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WWI

These collections contains any material relating to Canada from 1914 to 1918 from either the home front or the battlefront. External links in collection descriptions are either to online attestation papers at Library and Archives Canada or casualty and burial information at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

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Private Edward James Fright was born in Birchington-on-Sea, England on December 12th, 1896, to parents Edward James & Christiana Fright. Both died while Edward was quite young leaving himself and his younger brother Alfred orphaned at the ages of five and two. They were taken in at Dr. Barnardo's Home for Orphans in London, England.

Both Edward and Alfred were sent to Canada as "Home Children" in March of 1910, aboard the ship Dominion.  Both were eventually placed into domestic work with a family in South Dorchester, Elgin County, Ontario.

On January 1st, 1916, in Saint Thomas, Ontario, Edward enlisted with the 91st Overseas Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He arrived in England abord the troop ship S.S. Olympic on July 5th, 1916, and was sent to France in October of that same year.

Pte. Fright was killed in action in an attack at Bellevue Spur at Passchendaele, Belgium, on October 26th, 1917. He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium.  

External links:
Pte. Fright's service record (Reg/Ser# 189881) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.
Library and Archives Canada also has immigration information for Fright as part of their database on Home Children.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Pte. Fright can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

The Memorial Honour Roll Plaque to the Home Children of WWI, designed by Dawn Heuston, was sponsored by veteran Len Brown in memory of his mother Miriam Ann Morris who came to Canada as British Home Child. A high resolution jpg of the Plaque can be downloaded from the website of the British Home Child Advocacy and Research Association.

Harry Vincent Fuller was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in January, 1894.  His family later moved to Calgary where he enlisted in May, 1916 with the 137th Battalion.  Fulller served overseas in France until his return at the end of the war in 1919.  The collection currently consists of several photographs and a portion of a notebook he kept in 1917.

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Latest Readings from World War One collections

James Moore

Reads a 09/21/1916 Letter by Drader, Eugene Robert from World War One collections. View full Letter

RH Thomson

Reads a 07/06/1917 Letter by Mayse, Amos William (Will) from World War One collections. View full Letter

RH Thomson

Reads a 07/05/1917 Letter by Mayse, Amos William (Will) from World War One collections. View full Letter