Jack Malcolm Brown was born in Ontario in 1895. His only sibling, Olga Brown was born in 1903, and the two of them were orphaned when Olga was about one year old. The two children were then split up, with Jack going to live with a family in Lyndhurst, Ontario, and Olga going to live with her aunt in Frankville, Ontario. When Jack was eighteen he moved west to Saskatchewan to homestead. He worked as a teamster and enlisted at Prince Albert in December 1915. Brown served overseas in France and returned to Canada in 1919. The collection consists of over fifty letters written by him to his sister between 1914 and 1918.
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.
Robert Gordon Brown was born in Beamsville, Ontario, in March 1896, and enlisted at Kingston, Ontario, in January 1916 while a student at Queen's University. He went overseas in 1916 as a gunner but later joined the Royal Flying Corp, with which he served until the end of the war. He returned to Canada in 1919 and finished his education, graduating from Queen's in 1920. The collection consists of more than one hundred letters covering the period from 1916 to 1919, as well as diaries and photographs from his service.
John George Bryce Hall was born in England in December 1876. Prior to the war he immigrated to Canada where he worked as an acountant in Toronto. Bryce enlisted in August 1915 in Toronto with the 83rd Battalion. He served overseas in England and France with the 124th Battalion and returned to Canada at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of thirty postcards and his medals.
Private Norman Robert Cassels Bryce was born March 23, 1896, to parents James Adam Bryce and Katharine Bryce in Paisley, Scotland. The family was living in Vernon, British Columbia, at the time of his enlistment.
Conscripted in November 1917, Bryce enlisted with 1st Depot Battalion, British Columbia Regiment, in Vancouver, B.C. In August 1918 he was sent to England aboard HMT Atreus, where he joined the 1st Canadian Reserve Battalion. Bryce returned to Canada and was demobilized in September 1919.
Content notes:
The collection’s single letter was found together with a letter by Pte. Joseph Robert Norton in an abandoned house in Armstrong, B.C. The letter was written by Bryce from hospital in October 1918 during his recovery from influenza.
Note on name spelling: “Cassels” appears variously throughout Bryce’s service record also as “Casells” and “Cassells.”
External links:
Pte. Bryce’s service record (Serv/Reg# 2023379) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Wilfred Lasca Buck was born in Norwood, Ontario, in August 1897 and enlisted in Cobourg, Ontario, in August 1915. Buck served with the 38th Battalion and the 171st Battalion. The collection currently consists of one letter and two postcards.
Douglas George Buckley was born in Guysborough, Nova Scotia, in January 1891. Buckley enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, in November 1914 and served oveseas with the 19th Battalion until his discharge on medical grounds in October 1917. The collection currently consists of forty letters, postcards, and miscellaneous personal items.
Hugh Buie was born in Colonsay, Scotland, in August 1898. In 1913 he immigrated with his family to Montreal, Québec. Buie enlisted in Kingston, Ontario, in March 1916. He served overseas with the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles, and was killed at Passchendaele on October 26, 1917. Buie has no known grave. The collection consists of four photographs and his newspaper obituary.
Charles John Bunbury was born in Burhampore, East Indies, in November 1871. At the time of his enlistment in July 1916 with the 143rd O.S. Batt. he was the Chief of Police in Kamloops, British Columbia. The collection currrently consists of an undated book of poems entitled "Disarmament and Other Poems" likely written during the war and published after his death.
Private Arthur Francis “Frank” Burnett was born in Crewe, Cheshire, England, on October 29, 1888. Prior to the war Burnett married Ellen “Nell” Jane and at the time of his enlistment had a young daughter, Jessie Hughina. The family lived in Port Moody, British Columbia, where Burnett worked as a steamfitter.
Burnett enlisted with the 121st Battalion in Vancouver, B.C., on April 29, 1916. Shipping overseas on board the SS Empress of Britain the following August, he spent several months training in England before proceeding to France in November 1916 to serve with the 75th Battalion.
Burnett was killed at Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917, when he was hit by enemy shrapnel. He was buried in Canadian Cemetery No. 2, Neuville-St. Vaast, France.
Content notes:
All letters in the collection were written by Burnett to his wife Nell and daughter Hughina (usually referred to in letters as “Sweetheart”). Writing style can be somewhat challenging. Most newspaper clippings are memorial “in Loving Memory” remembrances. Postcards are mainly of the embroidered silk souvenir type.
External links:
Pte. Burnett’s service record (Serv/Reg# 761242) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
WWI Circumstances of Death Registers record card (page # 273), Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. [Note: CWGC documents (and gravestone) spell Burnett’s daughter’s name as “Hughena.”]
A memorial page honouring Burnett can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Wilfred Entwisle Bury was born in England in 1881 and moved to the Vermillion, Alberta, area in 1909. Bury enlisted in Vermillion in January 1915 and served overseas with the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles (Saskatchewan Regiment) until his death on November 15, 1917. See also the Ernest Mosley Taylor, also from Vermillion, to whom he was related by marriage. The collection currently consists of six letters.
John ("Jack") Butterworth was born in Manchester, England, in August 1894 and immigrated to Canada prior to the war. He worked as a farmer in Ingersoll, Ontario, where he enlisted in February 1916. Butterworth served overseas with the 5th Battalion CEF until he was demobilized and returned to Canada in 1919. The collection currently consists of a small diary and two photographs.
William George Calder was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, in 1898 and later lived in Ashcroft, British Columbia, prior to the war. He enlisted in Vancouver, British Columbia, in May 1916, served overseas, and returned to Canada in 1919. The collection consists of more than forty letters, extensive images, both photographs and postcards, as well as diaries and numerous miscellaneous items.
George Cameron was born in Sarnia, Ontario, in 1893 and enlisted in the artillery there in May 1917. He served in the 7th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery in France and Belgium. The diary covers his experiences in England and at the front from January 1918 to March 1919.
William Lockhard Campbell was born in 1897 in Owen Sound, Ontario. He later moved to Carleton Place, Ontario, where he enlisted in September 1914 with the 2nd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. Campbell served overseas in France and was killed in action April 22, 1915. He has no known grave. The collection consists of two letters.
Private William Nelson Campbell, known as “Nelson,” was born in Clyde, Ontario, on December 28, 1894. He enlisted with the 1st Battalion Canadian Infantry in Valcartier, Québec, on September 19, 1914. Sent into action in France in February 1915, he remained with the 1st Bn. throughout most of the war.
Campbell was killed by snipper fire during an attack on the Canal-Du-Nord, near Haynecourt, on September 27, 1918. He is buried in the Ontario Cemetery at Sains-les-Marquion in France.
Most of the letters in the Campbell collection were written by Nelson to his cousin Ester "Essie" Douglas. Nelson’s mother Mary Anne "Annie" Campbell (née Nelson) was the sister of Essie’s mother Ester Douglas (née Nelson). Orphaned at a young age, Nelson lived for much of his childhood with his widowed Aunt Ester and his six Douglas cousins, four girls and two boys, in Orchardville, Ontario. Essie was the youngest of the girls, and quite close in age to Nelson, being just one year his junior. The final letter in the collection was written to Essie by Corporal W.A. McArthur, a mutual friend of herself and Nelson.
External links:
Pte. Campbell's service record (Reg/Ser# 7224) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring him can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Frederick Ernest Carter was born in Essex, England, in 1871 and immigrated to Kamloops, British Columbia, sometime prior to the war. His wife died in 1912, leaving him with two small children. Carter enlisted in May 1915 at the age of 44. He served overseas in France where he was killed in action April 14, 1916, leaving behind two orphaned daughters in Canada. The collection consists of four letters.
Winifred Chapman was born in 1900 and worked at the Tankerton Hospital, Kent, England during the First World War. She kept an autograph book from her time there, which includes inscriptions from four Canadians. There is an incription from Pte. Bruce Nelson Sandford, 27th Battalion from September 29, 1918; an inscription from G. West, 78th Battalion, from September 29, 1918; an undated incription from Pte. Ryan, 26th Battalion; and an undated inscription from Cpl. Thomas Wells.
George Roderick Chisholm was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, on March 15, 1897. Chisholm enlisted with the 78th Battalion of the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in April 1916. He served in France and was killed at Vimy Ridge April 9, 1917.This collection consists of a note written by Chisholm three days prior to the attack on Vimy Ridge and his Circumstances of Death record.
James R. Chisholm was born in Inverness, Scotland, in 1885 and immigrated to Canada sometime prior to the war. He enlisted at Lethbridge, Alberta, in December 1914. James served overseas in France and was killed June 3, 1916. Alexander Chisholm was born in Inverness, Scotland, in March 1888 and immigrated to Canada prior to the war. He enlisted in Brandon, Manitoba, in April 1915. He served overseas in France and was killed October 9, 1916. The collection consists of one undated photograph of the brothers.
Lieutenant Frank Charles Clark was born in Gloucester, England, on April 26, 1886. He worked as a carpenter and rancher in Kamloops, British Columbia, and prior to his enlistment he had served seven years in the militia with the 102nd Regiment, Rocky Mountain Rangers.
Clark enlisted on January 1, 1916, in Kamloops, B.C., with the 172nd Battalion and proceeded to England in October 1916. Once there he was transferred to the 24th Reserve Battalion, and then to the 47th Battalion. While serving with the 47th, Clark was wounded at Passchendaele in October 1917, and evacuated to hospitals in England until the spring of 1918. He remained in England until the end of the war, and was then demobilized and returned to Canada in January 1919.
Content notes:
The collection’s letter was written by Clark to his wife, Elizabeth Duncan Clark, in April 1917.
External links:
Lt. Frank Clark’s service record (Serv/Reg# 687005) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
External links for other identified soldiers appearing in Clark’s letters:
Lt. Desmond Odlum Vicars, service record (Serv/Reg# 687308).
Sgt. John Munro Knox, service record (Serv/Reg#687006).
Cadet Robert Stephen MacKay, service record (Serv/Reg# 688061).
Pte. Gordon Alexander McArthur, service record (Serv/Reg# 687610).
