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Biography
Thomas Bland Strange (15 September 1831 – 9 July 1925), known as 'Gunner Jingo', was a British soldier noted for his service with the Canadian militia during the North-West Rebellion of 1885. Strange was a retired major-general at the time of the rebellion, and was raising cavalry horses near modern Calgary, Alberta. At the outbreak of the rebellion, his old friend Adolphe-Philippe Caron, who was minister of militia and defence in the government of Sir John A. Macdonald, asked Strange to organize a field force for the District of Alberta. This force, consisting primarily of inexperienced militiamen and a few members of the North-West Mounted Police, participated in the Battle of Frenchman's Butte fighting against forces under the command of Cree leader Big Bear.
Strange's greater importance is as the father of the Canadian artillery and one of the initial organizers of the Canadian army.