BEFORE THE FIRST World War, a Montreal newspaper poll rated him one of the ten greatest Canadians. Both Winston Churchill and Lord Kitchener considered him one
of the most brilliant men of his time. Both summoned him at critical moments to take on work of the greatest importance. His name was Edouard Percy Cranwell Girouard, and he was the son of a French Canadian Montreal lawyer and an American mother of Irish parentage. Today, it is doubtful if one Canadian in a thousand has heard of him.

Born in 1867, Percy Girouard graduated from the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, at age 19 and accepted employment as a surveyor for the recently completed Canadian Pacific Railway. His two years with the railway gave him the basic experience that would forge his brilliant military career.

By 1888 he had obtained a commission in the British Army Royal Engineers. His first eight years of military service were uneventful. However, being traffic manager of the railways within the Royal Arsenal got him thinking about the ways the twin rails of steel could move armies and their supplies in the event of a major war. His great opportunity came in 1896 when the British government decided to begin the reconquest of the Sudan. Lord Kitchener, the British commander of the Egyptian Army, was ordered to advance up the Nile to Dongola. He had heard of the young French-Canadian's love affair with railways and their potential use in military campaigns. Although the British had earlier failed to realize the military potential of railways, Girouard had studied in every detail their use and management by both the French and Germans during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.

Lieutenant Girouard's services were requisitioned. When he arrived in Egypt, he was appointed Director of Railways and told to build a railway across the great Sudan desert at the rate of a mile a day. A railway battalion was formed and work began on the mammoth task. Construction averaged 1-1/6 miles of track laid per day, the best day seeing three miles laid. When the 588 miles of track were laid, delivery of supplies began. Kitchener was able to bring to his forming up place the troops, ammunition, and supplies required to effect the defeat of the Sudanese and the annexation of the Sudan. The Battle of Omdurman achieved these goals. Meanwhile, Girouard, now lieutenant-colonel, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and also became the president of both the Egyptian state railways and Alexandria harbour. For a young man of 32, he had achieved a great deal.

In October 1899, the Boer War began in South Africa. Girouard was reinstated in the British Army and. sent to South Africa as Director of Railways for the British campaign. His reward was a knighthood. After the war, Sir Percy had the task of reorganizing the South African railways so that they could better serve the new nation - the Union of South Africa. When his job was completed, Sir Percy returned to the United Kingdom.

Three years later, he was contacted by Winston Churchill who had met him in South Africa and knew of his work there as well as of his previous success in pushing steel across the Sudanese desert. Churchill, as under secretary of state for the British colonies, wanted to set up a railway system in Nigeria. He recalled Girouard's accomplishments. "Where is Girouard?" he asked. "Get him."

In order to facilitate the railway, Churchill appointed Sir Percy High Commissioner of Northern Nigeria and promised him a free hand.

In February 1907, Sir Percy Girouard embarked to Nigeria as High Commissioner and Commander-in-Chief Two years later, he was made Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the whole of British East Africa, a post he held for the next three years. His regime was outstanding: when he resigned in 1912 and decided to re-enter the industrial world, the press expressed dismay.

After the outbreak of World War I, Lord Kitchener, now the secretary of state for war, summoned Girouard into the army with the rank of major-general. A year later, the government formed a directorate of munitions with Lloyd George as the Minister of Munitions. Girouard, Director of the War Office Munitions Department, was made his right-hand man. Unfortunately, Lloyd George and General Girouard did not see eye to eye. Consequently, Girouard left the army, again entering the industrial sphere. He died in 1932 at age 65 and is buried in Brookwood Cemetery, south of Working in Surrey.

Canada has great reason to be proud of Sir Percy Girouard who, as a young Canadian army engineer, supervised the construction of the railway across the arid African desert at a rate of more than a mile a day.