Jack Crawley was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in October 1893. He enlisted in December 1914 in Brandon, Manitoba, and served overseas with the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles. Crawley was killed June 5, 1916. His photograph is also a part of the Perry Sanderson collection. Sanderson mentions him in his letters; he was killed one day after Crawley. The collection currently consists of one photograph.

[Editor’s note: The materials in this collection are currently being reviewed/updated. Some materials may be incomplete or inaccessible during this update period.]

Private Keith Bruce Crosby was born in Carleton, Yarmouth Co., Nova Scotia on April 25, 1897, to parents Howard A. and Lillian S. Crosby.

Crosby enlisted in the 40th Battalion on August 6, 1915, at Aldershot, N.S. The following October he shipped for England on board the SS Saxonia, and in March 1916 was deployed to France where he served with the 24th Battalion. Crosby was killed April 11, 1916, in action at Reninghelst, Belgium, and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium.

Content notes:
All but one of the letters was written by Crosby while training in Canada and England, and addressed to his father or to “Celia” (full name/relationship unknown).

External links:
Pte. Keith Crosby’s service record (Serv/Reg# 415769) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
WWI Circumstances of Death Registers record card (page #727), Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Crosby can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

[Collection reviewed/updated September 2024.]

William Cunliffe was born in Burnley, Lancashire, England, in August 1891. Prior to the war he immigrated to Canada and enlisted in September 1915 at Niagara, Ontario, with the 109th Battalion. Cunliffe served overseas with the 84th and then with the 75th Battalion until his return to Canada in 1919. The collection currentlly consists of several letters, postcards, a photograph, and miscellaneous personal items.

Lee Grant Darrach was born in 1882 and grew up in Clyde River, Prince Edward Island. At the start of WWI Darrach was living in Boston with his brother Jack. In 1915 he headed overseas with the intention of joining the British Army. Enlisting with the British Lancaster Fusiliers, he trained in England before being sent into combat in Egypt and France, remaining on active service until May 1919.

The collection consists of thirty-two letters written by Lee to his brother Jack (often also to Jack's wife Beatrice, refered to as "B"), back in Boston. They are an uncommon collection within the Canadian Letters in Images Project in that they document the history of a Canadian soldier not as a member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, but in the British Army with the British Expeditionary Force, which as Darrach describes it, was often a very different environment.

The letters are used with the kind permission of the Clyde River History Committee. More information on Lee Grant Darrach, as well as audio recordings of his letters read by Alan Buchanan, are available through their website at: https://clyderiverpei.com/letters-from-the-great-war.

John ("Jack") Davey was born in Somerset, England, in September 1888. He imigrated to Canada 1911-1912 and enlisted in September 1914. Davey was wounded and taken prisoner in April 1915. While a prisoner he had his leg amputated, and then was later returned to England during a prisoner exchange. The collection consists of more than fifty letters between himself and his wife Kate.

Private Harry Davies was born December 22, 1897, in Hamilton, Ontario, to parents Fannie and William Henry Davies.

He enlisted with the 205th (Tiger) Battalion in Hamilton, Ontario, on March 16, 1916, and proceeded overseas to England on the SS Saxonia in April 1917. Davies was sent to France in August 1917 where he served with the 1st Machine Gun Battalion until wounded in August 1918. After hospitalization in France and England, he was invalided back to Canada on the SS Megantic in June 1919, and then discharged in July 1919.

External links:
Private Harry Davies’ service record (Serv/Reg# 240080) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Nursing Sister Lena Aloa Davis was born in Beamsville, Ontario, on July 30, 1885. Prior to her enlistment Davis was working as the Superintendent of Nurses at Toronto’s Hospital for the Insane (as it was then named).

She enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, on April 7, 1915, with the 2nd Stationary Hospital, Canadian Army Medical Corps (C.A.M.C.). Arriving in England in May 1915 aboard the SS Corinthian, she went on to serve in France and Macedonia, initially with the 2nd Stationary Hospital and later with the No. 4 Canadian General Hospital, C.A.M.C.

Her nursing work put her in constant contact with infectious diseases. Her service record shows she was hospitalized with “Blackwater Fever” (malaria) in September 1916 and contracted diphtheria the following April. Her malaria returned in early 1918 and she died in hospital in England on February 21, 1918. She was buried at the St. Andrew Churchyard, Sherborne St. John, England.

External links:
Nursing Sister Lena Davis’s service record (Serv/Reg# n/a) 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 N.S. Lena Davis can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

[The materials in this collection are currently being processed and uploaded. Some items may be incomplete or inaccessible at this time.]

Lance Corporal William Worth Davis was born in Mitchell County, Ontario, on May 11, 1891, to parents Edwin Fishleigh and Mary (née Davidson) Davis. He had two younger sisters, Grace Miriam “Mir” and Ruth Nerta “Nert”. He was living in Tillsonburg, Ont., prior to his enlistment, where he worked as an optometrist. Davis had previously served in the 13th Royal Regiment in Hamilton, Ont.

Davis enlisted on May 16, 1916, in London, Ont., with 10th Stationary Hospital, Canadian Army Medical Corps. He shipped for England on board the SS Olympic in August 1916, where he spent the next six months attached to Moore Barracks Hospital at Shorncliffe, working as a general medical orderly. Transferred back to the 10th Stat. Hosp. at Eastbourne in January 1917, Davis was dispatched to France with them in early December of that same year. His duties often included both general medical orderly work and providing administrative supply support. Following the Armistice agreement that brought an end to armed conflict, Davis continued to work in both France and England until his repatriation to Canada in July 1919, where he was demobilized on July 12, 1919.

Content notes:
The majority of the letters in the collection were written by Davis to his parents and sisters. Once initially received, many of the letters had additional messages added to them as they circulated within the family. Davis was prolific letter writer and his letters are rich in detail, both about his work with the C.A.M.C., and in all aspects relating to his and his father’s professions as optometrists and jewellers. Also an avid photographer, Davis received official military permission to keep and use a camera while in England, allowing him to assemble an unusually large and varied collection of photos during his time in service. His diary covers the time period of May 1916 to November 1918; it is currently untranscribed and available as images only.

External link:
L/Cpl. Davis's service record (Reg/Ser# 534709) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.

[Editor’s note, February 2023: In Davis’ service record (Library and Archives Canada) the record card “Transferred to C.E.F. (Siberia),” found on pages 15-16, is a filing error and is a record of the service history of Captain William Wallace Davis.]

Private Thomas Day was born in Walsall, England, c. 1886, and joined the British Army Reserve Forces in 1904. Day married Priscilla Anson in Chesterfield, U.K., in 1909 and they had a son, Bernard, born in Colorado, United States, in 1911. By 1912 he had found his way to Ladysmith, British Columbia.

Day rejoined the British Army with the 1st Battalion, Manchester Regiment, at the European front in December 1914. In early 1916 he was transferred to the Mesopotamia campaign. At the Battle at Sheikh Sa’ad along the Tigris River (present day Iraq) he fell dangerously ill on December 10, 1916. A sudden onset of paralysis was diagnosed as transverse myelitis and he was transferred to the Victoria War Hospital in Bombay (present day Mumbai), India, where he died on January 7, 1917.

Day’s name is listed on the Ladysmith Cenotaph along with forty other soldiers who were born, lived, or worked in Ladysmith, B.C., and who died during the First World War. Seven of these soldiers, including Day, 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. Day (Reg.# 9941) served as a member of the British Army; no service file information was available.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Pte. Day is commemorated on the Kirkee War Memorial in India, and on the Ladysmith Cenotaph in 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.