Fonds includes textual records that consist of a diary recounting Lieutenant Richard Scougall Cassels' experiences in the Northwest, particularly the engagement at Cut Knife Hill, 30 March to 23 July 1885.
Also included in fonds are two photo albums and several loose photographs depicting various residences of the Cassels family in Toronto, Ont.; activities of family and friends including several fishing trips to the Temagami district in Ontario in 1894, 1895 and 1896 with several friends, to Cacouna, Que., and to Turtle Lake and vicinity in 1899, all of which also involved family friend George M. Kelley (1871-1963). The Cassels fonds includes numerous photographs of George M. Kelley, taken at various times in the 1890s; and several portraits of family members. Photos by R.S. Cassels, George Kelley and unidentified photographers.
Cassels, R. S. (Richard Scougall), 1859-1935 : Richard Scougall Cassels was born on October 5, 1859 at Holland House, Quebec. He obtained a degree from the University of Toronto and went to Osgoode Hall, being admitted to the Ontario bar in 1883. He served as a lieutenant with the Queen's Own Rifles of the North West Field Force in 1885, and was a founder of the 48th Highlanders of Canada, a regiment in which he was promoted Captain. He later became a life member of the Royal Canadian Military Insitute. He was a partner in the Toronto law firm of Cassels, Brock & Kelley, which later became Cassels, Brock & Blackwell, and he practised law for 52 years. Cassels was a keen amateur photographer as well, being active in the Toronto Camera Club for many years. He produced the photographs of wildflowers for the 1930 manual produced by J. E. Jones, entitled Some Familiar Wild Flowers. His slides and photographs of botanical specimens was left to the Botany Department of the University of Toronto. He died in Toronto on 17 July 1935. Facing History (Ottawa: National Archives, 1993), p. 94; Private Relams of Light (Toronto: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 1984), p. 308.
