John Edgar Hamilton was born in Montreal, Québec, in November 1881. He enlisted at Valcartier in June 1915. Edgar was serving overseas with the 60th Battalion when he was wounded at Ypres in June 1916, resulting in the amputation of his leg. He returned to Canada in 1918. The collection currently consists of one postcard to his sister Kate.
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.
Hadden William Ellis was born in Dundas County, Ontario, in March 1894. He moved west to Weno, Calgary, Alberta, and was a student at the time of enlistment. Ellis enlisted in April 1916 in Calgary, Alberta. He served overseas with the Canadian Light Horse until his death on September 24, 1917. The collection currently consists of thirty letters, photographs, and some miscellaneous documents.
John Walter Ellis was born in Reading, England, in February 1895. At some time unknown he immigrated to Canada and settled in Tillsonburg, Ontario. In May 1916 he enlisted at Tillsonburg. He served overseas in France, where he died May 13, 1917. The majority of the letters are addressed to his wife Katherine "Kitty" in Glasgow, Scotland, who, when her husband enlisted, returned to Scotland to live with her parents. The collection consists of more than thirty letters, several photographs, and a small number of postcards.
Private Albert Evans was born on May 1, 1899 in Burwardsley, Cheshire, England, to parents Edward and Emma Evans.
Evans enlisted at Youngstown, Alberta, on February 19, 1916, with the 175th Battalion, and sailed to England from Halifax, Nova Scotia, aboard the SS Saxonia in October 1916. Once in England Evans was transferred to the 21st Reserve Battalion, and then to the 50th Battalion, with whom he was sent to France in March 1917. While serving with 50th, Evans was wounded near Lens, France on August 21, 1917, and died of his wounds September 2, 1917.
[Editor note: His attestation paper mistakenly lists his birth year as 1899, not 1889. He was 26 at the time of enlistment]
External links:
Private Albert Evans’s service record (Serv/Reg# 696403) 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 Evans can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Charles Evans was born in Ottawa, Ontario, in May 1895 and attested at Valcartier, Québec, in September 1914. Evans sailed with the First Contingent in October 1914 and served with the 8th Battalion. He was killed in the Second Battle of Ypres on April 24, 1915, and is commemorated on the Menin Gate. The collection currently consists of eight letters and several personal items.
James "Jim" Lloyd Evans was born in 1879 in Wales. He served with the British forces in the South African War and following the war he immigrated to Manitoba in 1903. Evans enlisted in Winnipeg in December 1914, and went overseas in 1915. He was killed in action September 1, 1918. The collection consists of 79 letters and numerous photographs.
Norman Ewart was born in Toronto, Ontario, in December 1892. Ewart enlisted in September, 1915, and served overseas until his return to Canada following the war. The collection consists of more than 100 postcards sent by Ewart, as well as one letter.
Alexander Ewen was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1881 and immigrated to Canada prior to the war, where he lived in the London, Ontario, area. He enlisted in September 1914 and served overseas. The collection consists of eight letters and four photographs.
Private John Alfonso Fahey was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on December 21, 1896, to parents Joseph and Ella Fahey. Prior to his enlistment, Fahey served with the 100th Winnipeg Grenadiers and the 34th Fort Garry Horse.
He enlisted in Winnipeg with the 78th Battalion on July 4, 1915, and in September proceeded overseas from Montreal, Québec, to England, aboard the SS Corsican. Fahey was sent to France in March 1916, where he joined the 28th Battalion. Fahey was killed in action at Passchendaele, Belgium, on November 6, 1917, age twenty. Fahey’s body was never found. He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium.
Fahey’s older brother, Lieutenant Ernest Edward Fahey, also fought in World War I. He was killed September 27, 1918, while serving with the 78th Battalion.
Content notes:
The collection has only one item, a newspaper clipping reporting on Fahey’s death.
External links:
Pte. John Alfonso Fahey’s service record (Serv/Reg# 147451) can be viewed/downloaded through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Pte. Fahey can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Lieutenant Ernest Fahey’s service record (Serv/Reg# 20984) at Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Lt. Fahey can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed April 2023. Transcription updated and Collection Description expanded.]
Private George Samuel Fardoe was born in Brandon, Manitoba, on February 1, 1893, to parents William and Sarah Fardoe. The family later moved to Hayfield, Man., where George was working as a farmer prior to the outbreak of World War I. He enlisted in Winnipeg, Man., on December 26, 1915, with the 53rd Battalion of the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force.
Shipping for England on board the SS Empress of Britain in March 1916, he soon proceeded to France the following June where he served with the 28th Battalion. Towards the end of the war, in June 1918, he transferred to 2 Company, Canadian Forestry Corps. Fardoe returned to Canada in early May 1919 and was demobilized May 19, 1919.
While there are only two letters in the Fardoe Collection, much of his war-time correspondence was done via postcards. In recognition of this, correspondence-type postcard messages have been transcribed and added to the “Letters” section of “Collection Contents” below. The postcards themselves can also be viewed without the transcriptions in the “Postcard” section, along with over thirty other individual postcards and three souvenir postcard albums. Additionally there are three diaries Fardoe kept during his time in service for the years of 1916, 1917, and 1919, as well as several photos and other items.
A completely transcribed issue of the trench newspaper The Listening Post, edition No. 18 of July 21, 1916, published by the 7th Canadian Infantry Battalion, can be read in the “Newspaper Articles” section.
External links:
Pte. George Fardoe’s service record (Serv/Reg# 441804) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
James Henderson Fargey was born in Belmont, Manitoba, in December 1897. He enlisted in July 1915 in Winnipeg and served overseas with the 43rd Battalion. Fargey was killed in action October 15th, 1916. The collection currently consists of more than eighty letters, as well as photographs, postcards, telegrams, and other miscellaneous items.
Armament Sergeant Major George Herbert Farlie, MSM, was born in Catford, London, England on March 17, 1880. His father was John Leonard Farlie. Prior to his enlistment in the First World War, Farlie had worked as a machinist, in addition to serving in the Active Militia and with past service in the Canadian Corps.
Farlie joined the Canadian Ordnance Corps at Valcartier, Québec, in September of 1914, and shipped to England aboard the SS Ivernia in early October. Following his arrival in England, the Attestation Paper in Farlie’s service record documents his enlistment at Salisbury Plains on December 28, 1914. He initially served in both England and France with the 2nd Canadian Field Artillery Brigade, then subsequently with No. 26 Canadian Travelling Ordnance Workshop Unit (redesignated the 81st Canadian Ordnance Workshop Unit (Light) in November of 1918).
On January 1, 1917, Farlie was awarded the British Meritorious Service Medal. Following the end of hostilities, he returned to Canada where he was demobilized on August 17, 1919.
Content notes:
Included are two diaries kept by Farlie, beginning prior to his enlistment through to August 1917, in which he recorded details relating to his armament work along with personal observations. A content sample has been provided with a transcription of the diary’s entries for the month of April 1917. Photographs include both pre and post war military groups or individuals (date range 1893 to 1923).
External links:
S.M. George Farlie’s service record (Serv/Reg# 41669) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
The awarding of the Meritorious Service Medal to Farlie was published The London Gazette of January 1, 1917 (#29886, p.55).
James Percy Faulkner was born in Mount Denson, Nova Scotia, in April 1886. Faulkner was recruited in 1918 and sent overseas to Bramshott for training. The collection consists of numerous photographs and postcards that Faulkner sent home to his family.
Oscar James Fearman was born in Middleport, Ontario, in January 1893. Fearman enlisted with the 125th Battalion in Brantford, Ontario, in December 1915. He served overseas with the 1st Battalion until his death on April 9, 1917 at Vimy Ridge. The collection currently consists of one letter and one postcard.
Albert Henry Fereday served with the 1st Battalion Prince of Wales Own Civil Service Rifles. He was killed August 22, 1918, at the age of 18. He has no known grave and is commemorated by name on Panel 10 on the Vis-en-Artois Memorial, Haucourt, France. The memorial stands in the grounds of Vis-en-Artois British Cemetery and bears the names of over 9,000 men who have no known grave. This collection consists of more than one hundred letters sent by Pte. Albert Henry Fereday. The letters have been transcribed by, and are used with the kind permission of, Anthony Fereday, the nephew of Albert Fereday. These materials are part of the non-Canadian section of this project
Joseph Roy Ferguson was born in Innisfil, Ontario, in July 1884. Ferguson enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, in October 1915 with the 4th Overseas University Battalion. The collection consists of one extended letter written on the SS Lapland during his voyage to England, and two photographs.
Arthur Lewis Fernyhough was born in Fenton, Stoke on Trent, England, in September 1890. Prior to the war he immigrated to Canada, where he worked as a butcher. Fernyhough enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in December 1915 with the 144th Battalion. The collection currently consists of photographs, postcards, his paybook, the Returned Soldiers' Handbook, the 144th Winnipeg Rifles Song Book, and other miscellaneous items.
Walter Fick was born on the Isle of Man in April 1884. Sometime prior to the war he immigrated to Canada and worked in Toronto, Ontario, as a conductor on the Toronto Street Railway. Fick enlisted in Toronto on May 1, 1916. He served with the 21st Battalion (Eastern Ontario Regiment). Fick died in hospital in England in 1918. The collection consists of one letter to his wife Mona, several Red Cross letters, two telegrams, and three photographs.
Corporal Harry Fielder was born in Plaistow, England, on July 1, 1892. He was working as an engineer in the Royal North-West Mounted Police force prior to his enlistment at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, on January 1, 1916, into the 4th Division Cavalry.
Shipping for England on board the SS Olympic in May 1916, he was called-up to action in France to serve with the 46th Battalion later that August. He was demobilized following the end of the war, on July 29, 1919.
The collection consists of over 40 letters written by Harry to his sweetheart Agda Johnson, beginning while he was in service overseas in the fall of 1916 and continuing post-demobilization into September 1920.
External links:
Cpl. Fielder's service record (Reg/Ser# 115884) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Lance Corporal John "Jack" Lindsey Fisher was born in Wales in 1887, and immigrated to Canada in 1899, and by 1910 was living in Nanaimo, British Columbia.
Having previously served with the British Army Royal Artillery, Fisher returned to England and enlisted with the Royal Engineers on May 23, 1916. He was discharged following gas-related injuries in August 1917, and returned to Canada.
The letter in the Fisher Collection was published in the Ladysmith Chronicle, and was compiled along with those of other local WWI soldiers through the work of the Ladysmith & District Historical Society (links shown below).
The complete list of soldiers in the can be found in the Ladysmith and District Historical Society collection.
External links:
L/Cpl. Fisher (Serv/Reg# 649-F-11207) is listed in the Imperial Gratuities records at Library and Archives Canada, but information is limited to the record identification only.
The record of his Medal card with the Royal Engineers, (Reg# 158208), is held by the National Archives, Kew, U.K.; registration is required for access.
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.
