Frederick Loomis

Major General Sir Frederick Oscar Warren Loomis, (February 1, 1870 – February 15, 1937) was a Canadian soldier who fought in the First World War.

Personal life Loomis was educated in Sherbrooke and Lennoxville at Bishop’s College. In 1891 he joined his father's firm D. G. Loomis and Sons, which made bricks, sold building materials, and filled contracts for general construction. In 1903 the family enterprise moved its operations to Montreal. After 1912, he became sole proprietor of the company, by then an important firm undertaking projects across the country.

Military career He enlisted as a 16-yr old private in 1886 with the 53rd Sherbrooke Battalion of Infantry and was made a provisional lieutenant in 1897. He was commissioned a year later and transferred to 5th Regiment, Royal Highlanders of Canada in Montreal in 1903 and was later promoted to major in 1905. and took command of the newly formed 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade. In July of that same year, he was appointed to command of the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade and would see the brigade through the battles at the Ypres Salient, Somme, Vimy Ridge, Arlleux, Hill 70, and Passchendaele during 1916 and 1917. In September 1918, Loomis was promoted to major general and was given command of the 3rd Canadian Division and commanded the division during the last two months of the First World War, leading the division through the Battle of Cambrai and succeeding battles culminating in the capture of Mons on November 11, 1918.

He was knighted by George V in 1919 for his service during the war and retired from the Canada Militia later in May of that year.

Honours and legacy On November 11, 2018, the hundredth anniversary of the Armistice with Germany, The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) of Canada, with bagpipes and drums playing, marched through the streets of Mons to the building that was Major-General Frederick Loomis’s headquarters during the First World War. There a ceremony was held for the unveiling of a plaque commemorating this building as the HQ of the 3rd CDN Division.

He is portrayed in a painting by Edgar Bundy on display in the Canadian Senate Chamber, leading the Royal Highlanders of Canada (Canadian Expeditionary Force) into Saint-Nazaire in 1915.

Mount Loomis on the Alberta–British Columbia border is named after him.