Talbot Mercer Papineau
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Talbot Mercer Papineau, MC (25 March 1883–30 October 1917) was a lawyer and soldier from Quebec, Canada.
Born in Montebello, Quebec, the son of Louis-Joseph Papineau (grandson of the Patriote leader Louis-Joseph Papineau) and Caroline Rogers, he was educated at the High School of Montreal and at McGill University. In 1905, he was one of the first Canadians to receive a Rhodes Scholarship and he studied law at Brasenose College, Oxford. He also played ice hockey for the Oxford Canadians. Returning to Montreal in 1908, he started practicing law.
In August 1914, he enlisted with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry and was commissioned a Lieutenant. In the newspapers, in the year 1916, he got into an argument with his cousin, the anti-imperialist nationalist leader Henri Bourassa over support for the war and the British Empire. Papineau's letter to Bourassa would eventually be published in the The Times of London. He was awarded the Military Cross for his actions in Belgium and rose to the rank of major. He was notable for his letters from the front. He was hit by a shell during the Battle of Passchendale in Ypres on October 30, 1917.
