A public park is a place to connect with nature and enjoy the great outdoors.
And perhaps soon, visitors to Dayfoot Drive Park in Halton Hills may have the opportunity to contemplate the life of one of only 23 Black Canadian soldiers who fought in the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917, and served as company sergeant major at the Newmarket Training Camp 23 from 1940 to 1944.
The Town of Halton Hills has approved in principle a request to name the green space on Dayfoot Drive to the Henry Thomas Shepherd, MBE Park, in honour of the late Shepherd, who was the grandson of one of the first documented Black settlers in Georgetown who arrived in the area through the Underground Railroad.
The decorated soldier, who was born in Stewarttown in 1895 and died in 1960 at the age of 65, was bestowed as a Member, Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in June 1944 for his courage in the face of battling a fire that broke out in the early morning hours in the centre of the Battalion Orderly Room of No. 2 District Company, of The Royal Canadian Army Service Corps.
Apart from his military service and leadership at Newmarket’s training camp during the Second World War, Shepherd lived and worked in Georgetown at Fleck’s Paper Mill for nearly half a century.
Shepherd’s granddaughter, Kathy Brooks, who uncovered her much-beloved “Grandpa’s” achievements and its historical significance through archival research, said the park location being considered holds so many memories for the family.
“Several generations lived in the vicinity and the park is part of the playground at Chapel Street public school that we all attended,” Brooks said. “The fire hall where Grandpa was a volunteer and fire chief was just up the street. The Cenotaph was located just around the corner where Grandpa would lead the parade as parade marshal for Remembrance Day and other military events.”
When Brooks shared the news with family about the park location, they all said it couldn’t be more “perfect”.
“It’s a perfect way to honour a man we are so very proud of,” she said. “There are so many fond memories and keeping his story alive is a great example of what it means to serve one’s community and country.”
“He was a pioneer in a way that even he might not have understood in the moment and it’s nice that he will be recognized,” Brooks added. “A park in my grandfather’s name would honour a man who contributed so much of himself to his family, his community and his country. The fact that his father and grandmother came here through the Underground Railroad in the mid-1850s is a story of historical significance in itself.”
Shepherd’s military service started at an early age, in his teen years. Then, in 1914, he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force and served all four years of the First World War with the 58th Battalion. Shepherd was, in fact, one of only about 1,000 Black soldiers who served in non-segregated units.
But he was wounded on the battlefield in Ypres, Belgium, and at the Battle of the Somme, in France. For his service, he was awarded the Star and Victory medals, as well as the General Service Medal.
“He was shot twice and that’s one of the reasons he couldn’t re-enlist for the Second World War,” Brooks told NewmarketToday in a previous interview.
And that’s where Shepherd’s connection with Newmarket began.
At the beginning of the Second World War in 1939, Shepherd, then a non-commissioned officer and widely regarded as “one of the finest men ever to don the King’s uniform”, was recruited by Toronto Scottish Company Capt. M.B. Collier to be the company sergeant major at Newmarket Training Camp 23. And throughout his life, he maintained his association with the Lorne Scots Regiment.
The Town of Halton Hills is now conducting public consultation on the park-naming request.
“At this point, the proposal has been approved in principle, subject to the results of the public consultation, at which time there would be another report to council for final approval,” Halton Hills parks and open space manager Kevin Okimi said.
You can share your views on the park naming by taking a short survey on the Let’s Talk Halton Hills website here.
