WHITE, Frederick William (1864- c. 1920) held the post of Chief Architect of the federal government Department of Militia & Defence in Ottawa from c. 1890 until 1897. Born in Peterborough, Ont. on 16 June 1864, he enrolled as a young cadet at Royal Military College in Kingston on 9 September 1880 and later graduated with an engineering degree on 26 June 1884 (Royal Military College Club of Canada Reference Book, 1892, p. 59). Just four days after graduating, on 30 June 1884, he accepted a position as a 3rd Class Clerk in the Dept. of Militia & Defense, working under the supervision of Henry James, the Chief Architect in that department (Gazette [Montreal], 19 July 1884, 4)
White quickly rose through the ranks and after the death Henry James in November 1893, White was appointed as his successor as the Chief Architect, overseeing the design and construction of smaller military drill halls and militia buildings, while Thomas Fuller, Chief Architect of the Dept. of Public Works, controlled the design of larger Armoury and drill hall buildings in major cities such as Toronto and Halifax. White became a full member of the Ontario Association of Architects on 20 October 1890, and was among the first professional architects from the Ottawa area to join the provincial Association which had been formed in 1889.
In 1895 or early 1896, White prepared a design for a tall stone monument at Chateauguay, Quebec to honour the 300 Canadian militia men who repulsed more than 3,000 American troops during the War of 1812-14. Construction of the memorial was delayed for nearly twenty years, and it was finally built in 1913-14. The original perspective drawing for the Monument, signed "Fred W. White, Arch." has survived, and is now held in the Map Division of the National Archives of Canada, Ottawa, Acc. H2/350. White continued to oversee the architectural activity of the Department until February 1897 when he was succeeded by Lieut. Paul Weatherbe as Architect for the Militia Department. No information has been found on the activity of F.W. White after 1897.
HALIFAX, N.S., Drill Shed, 1892 (Halifax Herald, 29 Aug. 1892, 8; and 14 Sept. 1892, 3)
ST. THOMAS, ONT., Drill Shed, munitions store room, and caretaker's residence, for the Dept. of Militia & Defense, 1894 (Daily Advertiser [London], 21 March 1894, 8)
NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C., Drill Shed & Armoury, Sixth Street at Queen's Avenue, for the Royal Westminster Regiment, 1895-96 (C.A.B., x, Feb. 1897, 39; inf. Jim Wolf, Burnaby)
ALLAN'S CORNERS, QUE., Chateauguay Battle Monument, designed c. 1895 and built 1913-14, to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of Chateauguay (dwg. at NAC, Ottawa, Acc. H2/350; Victor J.H. Suthren, "The Battle of Chateauguay" in Parks Canada: Canadian Historic Sites: Vol. 11, 1974, 98, illus. & descrip. of the monument; inf. Edward H. Dahl, Ottawa)