Canada's Fallen October 1 to October 15, 1914

Over 1000 members of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry in front of their Ship in October 1914

During the early part of October, the first 30,000 Canadians left for England.  The first contingent left on October 3, 1914, and arrived in England on October 14, 1914.  Five Canadians fell during this period, all in Canada.  One of these fallen, Private Teddy Burgoyne, from a high profile family in St. Catharines Ontario, was murdered while on duty by another sentry.

October 6, 1914

Private John W. Barnes was buried in Ross Bay Cemetery, Victoria,  BC.  Reference – Phoenix Pioneer October 17, 1914

From the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

October  7, 1914

Private Arthur Theodore Burgoyne was shot to death while on duty with the Welland Canal Force by a fellow sentry Private Frank Hartley.  He was 17 years old.  The Ottawa Citizen reported on October 9, 1914:

"The murder was the result of a trivial altercation, in the course of which Hartley suddenly raised his rifle and discharged it within a few feet of Burgoyne's face."  Hartley was apparently apprehended immediately by four other sentries, and treated roughly before he was taken under arrest to St. Catharines."

It was later reported that on the day of the killing, Hartley had appeared at roll call improperly dressed and was reprimanded by Sergeant Clarence Burgoyne. Testimony indicated that later Hartley and Burgoyne were standing together; Hartley suddenly wheeled and swore, "I'll shoot you". He raised his rifle and shot Burgoyne dead. Hartley was tried on 11 March 1915 for murder, but the jury found him guilty of manslaughter and he was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment.

Before his enlistment Private Burgoyne was an employee of the Bank of Toronto.  He is buried in Victoria Lawn Cemetery, St. Catharines, Ontario.
 

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Captain Alexander James Fowlie died in Halifax.  He was survived by his wife Minnie and daughter, Adele.  He is buried in St. Stephen’s United Church Cemetery, Black River, New Brunswick.

October 10, 1914

Private Joseph Cobb died Oct 10, 1914 while in Halifax.  He is buried at Mount Olivet Cemetery, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

October 11, 1914

Private T. Stone was a member of the Royal Flying Corps.  He is buried in the Nanaimo Public Cemetery in BC.

Canada's Fallen September 21 to September 30, 1914

September 21, 1914 - Camp Valcartier

The end of September marked that last weeks that the first contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force trained in Canada before leaving for Europe.  During the period September 21 to September 30, seven more men fell.

September 21, 1914

Private Thomas William Hardingham died of a gunshot wound received on the Rockcliffe range.  He was 27, and was the first casualty of the Great War to be buried in Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa, Ontario.

September 22, 1914

Leading Signalman George Hawkins is buried in Veteran's Cemetery, Esquimalt, BC.

September 24, 1914

Private Alfred John Cook is buried in Mount Hermon Cemetery, Quebec City.

Private H.R. Longhurst is buried in Mount Hermon Cemetery, Quebec City.

September 25, 1914

Private Leopold Mayer of Montreal is buried at Notre Dame des Neiges Cemetery, Quebec City.

September 26, 1914

Detail of the Baptistry

Bombadier George Howe, son of Robert Howe of Toronto is commemorated in the Baptistry of Saint Thomas Anglican Church in Toronto.  On enlistment for First World War service, Bombardier Howe was employed as a Railway Freight man. Bombardier Howe also served with the Canadian Scouts during the South African War.  He was 33 at the time of his death.  He is buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Toronto.

September 29, 1914

Private O Baxter died of illness and is buried in Mount Hermon Cemetery, Quebec City.

Canada's Fallen September 13 to September 20, 1914

Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

In the overarching history of the Great War, this week marked the beginning of the "Race to the Sea" which is a term that describes attempts by both the Franco-British and German armies to envelop the northern flank of the opposing army through Picardy, Artois and Flanders.  At home, Canadian troops were training in Canada.  By the beginning of September, 32,000 were already at Valcartier camp training in anticipation of their departure to France.

September 13, 1914

Private John J. McKay of Morrisburg, Ontario died of pneumonia at age 32 leaving behind his wife, Mabel.  He is buried at Mount Hermon Cemetery, Quebec City.

September 15, 1914

Private John N. Stevens is buried at Valcartier Military Cemetery.

September 17, 1914

Corporal George Hague (Haig), son of Joseph and Alberta Hague of Niagara Falls, drowned at Port Colborne on 17 September 1914 while bathing. He and another soldier were diving from a canoe near the Niagara Grain and Feed Company's mill. He was 18 at this death, and is buried in Fairview Cemetery, Niagara Falls, Ontario.

September 18, 1914

Lieutenant Fred Kellett died of heart disease and was given a military funeral.  He was 36 years old and from Brandon, Manitoba.  He is buried at Mount Hermon Cemetery, Quebec City.

September 19, 1914

Private R.A. Wellesley of Vancouver, BC died of pneumonia after a short illness and and is buried at Mount Hermon Cemetery, Quebec City.

September 20, 1914

Private John Thomas Insley of Edmonton also succumbed to pneumonia and is buried at Mount Hermon Cemetery, Quebec City.

Canada's Fallen of September 6 to September 12, 1914

The first page of the First World War Book of Honour

I have found, as I look for information about these people who died 100 years ago that the amount and kind of information that is available is highly variable - and almost always minimal.  Today I am posting the image of the first page of the First World War Book of Honour, because there is very minimal information about most of these men.

September 8, 1914

Private John P. Desales was from British Columbia and is buried at the Valcartier Military Cemetery.

September 9, 1914

Private George F Cox was from Alberta and is buried at Mount Hermon Cemetery, Quebec City.

September 11, 1914

Private Edward (Edgerton) Forsyth, 20, of the 44th Regiment was killed by a train in the Montrose rail yards on 11 September 1914. He had received his discharge from the Force and was on his way home. It was assumed that he fallen under the wheels of a freight car when he attempted to hop a ride to Grimsby, where he lived. He was buried by the 44th Regiment in Drummond Hill Cemetery, Niagara Falls. He was survived by a father, sister and brother. (Guarding Niagra, p 107)

September 12, 1914

Gunner A. Beck, also sometimes listed as Private, is buried at the Valcartier Military Cemetery.

Gunner (Bombadier) Adolphe Gallant was born in PEI and survived by his parents Isaac and Priscilla Gallant of Sydney, Nova Scotia.  Gallant died at the age of 26 and is buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery in Sydney.

Canada's Fallen the week of September 1 to September 5, 1914

The Online Hermann-Paul Project

The Battle of the Marne was fought from September 5, 1915 to September 12, 1914 and was the bloody culmination of Germany's advance into France.  It is estimated that there were 500,000 casualties on both sides of the battle, and that together 81,700 French and British combatants were killed.  These events were followed closely in Canada.  However, the first Canadians did not arrive in France until November 1914, and Canadian soldiers were not fighting in Europe until 1915.

September 4, 1914

Private Bogan Scott Gee (also identified as Buigon Gee, and Boggan Gee, his name was corrected) died of peritonitis in Quebec on September 4, 1914.  He was 26 years old at his death, and was survived by his family in South Carolina, USA.  He was buried in Quebec, in the Mount Hermon Cemetery.  He had been a stranger in Edmonton, when he signed up, and the Canadian Army placed a notice in the Edmonton Bulletin on September 9, 1914 seeking information about his relatives.

Family record at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Private F C Taylor also died on September 4, 1914 and is buried in the Pleasant Street Cemetery in Kamloops, BC.

Image courtesy of Find a Grave

Canada's Fallen from August 16 to August 31, 1914

Image from thegreatgar

I find the fallen from these weeks of August to be quite moving in the tragedy and misfortune of their deaths.  The first Canadian to die on active service, and a volunteer of only 15 years old, was shot by a fellow soldier while on guard duty; a young man on his way to Camp Valcartier for training fekk under the wheels of a train by accident; and a volunteer who was training to go to France was reported a suicide.

August 21, 1914

Quartermaster Frederick W Hussey.  Commemorated in Halifax (Mount Olivet) Cemetery

The Canadian Virtual War Memorial

August 22, 1914

Private Frank F Johnson, commemorated at  Stratford (Avondale), Ontario Cemetery.  Private Johnson died in an accident at the train station in Toronto where he was embarking to Valcartier for training.

The Beacon Herald

August 27, 1914

Private Gordon William Betts, 15 years old, volunteered on the outbreak of war in August 1914, and joined his father's regiment, and was accidentally shot August 27, 1914 while on guard duty at Soulanges Canal - the first Canadian to lose his life on active service in the European War. The story of his death was reported across Canada, and may be read in the online version of theS September 5, 1914 issue of British Columbia's The Phoenix Pioneer.  He was buried at Montreal (Mount Royal) Cemetery.

The First From Canada

August 28, 1914

Sapper George B A Eachus enlisted in Calgary, Alberta.  It was reported on August 29, 1914 that Private Eachus committed suicide at Valcartier Camp on August 28, 1914.  It says, "he was found in the field hospital with his throat cut, having used his own razor.  His comrades said that while on the way to Valcartier he appeared to be dejected. (The Edmonton Bulletin, August 29, 1914 (Morning Edition), Page 5).  His grave may be found in Canadian Forces Base Valcartier Military Cemetery.

University of Alberta Library

Canada's Fallen for the week of August 9, 1914

Calendar for the week of August 9, 1914

As of the evening of 4 August 1914 Great Britain and Germany were at war. So too was the British Empire, including Canada and the independent colony of Newfoundland.  Canadians, especially those of British descent enthusiastically volunteered to enlist in the Canadian Expeditionary Force.  Although it would take months for the first Canadian units to land in Europe, seven men lost their lives in August 1914, and are counted among the fallen.

August 14, 1914

Canada's Anglo-Celtic Connection

The first soldier to die was Private Harry Benjamin Little.  Pte Little died from heart failure at Hughenden, Alberta, on an Edmonton troop train carrying the second contingent from the city on it's way east. His body was removed at Hardesty, Alberta to the care of the Royal North West Mounted Police. He was buried at Czar Lutheran Cemetery, Provost, Alberta.

Private Harry B Little is commemorated on Page 1 of the First World War Book of Remembrance.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

August 15, 1914 The next Canadian Soldiers to fall were Private Charles F Kells, and Private John Thomas Madden. Private Charles Frederick Kells, 19th Regiment, drowned on August 15, 1914 near the Niagara Street bridge. He was first noticed to be absent when a helmet was seen floating in the canal near Lock 9, but dragging of the canal that evening was unsuccessful and it was not until the next morning that his body was recovered. There was no indication of foul play and an inquest attributed his death to an accident. He is buried in the Fonthill Cemetery, Fonthill, Ontario. John Thomas Madden commemorated on the first page of the First World War book of Remembrance, He is buried in the Halifax (Mount Olivet) Cemetary.

Remembering the Canadian Fallen of the Great War, a personal project.

I started thinking about doing a blog about the soldiers who fought and died for Canada during the Great War about a year ago.  At the time I was working at a job that stretched me as far as I could stretch.  At the same time, I decided to sell my house, and buy a new one, and managed to do that in the first 21 days of August.  All this to say that although the notion of this blog was in the back of my mind, it proved nearly impossible to follow through.  And then, as I realized that the project could involve doing research on 62,305 names, I wondered when I could make it happen.

Then I found a couple of projects that were doing a wonderful job of recording information about all of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and the Newfoundland Regiment.  The Canadian governments Veteran's Affairs Department has a wonderful virtual memorial, which links to photographs of Canada's Books of Remembrance (there are 7) which have a place of honour in the Peace Tower of Canada's Parliament buildings.

Photo from Veterans Affairs Canada

So, I have decided to start, almost a year after the 100th anniversary of the start of the Great War to do what I have been contemplating for so long.  I'm going to convey the stories I have found about some of the men I have learned about.  And I'm going to remember the fallen Canadians of World War One.