The Exploits of Colonel Joe Boyle,

The Last D’Artangan

Wednesday, January 18, 2023 

10:00 a.m. on ZOOM* 

* This is part of the History Interest Group's program. To join this group contact the convenor. If you are not a member of CFUW but would like to join us, email cfuwkanata.publicity@gmail.com  to request a link to our ZOOM meeting. We always welcome new members. 

James Powell

Director of the Historical Society of Ottawa

James Powell was born in Bermuda and is a retired senior officer of the Bank of Canada.

He is the author or co-author of three books: A History of the Canadian Dollar; The Bank of Canada of James Elliott Coyne: Challenges, Confrontation and Change; and (with Jill Moxley), Faking It! A History of Counterfeiting in Canada. He also wrote a History of the G-20 Countries for the Group of Twenty, as well as two corporate books for the Bank of Canada, one focusing on the architecture and art of the Bank of Canada and another on Canada’s currency collection.  

James is a Director of the Historical Society of Ottawa, and is the author of an Ottawa history blog called Today in Ottawa’s History.

The Exploits of Col. Joe Boyle

Colonel Joseph Boyle was a real-life Canadian James Bond who is now largely forgotten.

After making a fortune in the 1898 Gold Rush, Boyle, dubbed the "King of the Klondike," he brought a hockey team 7,000 kilometres to challenge the Ottawa Senators for the Stanley Cup.

During World War I, he established his own machine gun unit, which served with distinction, reorganized the Russian train system, became the "Saviour of Romania," was reputedly the lover of Queen Marie of Romania, and tried to rescue the Dowager Tsarina of Russia.   He was decorated by Britain, France, Russia and Romania. 

Boyle died in 1923 and was buried in England.  His remains were repatriated to Canada with full military honours in 1983.

The Dawson City Nuggets

The team challenged the Ottawa Senators for the Stanley Cup