Finding the Fallen: The Battle of York Remembered
March 3 – September 8, 2012


The Death of Captain Neal McNeale at the Battle of York, 27 April 1813], by BTA Griffiths (Welsh, active early 20th Century), gouache and watercolour on artist's board, 68.0 x 100.4 cm, circa 1930. City of Toronto Museum Services.


Market Gallery
South St. Lawrence Market, Second Floor
95 Front Street East, Toronto
Gallery hours: Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"I was standing at the gate of the garrison when the poor soldiers who escaped the explosion with a little life
remaining were brought in to the hospital, and a more afflicting sight could scarcely be witnessed."
From young Patrick Finan's eye-witness account of the Battle of York, April 27, 1813.

The City of Toronto museums present Finding the Fallen: The Battle of York Remembered, a commemorative exhibition that identifies the Canadian, British, First Nations and American combatants who died in the Battle of York.

On April 27, 1813, the Town of York, as Toronto was then known, was captured and burned by invading American forces. The names of 181 fallen combatants are inscribed in a newly commissioned Book of Remembrance and their sacrifices are brought to life through artifacts, custom-designed maps and first-person accounts.

Funded by a grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage, Museum Services staff led a team of researchers on an investigative quest through archives, libraries and private collections in Canada, the United States and England to identify as many of the fallen combatants as possible.

This exhibition is one of more than a hundred inspiring bicentennial commemorative events to be staged in Toronto as part of the War of 1812 Bicentennial Commemoration in 2012 and 2013. More information about the City's bicentennial program is available at http://www.toronto.ca/1812.