James Lupton McAvity

Lieutenant-Colonel James Lupton McAvity

8 October 1867 – 1 November 1932

Lieutenant-Colonel James Lupton McAvity was a prominent Saint John, New Brunswick businessman and militia officer who became the first commanding officer of the 26th Battalion (New Brunswick), Canadian Expeditionary Force. A member of the renowned McAvity manufacturing family, whose company produced the fire hydrants still bearing the McAvity name across Canada, he helped recruit, organize and lead one of New Brunswick’s most distinguished First World War battalions overseas in 1915. Under his leadership, the battalion embarked for England with more than 1,000 officers and men before entering service on the Western Front.

McAvity’s military career was cut short in 1916 when severe gastritis, insomnia and nervous exhaustion forced him to relinquish command and return to Canada. Although he had successfully raised the battalion, command passed to Lieutenant-Colonel A. E. G. McKenzie before the unit earned its battlefield reputation in France.

Following the war, while commanding the 1st New Brunswick Depot Battalion at Camp Sussex, McAvity became embroiled in a controversy over shortages in battalion canteen funds. At a General Court Martial in 1919, he denied any personal dishonesty, stating he had repaid the deficit from his own pocket, and several senior officers testified to his honour and character. Nevertheless, the court found him responsible as the commanding officer and sentenced him to be cashiered—the most severe punishment for a commissioned officer, resulting in dismissal from the service in disgrace. The case remains one of the most controversial military trials in New Brunswick’s history.

Despite the circumstances of his dismissal, McAvity’s legacy includes raising the Fighting 26th Battalion and inspiring hundreds of New Brunswick men to volunteer. During the war, 159 employees connected with the McAvity enterprise enlisted for military service, of whom 26 never returned, making the family’s contribution to Canada’s war effort one of the province’s most significant industrial and military legacies. James Lupton McAvity died in Saint John on 1 November 1932 at the age of 65.