Horner Street (nominated for a street name)
Horner Street is named for Samuel H. Horner, saddler for the NWMP
From the time the North West Mounted Police service was established, Samuel H. Horner was its lone saddle-maker. He was in the regular service from 1875 to 1890 and for many years thereafter worked fore the NWMP under contract. He retired in Stratford, where his grave was specially recognized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on May 6, 2004. Source: City of Stratford
A timeline of his career:
He was born born in 1845 in Schenectady, N.Y., but in 1947 his family came to Canada and settled in the Welland, Ont., area. Prior to 1865, he trained as a saddler in Hamilton and Dundas. Later, he was appointed as a military drill instructor for the Stratford Rifle Company with the rank of sergeant. The Quarterly Sessions of the Court, 1868-1869, report his being sworn in as a constable in Stratford.
In 1875, he joined the NWMP (No. 6 regiment) and was stationed at Swan River (1875-1876), Fort MacLeod (1876-1878), Fort Walsh (1878-1882), Fort MacLeod (1882-1886) and Regina (1886-1890).
Staff Sergeant Horner was present when the treaty was made with the Cree Indians in 1876 at Fort Pitt. He was also on hand when the Black Foot and Stonies (Assiniboin) nations signed their treaty in 1877 with Col. James MacLeod and Lt.-Gov. David Laird as treaty commissioners. In 1881. Horner was on escort duty with Col. Lawrence W. Herchmer in command of the escort, when the Marquis of Lorne, afterwards the Duke of Argyll, visited the west as a representative of Queen Victoria. The route of the Governor-General's party was from Fort Ellis through the west, north to Battleford, then to Calgary and on to Fort MacLeod.
In the North-West Resistance of 1885, with Inspector Perry in command, Horner was with the detachment carrying the nine-pounder field gun. He joined Gen. Thomas B. Strange's forces at Calgary and went north to Fort Pitt and Beaver River.
For services rendered in that campaign, Horner was recommended in general order, by Gen. Strange, to the favorable consideration of the comptroller Col. Fred White and, at the breaking up of the brigade, was again granted, in general orders, recommendation for increased pay from the time of joining the brigade until its breaking-up, "for valuable services rendered."
Horner was the Force's Saddler with the rank of Staff Sergeant from 1875 to 1890. He was easily recognizable around the barracks in Regina by his huge, unkempt black beard.
A key figure of the time in keeping the horses equipped for patrol work was the force's saddler major in Regina, who oversaw the repair and maintenance of all saddlery. For years, the police had had difficulties obtaining suitable harness, head collars, bridles and other saddlery accessories. Herchmer suggested the problem might be solved if in future the force made its own. "We have the required skill," he informed the deputy minister, "in the person of saddler major Horner, ‘a mechanic second to no tradesman in the Dominion.' All we need to carry out the job," he continued, "was a few good stitchers and the leather to do the work." Of course, he added, "It would be a saving to the public purse." Ottawa agreed, and by 1889 the commissioner was able to report that the soldiers were producing all the martingales, pole straps, hopples, reins, head collars, halters, side straps and even sword and cross belts, holsters and bandoliers that were needed.
In 1908, Samuel Horner, at age 63, returned to Stratford, where, on Dec. 7, 1909, he married Annie Yemen, 58. She was the widow of a former member of Stratford Lodge 332. In 1921, Horner was made a life member of the lodge. On April 11, 1929, he died. He was buried in Avondale Cemetery.
Source: Text and pictures by Stephen A. Budge