The Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps (RCOC) Diamond Jubilee (1903-1963) stamps celebrate 60 years of the Canadian Ordnance Corps (COC). Stamps on the left are in the CSS Museum.
The Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps (RCOC) was an administrative corps of the Canadian Army. The RCOC traces its roots back to the Canadian Stores Department.
Formed in 1871, the Canadian Stores Department was a civilian department of the Canadian Government. This civil service was charged with control of forts, ammunition, stores, buildings and an ordnance depot left by the departing British Military.
On 1 July 1903 the responsibilities of the Canadian Stores Department were transferred to the Ordnance Stores Corps. In 1907 it was renamed the Canadian Ordnance Corps (COC).
The Canadian Ordnance Corps was redesignated the Royal Canadian Ordnance Corps on 3 Nov 1919. As a matter of honour, King George V, the Canadian monarch bestowed on the organization the right to use the prefix “royal” before its name.
The badge of the RCOC consisted of a belt, with a King’s Crown on top, with the Latin text “Honi Soit qui mal y pense” (“Shame to Him Who Thinks Evil of It”). At the center of the belt is a shield superimposed with three cannonballs and three cannons.