Robert Wallace Lane was born in Belmore, Ontario in September, 1887. He later moved to New Westminster, British Columbia where he worked as a barrister. Lane enlisted in Kingston, Ontario in January, 1916 and served overseas with the 50th Battery, 13th Artillery Brigade. Three of his brothers also served - James Eldon Lane, William Stanley Lane, and Walter Ross Lane. The collection currently consists of two letters, a newspaper article, and more than thirty photographs.
Title
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.
Walter Ross Lane was born in Belmore, Ontario in April, 1893. Lane was a medical student at his time of enlistment in Toronto, Ontario in March, 1915. He served overseas in France but was discharged on medical grounds in August, 1916. Three of his brothers also served - James Eldon Lane, Robert Wallace Lane, and William Stanley Lane. The collection currently consists of two photographs and one newspaper article.
William Stanley Lane was born in June, 1891. Lane was a law student at his time of enlistment in November, 1914 with the 29th Battalion. He served in France as signaller and was killed on April 6, 1916 in the Battle of St. Eloi. Three of his brothers also served - James Eldon Lane, Robert Wallace Lane, and Walter Ross Lane. The collection currently consists of seven photographs, four newspaper articles, and several miscellaneous items.
Gunner Walter James Lantz was born in Pinette, Prince Edward Island, on February 2, 1881, to parents Joseph T. and Bessie Lantz. Prior to WWI he served two years in the Militia with the 82nd Regiment (Abegweit Light Infantry).
Lantz enlisted with the 98th Canadian Siege Battery (C.S.B.) in Charlottetown, P.E.I., on October 6, 1915. Shipping for England on board the S.S. Lapland in late November, he proceeded to France in late May of 1916, where he continued to serve with the 98th C.S.B. until he was killed in action by a German shell on July 12, 1916. Lantz was buried at Dartmoor Cemetery, Becordel-Becourt, France.
After Lantz was killed, his old school friend and fellow 98th C.S.B. soldier Lieutenant James Parker Hooper (later promoted to Major) made a memorial photo album for Lantz’s parents with pictures of Walter and other members of the 98th taken in and around the front-line trenches in the Somme/Mametz region of France. The photographs were taken by Hooper and Lantz in the weeks immediately preceding Lantz’s death in July of 1916. Images of each page of the album, including both the text and photographs, have been posted with transcriptions in the Collection Contents “Album” section; additionally, larger views of each of the photographs have been posted separately in the Collection Contents “Photos” section.
More information about the album’s creator can be found on the WWI Collection page of Major James Parker Hooper, MC.
Several other members of the 98th C.S.B. who appear in the album’s photographs have been identified as: Gunner Ernest Franklin Kelly (page 4); Major William Stephen Trenholme (page 7); Major Temple William Faber MacDonald’s (page 8); Sergeant Percy Wilfred MacNevin (page 8). The crosses in the forefront of page eleven’s photograph of Dartmoor Cemetery mark the graves of two soldiers of the 4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, United Kingdom: Corporal B.A.G. Creasey and Private James Sharpe.
External links:
Gnr. Lantz’s service record (Serv/Reg# 92921) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Lantz can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Major James Parker Hooper’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned*).
Gnr. Ernest Franklin Kelly’s service record (Serv/Reg# 92875).
Major Temple William Faber MacDonald’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned*).
Sgt. Percy Wilfred MacNevin’s service record (Serv/Reg# 92891).
Major William Stephen Trenholme’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned*).
Cpl. B.A.G. Creasey’s burial information, Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Pte. James Sharpe’s burial information, Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
*[WWI officers were not routinely assigned Service/Regimental #s]
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated September 2022. Some additional materials have been added and some changes to categorization of Collection Contents have been made; transcription of the album’s written content has been added; photo descriptions have been reviewed and expanded.]
Private John Robert Lapsansky was born in Wellington, near Ladysmith, British Columbia, on April 17, 1893, to parents Joseph and Katharine Lapsansky. He enlisted in Valcartier, Québec, with the 7th Battalion, Canadian Infantry (British Columbia Regiment) on September 23, 1914, and sailed with his unit for England in October of 1914.
Lapsansky died at No. 50 Casualty Clearing Station on February 2, 1919, from broncho-pneumonia, and was buried at Huy (La Starte) Communal Cemetery in Belgium.
Lapsansky’s name is listed on the Ladysmith Cenotaph along with forty other soldiers who were born, lived, or worked in Ladysmith, British Columbia, and who died during the First World War. Seven of these soldiers, including Lapsansky, had wartime letters published by The Ladysmith Chronicle newspaper (see links below).
The complete list of soldiers in the can be found in the Ladysmith and District Historical Society collection.
External links:
Pte. Lapsansky’s service record (Serv/Reg#16662) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Lapsansky can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Information and photos of the Ladysmith Cenotaph, Rotary Memorial Peace Garden, Ladysmith, British Columbia.
A collection of WWI soldiers' letters published in The Ladysmith Chronicle was undertaken by the Ladysmith & District Historical Society, through their work with the Ladysmith Archives.
Private Frederick John Latter was born in Tonbridge, Kent, England, on June 18, 1895. He was a member of the Canadian Army Service Corps in Winnipeg prior to his enlistment with the No. 11 Overseas Field Ambulance at St. Vital, Manitoba, on May 1, 1916.
Shipping for England on board the S.S. Adriatic in May of 1916, he was called-up to action in France later that August. He stayed with the 11th Field Ambulance throughout the majority of the war until his demobilization in May of 1919.
External links:
Pte. Frederick Latter’s service record (Reg/Ser# 531798) is available online through Library and Archives Canada [please note (at time of posting) the L&AC record included by mistake several pages belonging to soldier Gordon Hall Latter (Reg/Ser# 1017)].
John William Law, MM, was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1892 and enlisted in Toronto in November, 1914. He served overseas until his discharge in 1919, first with the 19th Battn. and then later transferred to the Royal Flying Corp in 1917. The collection consists of more than fifty letters written between 1915 and 1919.
Alfred Lawson, MC, was born in South Shields, England, in December 1880. Sometime prior to the war he immigrated to Canada and enlisted in July 1915 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with the 90th Battalion (Winnipeg Rifles). Lawson served overseas with the 27th Battalion and was awarded the Military Cross in July 1917. He returned to Canada in May 1919 with demobilization. The collection currently consist of one memoir of the attack on Vimy Ridge. While undated it was written either in 1917 or 1918 given the reference to his use of a camera.
Melville Thomas Lean was born in Camborne, Ontario in October, 1895. He enlisted in Cobourg, Ontario in December, 1915 and served with the Cobourg Heavy Battery. The collection currently consists of seven letters.
Thomas James LeDuc was born in Cache Creek, British Columbia in February, 1882. In 1911 he joined the B.C. Horse, and then enlisted in December, 1914 in Victoria, British Columbia. Leduc served overseas with the 2nd C.M.R. and returned to Canada at the end of the war with the rank of Major. The collection currently consists of five letters.
Lieutenant Hart Leech was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on March 9, 1889, to parents John Hillyard Leech and Ida L. Leech. In the months prior to his enlistment he was completing his final year as a law student, with the expectation of joining his father’s Winnipeg law firm of Leech, Leech, Sutton & Hamilton.
Leech enlisted in Winnipeg with the 61st Battalion on June 2, 1915. He shipped for England in May 1916 on board the SS Olympic, and in June was deployed to France to join the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles. Leech was killed in action on September 16, 1916, while serving at the front during the Battle of Mouquet Farm (part of the Battle of Somme). He is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial, Pas de Calais, France.
Content notes:
In addition to the two family letters written by Leech in 1916, there was a third that was written on the eve of going into battle at Mouquet Farm, but not received by his parents until 1928 as recounted in the newspaper article of that date. Further materials relating to the wartime service of Hart’s father Hillyard Leech, including statements collected by him from soldiers in the field with Hart at the time of his death, can be found in the John Hillyard Leech Collection.
External links:
Lieut. Hart Leech’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. [Note: As of June 2024, Leech’s date of death is given as September 15,1916, instead of September 16 as it appears in Leech’s service record, as well as in the WWI Circumstances of Death Registers (record# 46246, page# 441 – please note that page # must be entered manually).]
A memorial page honouring Leech can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial. [Note: The CVWM data is sourced from the CWGC, as given above, and therefore also appears as September 15,1916.]
[Collection reviewed/updated July/Aug. 2024.]
Private John Hillyard Leech (known as “Hillyard” or “Hill”) was born in Lansdowne, Ontario, on April 4, 1866, to parents John Leech and Sarah Webster Leech (née Moles). The family moved to Manitoba in 1879, settling in Brandon in 1882. In 1885 Leech served with the Winnipeg Battalion Light Infantry during the North West Rebellion. A graduate of the University of Manitoba, he was called to the Manitoba Bar in 1892. He soon joined his brother, Ernest Tennyson Leech, and two other colleagues to found the Winnipeg law firm of Leech, Leech, Sutton & Hamilton.
Married to Ida Laura Allin on July 5, 1888, the couple had two sons and one daughter: Hart, Vernon Mayne, and Eurith Hillida. Following the outbreak of WWI, their oldest son Hart was commissioned in June 1915. Lieut. Hart Leech was killed in action September 16, 1916, at Mouquet Farm (part of the Battle of Somme) with the 61st Battalion.
Fifteen months after the death of his son, on January 5, 1918, Leech managed to get himself enlisted as a Private with Winnipeg’s No. 10 Engineer & Railway Construction Recruiting Depot. He served with the Recruiting Depot for just over seven months before being discharged due to poor health.
Content notes:
The collection documents Hillyard Leech’s efforts to gather information about the death of his son Hart Leech. Correspondents such as Major General Sir Samuel Steele and Prime Minister Robert Bordon indicate that Hillyard Leech was able to make his personal appeal direct to the very highest levels, resulting in an unusual collection of formal, yet personal, military statements from soldiers who were serving in the field with Hart at the time of his death.
For additional materials relating to his son’s wartime service see CLIP’s Lieut. Hart Leech Collection.
External links:
Pte. John Hillyard Leech’s WWI service record (Serv/Reg# 2184539) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada. [Note: In order to enlist Hillyard lied about his age, giving 1874 as his year of birth.]
Also at Library and Archives Canada is a record of Leech’s service in the North West Rebellion (1885).
Lieut. Hart Leech’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Record links for other letter/document writers:
Pte. Charles Billington’s service record (Serv/Reg# 151803).
Captain Walter Buchanan Caswell, MC, service record (Serv/Reg# unassigned).
Major Charles Fraser’s service record (Serv/Reg# unassigned).
Sgt. James Kirk’s service record (Serv/Reg# 108326).
Lieut. Howard James Garfield Morgan, MC, service record (Serv/Reg# unassigned).
Major General Sir Samuel Benfield Steele, KCMG, CB, MVO: Fenian Raids (1866) medal record; Red River (1870) medal record; North West Resistance (1885) medal record; South African War service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned); WWI service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned). Military service information also appears in Steele’s North West Mounted Police record.
Major Donald Williamson’s service record (Serv/Reg# unassigned)..
Arthur Leighton was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England in 1880, and later moved to Manitoba where he found work as a farmhand. In 1901 he enlisted in the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles and saw action in South Africa during the Boer War. Following the war he attended the University of Manitoba and was called to the Bar in 1908. In 1908 he married Alice Sophia Wright, born in Brittania Ontario in 1887. In 1912 they moved to Nanaimo where he practised law. In 1915 Arthur joined the 72nd Seaforth Highlanders in the 2nd Canadian Infantry Brigade as a commissioned lieutenant and was later promoted to captain. Alice followed Arthur to Europe, arriving in England in 1916, where she became a volunteer at St. Dunstan's Hostel for Blind Soldiers and Sailors. Arthur was wounded in the knee and spent some time in England recovering before returning to France. They returned to Nanaimo in 1919 where Arthur continued to practise law and Alice became involved in many charitable societies. The collection consists of 125 letters, a large proportion of which are letters from Alice to Arthur. References in Alice's letters indicate that Arthur wrote to her everyday while in France from 1916 to 1918, but unfortunately that portion of the correspondence has not survived. Included as well are many non-correspondence items such as receipts and certificates directly related to their wartime experience. The original letters are held by the Nanaimo Community Archives and are used with their permission
John McCallum LeRoy was born in Quebec in October 1886, and later moved with his family to Bogend, Saskatchewan. LeRoy enlisted in January 1915, in Humboldt, Saskatchewan. He served overseas with the 5th Battalion Canadian Infantry until his death on April 28, 1917. The town of LeRoy, Saskatchewan, formerly Bogend, is named after him. The collection currently consists of six letters, two photographs, a postcard, a note from the Red Cross, his Circumstances of Death record, and a report regarding his death from a soldier.
Walter Liddiard was born in Montreal, Quebec in May, 1894. He moved to Victoria, British Columbia and was enlisted in 1917. Liddiard served overseas as a Gunner with the No. 5 Coy, Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery. The collection currently consists of nearly forty letters, as well as several letters and postcards.
James Arthur Lindsay, MM, was born in Lochwinnoch, Ontario in March, 1893. He enlisted at Ottawa in July, 1915 and served overseas with the 23rd Battery, C.F.A. Lindsay was awarded the Military Medal in October 1918, during the fighting at Cambrai. He was discharged in May 1919, and returned to Canada. The collection consists of three letters, a Christmas 1918 program and menu, a letter of appreciation from the Lochwinnoch Branch of the U.F.O., and one photograph.
Harold Hartley Littler was born in Liverpool, England in December, 1881. Littler enlisted in Port Alberni, British Columbia and then was later sworn in at Victoria, British Columbia in November, 1915. The collection consists of a short memoir written by Littler in the 1920s which describes his time from enlistment until his return home.
James Alfred Livingston was born in Norwood, Ontario in September, 1894 and enlisted in Norwood, Ontario in December, 1915. Livingston was overseas with the 93rd Battalion but was invalided back the war as medically unfit. The collection currently consists of five letters and several clippings.
Duncan Wallace Livingstone was born in Asbestos, Quebec in May, 1895. Livingstone enlisted in March 1915, and served overseas as a Lance Corporal with the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles. Livingstone was killed at Passchendaele on October 30, 1917. The collection consists of photograph of Livingstone and a letter of condolence concerning his death.
Einar Stefansson Long was born in Iceland in December 1891. He immigrated to Canada prior to the war and was a student in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Long enlisted in February, 1916, in Winnipeg. He served overseas with the 8th Battalion and was killed on August 9, 1918. The collection consists of one photograph of Long and his friend Gudmunder Gudmundson.
