, February 6, 2020

Ancestry confirmation

A quick search on Ancestry and not only have I started to build a family tree for the mystery Constable Must and have also found his first names and proof that the book I have was his.
Henry James Must was born on 29th August 1897 in Bethnal Green. After serving in the First World War he went to Canada and joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in November 1920.
A book called Policing The Top Of The World written by a fellow Constable Herbert Lee has this report about Henry Must (known as Harry). 
"Harry became the cook and rustled up three square meals a day, with a special five course Christmas Dinner worthy of a Parisian hotel." 
All this at one of the remotest places in the world with very little except of course he must have used the copy of Mrs Beeton's Recipe Book that currently sits in my dining room. 
It feels quite amazing to have this verified. The book Policing The Top Of The World is very rare but hopefully when I have a bit more time I will be able to find out more about Henry (Harry) Must by finding a library copy. 
One sad part of this story is that he died back in London in December 1926 of influenza. 

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

The other Constables in 1922

A couple of Google searches have led me to a Facebook page called Unofficial: RCMP History. 
One post reads as follows:
"On May 22nd 1922
The Coast Guard ship "Arctic" departs for the Far North with ten members of the RCMP who are dispatched to establish detachments on Ellesmere and Bylot Islands.
Included are:
#4134/O. 194 Inspector Charles Wilcox with Constables
#4919 Alfred Joy
#6296 James Wight
#8608 Finley McInnes
#9454 Bernard Jakeam
#8610 Hugh Friel
#9520 Charles Fairman
#9521 Leonard Fielder
#9613 Henry Must
#9754 Herbert Lee

This was a great find as I now know his number and his first name and can start searching for him from other archives. So thank you Unofficial:RCMP History!
More to follow with more Googling and research. 

A search for Constable Must


My dad sadly passed away earlier this year and I have been clearing his house. Amongst the things are a number of books including a copy of Mrs Beeton's All About Cookery which (according to his own reckoning comes from early 1900's - 1910's).
I'm guessing he must have got this from a car boot as the inscription inside says
"Constable H Must, Ellesmere Island Detachment, Royal Canadian Mounted Police".
On doing a bit of Googling - Ellesmere Island is one of the most remote parts of Canada and Constable Must was one of the first mounted police to be sent there in 1922.
That's all I've found out but this seems to be a fascinating story I want to know more about.
What happened to Constable Must? How did the book end up in Lincolnshire? Why did the mounties in remote Canada who only got food supplies once a year use Mrs Beeton's recipes?
Any Canadian historians able to help?