Arthur George Teer was born in Toronto, Ontario in September, 1893. He enlisted in Toronto in June, 1915 and served overseas in Belgium and France until the end of the war. The collection currently consists of 20 letters.
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.
John Alexander Selter Thompson was born in Denver, Colarado, USA in October 1897. Thompson enlisted with the 196th Battalion in September 1916 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was killed at Passchendaele on October 26, 1917 while serving with the 46th Battalion. Thompson is commemorated on the Menin Gate. The collection currently consists of twenty-eight letters and some miscellaneous items.
Walter Cunningham Thomson was born in Hastings, Ontario in December, 1895. Thomson enlisted in February, 1916 in Peterborough, Ontario with the 93rd Battlion. He served overseas with the 21st Battalion until he was demobilized and returned to Canada at the end of the war.
The collection consists of seven letters, one newspaper clipping, two cards, and one misc. document. The letters were written to Reverend Arthur Mansell Irwin, pastor of Norwood Methodist Church, Ontario.
Howard Beverly Thorburn was born in 1898. He attended Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario during 1915 and 1916 before he left to take a commission with the Royal Field Artillery, with whom he served in France until the end of the war. The collection consists of seventy-eight letters from 1914 to 1918.
Gordon Stanley Thornton was born in Peterborough, Ontario in June, 1887. At the time of his enlistment in August 1915 he was practising as a barrister in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Thornton served with the 78th Batt., rising to the rank of Major by the end of the war. He was wounded in 1918 and returned to Canada after the war. The collection currently consists of fifty eight letters, some personal items and telegrams, and a photograph.
James Stokesbury Thorpe was born in Iowa, U.S.A. in January, 1889 and emigrated to Canada in the pre-war years. Thorpe enlisted in July, 1915 at Vernon, British Columbia and served as a Lieutenant in the Canadian Machine Gun Corps. Thorpe was killed on June 13, 1916 and is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium. The collection consists of one letter written from Flanders home to his mother and older sister.
Private Adrian Cracroft Thrupp was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, on August 3, 1897. His family immigrated to Canada prior to World War I and settled in Kamloops, British Columbia.
Thrupp enlisted with the 11th Canadian Mounted Rifles in Vernon, B.C., on August 20, 1915. Shipping for England on board the S.S. Lapland in July of 1916, he proceeded that October to France where he served with the 29th Battalion.
On April 11, 1917, at Vimy Ridge, Thrupp suffered a serious head wound. After many months of hospitalization in England, he returned to Canada and was medically discharge on March 13, 1918.
The materials in the Thrupp Collection were donated as part of the Sydney Winterbottom Collection. Thrupp and Winterbottom had been friends in Kamloops before the war. Both having enlisted in 1915, they served together in the 11th C.M.R. and 29th Bn. until finally separated when Adrian was wounded in action at Vimy in 1917. Winterbottom was killed later that fall at the Battle of Passchendaele.
In the letter section below is correspondence Thrupp wrote to his father describing his voyage to England on the S.S. Lapland, as well as a reference list of links to the numerous letters in the Winterbottom Collection in which Winterbottom writes about Thrupp.
External links:
Pte. Thrupp’s service record (Serv/Reg# 116579) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Dr. Charles Alexander McLaughlin Thrush was born in Byng, Ontario in 1880 and then later moved to Dunnville, Ontario where he practiced medicine. He enlisted in March, 1916 with the 114th Battalion (Brock's Rangers) and then served overseas as part of the Canadian Medical Corps. The collection consists of one letter written to his hometown newspaper in 1917, as well as three photographs.
Private Ralph Tilburt was born in Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A., on November 23, 1895, the sixth of eleven children of Guillaume and Emilie Charlotte Fredericke (née Bruder) Tilburt.
Tilburt enlisted with the No. 2 New Brunswick Forestry Corps Draft in July, 1917 in Sussex, New Brunswick. He shipped for England on September 5, 1917, on board the S.S. Megantic, landing at Liverpool, England on September 15. He was deployed to France the following month, October 10, where he served with the No. 31 Company, Canadian Forestry Corps. Tilburt returned to Canada and was demobilized in March of 1919.
Content notes:
The letters in the collection were sent by Tilburt to his brothers while he was serving in France between August 1918 and January 1919.
External links:
Pte. Tilburt’s service record (Serv/Reg# 2304224) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated December, 2022. Six new letters have been added. All letter transcriptions have been reviewed and corrected as needed. Image files are now available for all letters. The photo of Pte. Tilburt has been updated, replacing a cropped version with the full uncropped picture. The Collection Description has been revised and expanded.]
Frank Tilbury was born in London, Ontario, in 1877 and enlisted in the 135th Battalion on 13 December 1915; he listed his occupation as musician, and noted that he had previous service in the 26th Regiment and the 1st Hussars. The diaries, which run from August 1916 to August 1917, cover his training in England and his service at the front with the 60th and 116th Battalions.
Roderick Anderson Todd was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1890 and emigrated to Canada prior to the war. He enlisted in Victoria, British Columbia in February, 1914. He served overseas in France and was wounded in 1917. The collection currently consists of fifteen letters written by Todd, most of them while in hospital.
The Women's Alliance of the First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto sent packages of food and other items to members of the congregation serving overseas. The collection consists of twelve letters of thank you from recipients to the Women's Alliance for the items they received.
Thomas Franklin Townsend was born in Harrowsmith, Ontario in February, 1889. Townsend enlisted with the No. 9 Field Ambulance in Montreal, Quebec in January, 1916. He served overseas with the Canadian Army Medical Corps until his return to Canada in 1919. The collection currently consists of letters, his diary, and numerous photographs.
George Henry Tripp was born in London, England in July, 1897. He emigrated to Huttonville, Ontario and enlisted in July, 1915 at Toronto, Ontario with the 74th Battalion. Tripp served overseas with the 19th Battalion and was killed May 9, 1917. The collection consists of fifteen letters he wrote to his friend Lola Passmore. For more letters to Lola Passmore, see the collection of that name in the WWI collections.
Bernard Freeman Trotter was born in Toronto in 1890 and graduated from McMaster University in Toronto in 1915. He began graduate work at the University of Toronto before leaving for England in March, 1916. Although ill health prevented him from being accepted into the Canadian army, he was determined to serve and was able to secure a commission in the British Army. Trotter went to France in December, 1916 with his Leicestershire Regiment, and was killed by a shell on May 7, 1917. The collection consists of 87 letters home to his family from March 1916 to his death in May 1917. Trotter was also a noted poet. His poems were collected by his father in 1917 and published later that year by McClelland and Stewart as A Canadian Twilight. The complete Trotter fond is located at McMaster University. All materials ©McMaster University and used with their permission.
Private Arthur Lawrence Turner was born in Liverpool, England, on September 10, 1890. Prior to WWI, Turner had served in the British Territorial Army with the Royal Engineers and in the Canadian Militia with the 58th Westmount Rifles.
He enlisted with the 148th Battalion in Montreal, Québec, on March 8, 1916. Turner proceeded overseas on September 27, 1916, aboard the S.S. Laconia from Halifax, Nova Scotia, arriving on October 6 in Liverpool, England. He was sent to France in December of that same year, where he served with the 24th Battalion. Turner returned to Canada and was demobilized in November of 1918.
External Link:
Pte. Arthur Turner’s service file (#841715) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format from Library and Archives Canada.
Margaret Anne Urquhart (future married name Slydell) was born in Durisdeer, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, on May 8, 1891. In WWI she worked as a nurse at Stobhill Hospital, Glasgow, which had been requisitioned during the war to the Royal Army Medical Corps to use in treating sick and wounded soldiers. Urquhart immigrated to Canada following the war.
Content notes:
The collection contains just one document, an autograph book from 1917-18, that Urquhart kept while nursing at Stobhill. Amongst the soldiers who added their poems, quips, and drawings to Urquhart’s book, two have been identified with links to Canada: Newfoundlander Private William John Culleton of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment (page 6), and Canadian Sapper Maynard Arthur Yetts of the 5th Divisional Signal Company (page 15).
External links:
Urquhart worked with the Medical Corps in a civilian capacity, and as such there are no military service records of her time spent as a nurse during the war.
Private William John Culleton’s service record (Serv/Reg# 999) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through the Newfoundland Government’s digital archive of WWI Newfoundland Regiment military records.
Spr. Maynard Arthur Yetts’ service record (Serv/Reg# 507463) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
[Editor’s note: Collection updated July 2023. Two new photographs added.]
Colonel Charles Herman Vandersluys, DSO, VD, was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, on November 4, 1876, to parents Major Joseph Arthur Vandersluys, VD, and Priscilla Vandersluys. Prior to World War One, Charles and his wife Eva Estella lived in Niagara Falls, where Charles had worked for many years as a director of physical training, beginning at the Niagara Falls Collegiate Institute and then throughout the local elementary schools. Since the age of fifteen he had been a member of the 44th Regiment (later known as the Lincoln and Welland).
At the beginning of the war recruits from the 44th Regiment became part of the 4th Battalion, newly formed at Valcartier Camp on September 2, 1914. Vandersluys was appointed and joined them on September 22, sailing for England as part the First Contingent aboard the S.S. Zealand on October 4, 1914. He was appointed as Staff Captain in March of 1915, and in May of 1916 as Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General, 1st Canadian Division. Mentioned in Dispatches on three occasions, Vandersluys received the Distinguished Service Order on June 4, 1917.
Demobilized August 29, 1919, Vandersluys returned to his prewar work in the Niagara Falls school system. Ending the war as a Major, he continued in service with the 44th (Lincoln and Welland) Regiment, eventually rising to the rank of Colonel.
Charles Vandersluys’ brother Lieutenant John Joseph Vandersluys, MC, also served during WWI, and was awarded the Military Cross on February 1, 1919, while with the 3rd Battalion. Their father, Major Joseph Arthur Vandersluys, VD, served throughout the war as paymaster for the Welland Canal Protective Force.
Content notes:
The letter in the collection was written by Vandersluys to his father at the start of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, April 9, 1917.
External links:
Colonel Charles Herman Vandersluys’ service record (Serv/Reg# n/a) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Major Joseph Arthur Vandersluys’ service record (Serv/Reg# n/a) at Library and Archives Canada.
Lt. John Joseph Vandersluys’ service record (Serv/Reg# n/a) at Library and Archives Canada.
Government records for the Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers Decoration/Volunteer Decoration show listed on the same page both Colonel C.H. Vandersluys and his father Major J.A. Vandersluys as VD recipients (Library and Archives Canada). Previously, as a Sergeant during the Fenian Raids, Joseph Vandersluys had twice been awarded the Canada General Service Medal in 1866 and 1870.
Norman Stanley Vandusen was born in Turnerville, Ontario in June, 1888. He enlisted in April, 1916 at Chatham, Ontario with the 186th Battalion, and served overseas with the 18th Battalion. Vandusen was wounded in 1917 and returned to Canada in 1919 with demobilization. The collection currently consists of two letters, one photograph, and his hospital equipment list while wounded.
Private John ("Jack") Wakefield was born in Toronto, Ontario, on June 16, 1896, to parents John and Eliza Wakefield.
He enlisted in Toronto with the 1st Depot Battalion Central Ontario Regiment on May 9, 1918. Shipping for England on board the S.S. Cassandra in June of 1918, Wakefield served with the 12th Reserve Battalion before proceeding to France to join the 15th Battalion later that October. Following his return to Canada, he was demobilized July 11, 1919.
Content notes:
The collection contains one letter written by Wakefield to his parents in December of 1918, and his 15th Battalion Record of Services Card (a link to the complete index of these cards, digitized as part of the 15th Battalion Memorial Project, is included below).
External links:
Pte. Wakefield’s service record (Serv/Reg# 3036963) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
The 15th Battalion Memorial Project’s Record of Services Card Index.
