Collections List | Page 5 | Canadian Letters

Fardoe, George Samuel

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.

Barnett, Thomas Hardy

Corporal Thomas Hardy Barnett was born in Nafferton, Yorkshire, England, on August 20, 1892, to parents Waters Hardy and Matilda Elizabeth Barnett. He immigrated to Canada in 1910. At the time of his enlistment he was working as a sailor.

He enlisted with the 9th Canadian Mounted Rifles (C.M.R.) Regiment in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, on December 30, 1914. Shortly after arriving in England in December 1915 Barnett spent several weeks with the Royal Canadian Dragoons before joining “A” Canadian Mobile Veterinary Section (C.M.V.S.), Canadian Calvary Brigade, and proceeding to France in early April 1916. He remained with the C.M.V.S. until February 1919 when he was transferred to the Fort Gary Horse. Following his return to Canada he was demobilized on June 2, 1919.

The Thomas Barnett Collection was donated together with the collection of his younger brother Private John Barnett who, like Thomas, had immigrated to Canada prior to the war. John enlisted at Saskatoon into the 9th C.M.R. in late December 1914.

Also donated were materials relating to the service of their brother Sergeant William Allison Barnett, MM. The oldest of the three brothers, William had remained in England and prior to the war was a member of the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, East Yorkshire Volunteer Rifles. During the War he served with the Machine Gun Corps, 150th Company. He was killed during the Battle of the Somme on September 15, 1916, and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France. He was posthumously awarded the Military Medal for bravery in the field. The “Other” section below under “Collection Contents” has been reserved for materials specific to Sgt. William Barnett.

External links:
Cpl. Thomas Barnett’s service record (Serv/Reg# 114506) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

No service record is available of Sgt. William Barnett’s service with the British Expeditionary Force.
Burial information for Sgt. William Barnett is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The awarding of Sgt. William Barnett’s Military Medal was published in the London Gazette on November 15, 1916.

Barnett, John

Private John Barnett was born in Barnstorm, Yorkshire, England on November 24, 1894, to parents Waters Hardy and Matilda Elizabeth Barnett. His older brother Thomas had immigrated to Canada in 1910, and John joined him in early 1914 as a farmer in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Prior to his enlistment John had served in England with the 5th (Territorial Force) Battalion, Alexandra Princess of Wales's Own (Yorkshire Regiment). On December 28, 1914, he enlisted at Saskatoon with the 9th Canadian Mounted Rifles. He arrived in England in early December 1915, and proceeded to France on January 29, 1916, to serve with the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles (C.M.R.).

On June 2, 1916, Barnett was wounded at Ypres, and captured by the Germans as a Prisoner of War. Suffering from shrapnel wounds to his hand and arm, he was reported as a P.O.W. from Wahn, Germany, and confirmed to be at the Aachen hospital camp in July 1916. From Aachen he was transferred to the P.O.W. camp at Stendal on September 6, 1916, then later that month moved to Quedlinburg on September 29, where he remained until being repatriated to England on January 2, 1919. Following his return to Canada he was demobilized on May 19, 2019.

The letter in the collection was written by John to his mother in Bridlington, England, in December 1918, in anticipation of his imminent release; the telegram was sent shortly after confirming he was on his way back to England. The newspaper clipping has a photo of John alongside his older brother Sergeant Thomas Hardy Barnett, also of the 1st C.M.R., and his younger brother Sergeant William Allison, MM, of the British Expeditionary Force. More information about John’s brothers can be found in the Collection of Sergeant Thomas Hardy Barnett.

External link:
Pte. John Barnett’s service record (Serv/Reg# 114538) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Dawkins, Arnold F.A.

Warrant Officer 2^nd Class Arnold F.A. Dawkins of Victoria, British Columbia, served in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. He was stationed at a base at Tempsford, England, working as an air observer when his plane was shot down over France on February 19, 1943.

After a brief attempt to evade capture following the plane crash, Dawkins was apprehended by the Germans as a Prisoner of War (P.O.W.) and soon interred at the Stalag VIII-B/344 camp at Lamsdorf (present day Łambinowice) in Poland. In the closing weeks of the war he was among the many tens of thousands in the forced marches of P.O.W.s out of Poland and across Germany ahead of the advancing Russian front. He was finally liberated by the arrival of American troops on April 12, 1945, arriving safely back in England four days later.

Dawkins began keeping a diary in April of 1942 while in training in England and continued throughout the war, even during much of his time in captivity, until July of 1945. Following the war the diary was put away until the spring of 1993 when Dawkins read it again for the first time since 1945. At that time he made some minor revisions, explaining that the “writing was so small that I had the pages enlarged and typed. Abbreviations were written out in full, expressions not suitable for family reading were removed. The rest is the way I wrote it.” The diary posted here is of the document he created at that time. Extensive descriptive/explanatory notes were added by Dawkins to the entries related to the time of his capture and the two weeks immediately following it, from Feb. 19, 1943, to March 3, 1943. These have been included here with the diary entries of February 1943. Notes were also added by Dawkins following the Mar. 26, 1943, entry relating to the historical context of the Lamsdorf P.O.W. Camp and of post-Dieppe reprisals. Other minor annotations throughout were likely made during the diary transcription by Dawkins (e.g. the entry of dates June 6-17, 1942: “no entry, probably visiting relatives in North Ireland”).

Note on place names: When recording location information in his diary entries during the forced march of 1945 Dawkins often used the place names he saw on the roadside signs they passed, and these may differ from present day place names.

External links:
W.O. Dawkins’ Service Record (Serv/Reg# R87686, P.O.W.# 27710) is not yet publicly available.
The RCAF Association provides a list of RCAF airmen taken P.O.W. from September, 1939 to the end of December, 1944, which includes Dawkins as well as some of the other P.O.W.’s mentioned in his diary.

Copeland, Arthur Harold Madill

Lieutenant Arthur Harold Madill Copeland was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on August 27, 1889. Prior to his enlistment in WWI he was a Lieutenant with the Militia’s No. 6 Canadian Army Service Corps (C.A.S.C.), Winnipeg. He enlisted for Overseas Service with the C.A.S.C. on March 8, 1915.

Beginning in March 1916, Copeland served in France with the C.A.S.C. in the 1st and 3rd Canadian Cavalry Brigade Ammunition Supply Parks. In August of 1916 he was attached to the Royal Flying Corps (R.F.C.) (technically remaining a Canadian officer, but working as a member of the British R.F.C.).

While serving as a gunner, Copeland’s plane was shot down after returning from a bombing raid; he was wounded and captured as a Prisoner of War on October 10, 1916. After a period of hospitalization to recover from gunshot wounds to his arm and leg he was transferred to the German P.O.W. Camp at Douai. Over the following two years he was moved frequently, first to Wahn bei Coln, then to Stettin, Stralsund Danholme Pommern, Augustabad bei Neubrandenburg, Schweidnitz Selesia, Holzminden, Mainz, and finally to Holzminden again.

While in captivity he was appointed to the temporary rank of Captain (a rank he kept until the end of his service). He was later “Mentioned in Reports for valuable services while in captivity, and noted accordingly in the Official Records of the Air Ministry" in the London Gazette on December 12, 1919 (see external links below). Copeland had escaped and been recaptured twice while a P.O.W. and the “valuable services” mentioned in reports may have been related to either his own escape attempts or for providing assistance to similar attempts by others.

Following his release and repatriation to England on December 14, 1918, Copeland returned to Canada and was demobilized on March 23, 1919.

The letters in the Copeland Collection were all written to Hilda R. Lailey of Toronto while Copeland was held as a German P.O.W. (following the war she became his wife; they were married for sixty-four years). With the exception of the last letter, which was written after the Armistice of Nov. 11, 1918, the letters and envelopes bear a variety of P.O.W.-related stamps indicating the content of the letters was monitored by the Germans (e.g. the first page of the letter of Nov. 14, 1916, bearing the red stamp “Geprüft. Kommandantur Wahn-Lager 63,” which roughly translates as “Checked. Headquarters Wahn-Camp 63.” The “London F.S. PAID” postmarks on the envelopes are those of the London Foreign Service.

Included in the collections “Other” contents listed below are two German documents; titled “Gefangenenlifte des Lagers,” these are pages from Prisoner Lists of the Camps, one for Wahn (western base) in January 1917, and one for Holzminden in April 1918.

The newspaper article is from the Y.M.C.A.’s wartime publication Canadian Manhood, of Jan/Feb 1917.

External links:
Lt. Copeland’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Copeland’s commission as a Lieutenant was published in The London Gazette on February 2, 1916 (#29480, p. 1897), and he was “Mentioned in Reports” on December 12, 1919 (#31691, p. 15613).

Briggs, Tillman Alfred

Captain Tillman Alfred Briggs, MC, was born in Victoria, British Columbia ,on June 12, 1887. Prior to enlistment he was worked as a doctor at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Victoria.

Capt. Briggs was commissioned in Victoria on November 23, 1915, with B Section of the No. 1 Field Ambulance, Canadian Army Medical Corps (C.A.M.C.). Shipping for England aboard the SS Lapland on March 11, 1916, Briggs initially trained and worked with the C.A.M.C. at Sandgate. In December he proceeded to France where he served with several units including No. 3 Canadian General Hospital and No. 9 Canadian Field Ambulance.

Briggs received the Military Cross (awarded for acts of exemplary gallantry during active operations) in January 1919, for attending to the wounded while under fire with the 116th Battalion Canadian Infantry, 2nd Central Ontario Regiment. He was demobilized February 16, 1920.

External links:
Capt. Briggs’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
The announcement awarding Briggs the Military Cross was published in the London Gazette on January 11, 1919 (supplement #31119, pg. 653).

[Editor’s Note: All diary transcriptions (including annotations within these transcriptions) in the Briggs Collection have been provided by the collection donor.]

Day, Thomas

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.

McKenzie, Malcolm

Roderick Malcolm McKenzie served in the Royal Canadian Navy in WWII.

The letters in the McKenzie Collection date from the early months of Malcolm’s entry into the Navy. Writing home to his parents, he keeps them up to date on the details of his early training at H.M.C.S. Chippawa in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and H.M.C.S. St. Hyacinthe, in St. Hyacinthe, Québec.

External links:
No service information for Roderick Malcolm McKenzie (Serv/Reg# V-71336) is publicly accessible through Library and Archives Canada at this time.

Letters of a Canadian Stretcher Bearer

Letters of a Canadian Stretcher Bearer, by R.A.L. [Ralph Beverly Watson]

Sergeant Ralph Beverly Watson (a.k.a. Joseph Ralph Watson) was born in Hull, England, on October 23, 1883, to parents Joseph Watson and Lavinia Sanderson. Moving to Canada sometime prior to the war, he settled in Ottawa where he married Beulah Bahnsen in January 1915. On May 25 that same year he enlisted from there as a Private in the Canadian Army Medical Corps.

He embarked for England on the troop ship SS Missanabie in July 1915 and was sent into action in France in February 1916. While hospitalized on several occasions, most seriously for gas poisoning, Watson survived through to the end of the war and was demobilized on February 3, 1919.

The Watson letters were originally published together in the book Letters of a Canadian Stretcher Bearer in 1918. The war was still ongoing at that time and the author was identified only as “R.A.L.” Other identifying details such as dates were also changed in order to preserve anonymity (e.g., the book gives his date of enlistment as May 31instead of Watson’s actual enlistment date of May 25). The real identity of the author appears to have remained unknown for many decades, but has since been identified as Ralph Beverly Watson (born Joseph Ralph Watson, he was going by “Ralph Beverly” at the time of his marriage and enlistment).

Now in the public domain, Letters of a Canadian Stretcher Bearer was digitized by the Internet Archive Digital Library in 2008 from the collection of the University of California Libraries. The formatted letters that have been made available here were created from the Internet Archive book as part of a research project at Vancouver Island University.

External links:
Sgt. Watson's Service Record (Reg/Ser# 63) is available through Library and Archives Canada.
Letters of a Canadian Stretcher Bearer, by Ralph Beverly Watson, 1918, provided online by the Internet Foundation at archive.org, from the University of California Libraries Collection.

Davis, Lena Aloa

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.

Gray, John

Private John Gray was born in Old Meldrum, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on April 13, 1874. The middle of nine children, John immigrated to Canada with his younger brother Edgar in 1903. Prior to his enlistment he was living in Oak Bay, Victoria, on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, with his wife Edith (née Dyson) and their four young children Alex Dyson, Olive Emmie, John Harvey, and Edna Jean. He worked as an upholsterer for David Spencers Co.

On March 23, 1916, he enlisted in Victoria with Canadian Army Medical Corps. Shipping for England on board the SS Olympic in July 1916, he was sent to the Cheriton C.A.M.C. Training Depot before proceeding to France in September 1916. On arrival he was transferred to the 2nd Canadian Stationary Hospital, C.A.M.C. where he served out the remainder of his time overseas until his demobilization on May 24, 1919.

The letters in the collection were written during the war by John Gray to his daughter Olive who would have been between the ages 5 and 8 at the time. The typed transcriptions of the diaries and notebook were done by Olive Collington (née Gray), most likely in the early 1990’s. In "Collection Contents" below the diaries can be read under the "Diary Entries" heading, and the notebook under "Memoirs"; Gray's "Active Service Canadian Pay Book" is under "Printed Matter."

External links:
Pte. John Gray’s service record (Serv/Reg# 524785) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Gale, Ralph Clement

Private Ralph Clement Gale was born in Youngs Cove, New Brunswick, on June 19, 1895, to parents George Hamilton and Alma Kate Gale. Prior to enlistment Ralph Gale worked as a school teacher.

Having previously served in the 28th Dragoons Militia, Gale enlisted for overseas service at Amherst, Nova Scotia, with the 6th Canadian Mounted Rifles on April 21, 1915. He sailed from Canada in July of 1915 and after training in England arrived in France in October of 1915, where he transferred to the 4th Battalion Canadian Mounted Rifles in early January of 1916.

He was captured during the Battle of Mount Sorrel near Ypres, Belgium, on June 2, 1916, and was held as a Prisoner of War in Germany at the Friedrichsfeld Camp in 1916/1917, and the Munster II (Rennbahn) Camp in 1918. Just a few months prior to the Armistice he died in a P.O.W. hospital (most likely of influenza), in Dortmund, Germany, on July 29, 1918. He was buried in the Cologne Southern Cemetery, Germany.

The earliest letters in the Gale Collection were written by Ralph Gale to his mother and his sisters prior to his capture in 1916. Once he became a P.O.W. he continued to write from the prison camps in Germany. Also included is correspondence between various family members and from organizations such as the Canadian Red Cross Society, and two photos of Ralph taken while held at Friedrichsfeld. There are several letters written by Canadian soldiers who were interred with Ralph at the Friedrichsfeld and/or Munster II (Rennbahn) Camps, and who wrote to his family following his death. Links to their Service Records have been included below. (Among them is George Williams who is also connected to the collection of fellow Rennbahn P.O.W. William McLeish through their work together in camp theatrical productions.)

Ralph’s brother Captain John Roberts Gale was also in service overseas in World War One, including serving with 5th Canadian Trench Mortar Battery, 2nd Canadian. Division, France. As most of the correspondence to or from John Gale relates directly to his brother’s internment as a P.O.W., all of his letters have been included as part of the Ralph Gale Collection, although they can also be viewed separately in the Capt. John Roberts Gale Collection.

The letters from the Canadian Red Cross to the Gale family were through the work of Evelyn Rivers Bulkeley who as Head of the Prisoner of War Branch managed all requests for aid regarding Canadian P.O.W.’s throughout the period of Robert Gale’s internment.

External links:
Pte. Ralph Gale’s service record (Serv/Reg# 111184) 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 Pte. Ralph Gale can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Service Records of the other P.O.W.'s with letters in the Ralph Gale collection, at Library and Archives Canada:

Gunner George Henry Flewelling, 1st Canadian Divisional Ammunition Column, service record, (Serv/Reg# 43719)
Private Arnold Garfield Griffin, 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles, service record (Serv/Reg# 111209)
Private John Paine Aitchison Hayes, 9th Canadian Mounted Rifles, service record (Serv/Reg# 114326)
Private George Buford Williams, 7th Battalion, service record (Serv/Reg# 16487)

Gale, John Roberts

Captain John Roberts Gale was born in Youngs Cove, New Brunswick, on June 28^th, 1890, to parents George Hamilton & Alma Kate Gale. Prior to enlistment John Gale worked as a school teacher.

He enlisted in Sussex, N.B. with the 64^th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, on September 27^th, 1915. Shipping for England in March of 1916, he soon proceeded to France where in July he transferred to the 25^th Canadian Infantry Battalion, seconded to the 5^th Trench Mortar Battery, with whom he served with for the majority of his time overseas.

He was injured or taken ill on several occasions, including gas poisoning from a shell early in 1917, trench fever in June of 1917, and a gunshot wound to his leg in 1918. Capt. Gale was demobilized on June 30 of 1920.

The letters and photo in the John Gale Collection were donated as part of his brother's, the Private Ralph Clement Gale Collection. Ralph Gale served with the 6^th Canadian Mounted Rifles and was captured in battle on June 2^nd, 1916, and was held as a German Prisoner of War (P.O.W.) until his death on July 29^th, 1918. Most of the John Gale letters relate to his brother’s P.O.W. status; many are from Evelyn Rivers Bulkeley, Head of the Prisoner of War Branch of the Canadian Red Cross. Also included are letters from a German acquaintance of Ralph who writes to John after the war describing conditions under Occupation in the Rhineland.

External links:
Capt. John Roberts Gale’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Reekie, George Abraham

Private George Abraham Reekie was born in Lyleton, Manitoba, on July 18, 1893.

He enlisted with the1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment, Canadian Expeditionary Force, on January 12, 1918. Shipping for England on board the SS Megantic in March 1918, he was called-up to action in France beginning in August of that year with the 27th Battalion. Following the cessation of hostilities Pte. Reekie returned to Canada and was demobilized on May 25, 1919.

The letters in the collection were written by George Reekie to his aunts in Camperdown, Ontario.

External links:
Pte. Reekie’s service record (Serv/Reg# 2129198) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

The George Reekie Collection was donated through the work of the Grey Roots Museum & Archives in Owen Sound, Ontario.

Brightwell, Thomas William

Private Thomas William Brightwell, known as “William,” was born in Norwich, England, into a large family of 13 children. Few details about his life prior to the war are known, but he was by then a father – his son Herbert was born on November 11, 1913.

He enlisted on August 26, 1914, with the Norfolk Regiment, British Expeditionary Force, and by the fall of that year he was overseas on active service in the trenches in France. Information on his Medal Card held by the British National Archives shows he was discharged on December 24, 1917, under Army Order 265 (soldiers discharged for reasons of illness or injury).

There are two letters in the Brightwell collection, both written to his sister Ethel Victoria Brightwell. Ethel had immigrated to Calgary, Alberta, in 1914, and it is through her family that the letters have been passed down over the years. There is also a photo of William’s brother Herbert Brightwell who served in the Navy during the war (William writes of Herbert’s experiences aboard the HMS Glasgow in his first letter).

The remarkable letter of February 6, 1915, is a rare Christmas Truce letter, containing Pte. Brightwell’s firsthand account of a Christmas Day spent together with the German soldiers from the trenches across from their own.

External links:
Information on Private Brightwell’s Service Record (Serv/Reg# 3/8149) with the British Expeditionary Force is not available.
Brightwell’s Medal Card can be accessed through the British National Archives’ Medal Card Index, but requires the creation of a free user account.

Chesney, Margaret Helen

Wren Margaret (Peggy) Helen Chesney was born in Wolseley, Saskatchewan, on July 24^th, 1922. She enlisted with the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS) in the summer of 1943. She was first posted to H.M.C.S. Conestoga in Galt, Ontario, and then in September to H.M.C.S. Cornwallis in Nova Scotia. Her final posting was in St. John’s, Newfoundland, beginning in November of 1944.

The letters in the Chesney Collection were written to her friend Miss J. Eira Williams of Regina, Saskatchewan, between September of 1943 and June of 1946. (Williams was also a correspondent in the CLIP Collections of P/O Lloyd Wesley Cuming, Cpl. Eunice Frances Davies, and L.A.W. Jean Isabel Turner.)

External links:
Wren Chesney’s Service Record (Serv/Reg# W-2601) is not available through Library and Archives Canada at this time.

Dean, Harold Adelbert

Private Harold Adelbert Dean was born in New Brunswick on April 7, 1894, to parents Rufus Archibald and Sarah Eliza Dean.

Dean enlisted with the British Expeditionary Force in Vancouver, British Columbia, and shipped for England on January 15, 1916. He joined in the Mechanical Transport Army Service Corps, 648 Company, as a transport driver and sailed with them for Africa in early March. He spent the next two years in the East African Campaign in British and German East Africa, often based in or near Mombasa, Nairobi, or Dodoma.

He was hospitalized several times for malaria while in Africa and was eventually sent back to England to convalesce in May 1918. He spent the remainder of the war in England. He was demobilized back to Canada on the SS Scandinavian, departing from Liverpool on April 2, 1919.

External links:
Because he served as a member of the British Expeditionary Force, and not the Canadian Expeditionary Force, there is no Canadian service file available for Pte. Dean.
A article about Dean’s experiences in the East African Campaign was published in the Prince George Register on November 2021, and can be read here.

Walton, Richard David

Pte. Richard David Walton was born in London, England, on December 22, 1896, son of Richard and Louisa Walton. He enlisted with the 33rd Overseas Battalion in Clinton, Ontario, on August 18, 1915.

Shipping for England on board the SS Lapland in March 1916, Walton proceeded to France in June 1916 and was transferred to the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles on his arrival.

He was killed in action September 15, 1916, and was buried near Albert, France. Subsequent fighting saw his grave lost, and he is now commemorated on the Vimy Memorial.

External links:
Pte. Richard Walton’s service record (Serv/Reg# 401511) 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 Richard Walton can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Reekie, David Leslie

Lance Corporal David Leslie Reekie, MM, was born in Camperdown, Ontario, on March 2, 1896, to parents Alexander and Isabella Reekie (née Walker).

He enlisted in Meaford, Ontario, on December 14, 1915, with the 147th Overseas Battalion (Grey County), embarking for England on board the SS Olympic in November 1916. He served in France with the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles, where he was awarded the Military Medal on February 2, 1918. Reekie was demobilized on March 19, 1919.

External links:
L/Cpl. Reekie’s service record (Serv/Reg# 838674) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

The David Reekie letters are part of the Sandy Stevenson Collection at the Grey Roots Museum & Archives in Owen Sound, Ontario, and were transcribed through the work of the Grey Roots Volunteers in the Fall of 2021. Minor changes have been made by the Canadian Letters and Images Project to these originals to conform with CLIP transcription protocols, and as such responsibility for any errors or omissions is ours.

Boggs, Herbert Beaumont

Lieutenant Herbert Beaumont Boggs was born in Victoria, British Columbia, on July 28, 1892, the second of four children of Beaumont and Mary Louise (née Richardson) Boggs. Prior to the war, in September 1912, Herbert had joined Victoria’s newly formed Militia Regiment the 88th Fusiliers.

When the Great War broke out he enlisted with the 7th Battalion (1st British Columbia) at Valcartier, Québec, on September 18, 1914. Shipping for England on board the SS Virginian as part of the First Canadian Contingent in October 1914, Boggs proceeded to France in February 1915, serving as Lieutenant with the 7th Canadian Infantry Battalion.

Boggs was 22 years old when he was killed while in action in Ploegsteert, Belgium, on February 26, 1915. He was buried in the Ploegsteert Churchyard cemetery. Boggs was one of the first officers from British Columbia to be killed in World War One. Both he and Lieutenant Duncan Bell-Irving died on the same day (see Bell-Irving links below).

The Boggs Collection contains twelve letters written by Lieut. Boggs to his mother and his younger sisters Mary & Dorothy in Victoria, B.C., and to Miss Mansell of London, England, as well as a letter that had been written by his mother and mailed to France just prior to his death. Also included are approximately 50 letters of condolence. While the writing of condolence letters to the families of soldiers killed overseas assumed a terrible familiarity as the war progressed and casualties mounted, at the time of Boggs’ death these letters would often have been the first of this kind written by these correspondents.

External links:
Lieut. Boggs’s service record (Serv/Reg# unassigned) 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 Lieutenant Boggs can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Lieut. Bell-Irving's service record (Serv/Reg# unassigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada; burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Mercer, Richard W.

The Private Richard William Mercer Collection is located within in the Special Items section of this website.

Adamson, A.

The letter written by Sister A. Adamson was donated with the Private Arthur Shannon Collection. Very little is known about the provenance of the Adamson letter, the individuals or circumstances referenced within it, or of the writer herself, beyond the fact that she was working as a Nursing Sister at the 12th Casualty Clearing Station of the British Expeditionary Force on the date the letter was written, November 4, 1917.

Shannon, Arthur

Private Arthur Shannon was born in Fork River, Manitoba on September 19, 1897. He enlisted with the 210th Battalion in Kindersley, Saskatchewan on June 13, 1916.

Shipping for England on board the SS Northland in April 1917, he was sent to France in September 1917, where he soon joined the 46th Battalion. In late October Shannon was badly wounded in action at Passchendaele, requiring the amputation of his lower leg. He was invalided back to Canada the following June, and was discharged in December 1918.

A letter from Nursing Sister A. Adamson of the 12th Casualty Clearing Station, British Expeditionary Force, was also donated along with Arthur Shannon’s letter.

External links:
Pte. Arthur Shannon’s service record (Serv/Reg# 255918) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Manzer, Robert Howard

Private Robert Howard Manzer was born in Doe Lake, Ontario on July 5, 1886, to parents John Oscar & Jane Eva Manzer. He was working as a school principal at the Quennell School in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, when he enlisted in Vancouver on June 3, 1916, with the British Columbia Company of the Western Universities Overseas (196th) Battalion.

Shipping for England on board the S.S. Southland in November of 1916, Manzer served his time in England working as a Clerk with the Canadian Forestry Corps. He was medically discharged and returned to Canada in late 1918.

The letter in the Manzer collection was written by Robert to his mother at the time of his enlistment, in part to try to explain why he felt compelled to leave civilian life and offer his service to the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force.

External links:
Pte. Manzer’s service record (Serv/Reg# 911980) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Hill, Charles William

Private Charles “Charlie” William Hill was born in Cobden, Ontario on November 20^th, 1895, son of Benjamin and Martha Hill. He enlisted with the 45^th Battalion in Brandon, Manitoba on May 6^th, 1915.

Shipping for England in March of 1916, he joined 43^rd Battalion in France beginning in June of 1916. He was killed in action on October 22^nd, 1917, and is buried in Nine Elms British Cemetery, West of Poperinghe, Belgium.

Within the collection are letters and postcards written by Charlie to his family back in Boissevain, Manitoba, mainly addressed to his mother, father, and sisters Maud (“Maudess”), Ethel & Dorothy. He often writes about his experiences as a member of the battalion band, and the collection includes a trench-newspaper style “souvenir paper” The Star-Shell produced by the 43^rd Battalion Brass Band in July of 1916 while serving in France (listed under the “Newspaper Articles” heading in Collection Contents below). Also included are various, photos, postcards, and keepsakes from Pte. Hill’s time playing with the Chaplain Service, Canadian Corps.

External links:
Pte. Hill's service record (Reg/Ser# 424913) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission site.
A memorial page honouring Hill can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

« first
‹ previous
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
…
next ›
last »

Search The Archive

Search form

Patrons