the Sir Samuel SteeleCollection

During the years of 1885 and 1886, Pocock kept diaries/scrapbooks with entries recording important events, which were either personally experienced or gathered first-had from those directly involved. Shortly after his entry into the N.W.M.P., Pocock was immersed in the official response to the uprisings known as the North West Rebellion of 1885. His 1885 scrapbook conveys first-hand information related to the military operations, as he had access to direct information. He also records valuable first-hand information on life as a N.W.M.P. officer. He also compiled a list of duty-related statistics (kit prices, N.W.M.P. personnel statistics, expenses, deaths, distnce and important dates with incidents noted), and transcriptions from other sources (including Riel's personal diary). The scrapbook is illustrated with his own pencil and ink sketches and drawings and included are letters written to his family telling of his experiences with the N.W.M.P. and events relative to the North West uprising, some illustrated with drawings and maps, apparently retrieved for inclusion in the diary books which were to become the source for his planned autobiography. Interspersed throughout the scrapbooks are short stories, poems, and other jottings indicative of the would-be author's budding talents. Included in the 1885 scrapbook is an early and very faded photograph of Big Bear.

Author:  Pocock, Roger, 1865-1941

Language:  English

Date: 1885