SET IN STONE - MARMADUKE GRABURN MONUMENT by Ian Guthrie
Set in a prominent location along the road in the south-eastern corner of the RCMP National Memorial Cemetery at Beechwood is the memorial for Marmaduke Graburn. As a memorial should, it brings thoughts of the person, and then leads to speculation
about the context of his or her life.
On June 9, 1879 Graburn enlisted in the Northwest Mounted Police in Ottawa, Ontario, and was assigned to the horse camp in the Cypress Hills.
On November 17th 1879, during the afternoon, Graburn had a verbal confrontation with a Blood Indian named Starchild, who persistently asked for food. The fight ended with Graburn ordering Starchild out of the camp. Later that day, Graburn’s horse returned to the detachment still saddled and bridled, but without its rider.
Cst. Graburn was the first member of the Force to die a violent death and he is buried at Fort Walsh, Saskatchewan, now a national historic site. His troopmates erected a memorial stone at the Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa.
In part the inscription reads: “Marmaduke Graburn - Primus Moriri (First to die).” Starchild was convicted of horse stealing some time later and sentenced to fourteen years in Stony Mountain Penitentiary. In later years he became a scout for the Northwest Mounted Police.
His spirit might inquire, ‘What is the RCMP?’ - since he had joined the NWMP in 1879. He would also not recognise Saskatchewan, whose membership and delineation of borders in Confederation lay far ahead in the following century. Sir John A. was still alive and a dominating presence; living in Ottawa, had Marmaduke encountered Macdonald? Probably. What were the Saskatchewan landscapes he saw? What peoples did he encounter? The journey from Ottawa to duty in Saskatchewan must have been a formidable experience.
As our lives progress we come to realise that twelve years is a short span!
Graburn was an Ottawa man and the monument was raised from subscription by his colleagues and family. Initially installed in another section of the cemetery, but the monument was moved to the RCMP Section and refurbished by RCMP Veterans when their section was established.
Contemplating the memorial it brings to mind that height was obviously important to Victorians. It is an obelisk, reaching to the sky. It is a fine piece of limestone, a sedimentary rock, and the swirls of the variously shaded sediments laid down in an ancient sea are clearly visible. Seen on a sunny day, there is a remarkable contrast between the sides of the obelisk, the sunny side is glowing, almost white, while the obverse is dark, almost a gloomy grey. Variations in the texture of the rock are also visible, from smooth to relatively gritty. Could it be that these contrasts reflect the reality of life, the rough and the smooth, the light and the dark?
It also strikes my mind that the Victorians may have been a little more creative in the names assigned to children than we are, at least among anglophones. Marmaduke is very distinctive( forget about the cartoon canine!). Another monument in the cemetery remembers a couple named Rudolphus and Rosalinda; the lady’s name resonates with me almost poetically. A worthy monument leads to such speculation!
From whichever direction one approaches this monument it is imposed in the mind and memory, a suitable memorial to a person who knew Confederation as a real event in his life.
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