Hubert Willliam ("Bert") Lovell was born in born in England in November, 1891. Lovell enlisted in Edmonton, Alberta, in January 1916, and served overseas with the 8th Canadian Field Ambulance. The collection consists of two photographs and a transcription of his notes for a speech given at the 8th Canadian Field Ambulance Reunion Dinner in Calgary, 1931.
Arthur George Teer was born in Toronto, Ontario, in September 1893. He enlisted in Toronto in June 1915 and served overseas in Belgium and France until the end of the war. The collection currently consists of 20 letters.
Sergeant Ralph Beverly Watson (a.k.a. Joseph Ralph Watson), Canadian Army Medical Corps, was the author of the 1918 book Letters of a Canadian Stretcher Bearer. The book's letters, along with more information on Sgt. Watson, can be found in the Special Items Collections section of the website.
This collection consists of one letter and five photographs. The letter is from Norman Robertson to his parents in 1918 commenting on the death of one his brothers in France in light of the death of his own infant daughter.
William George Stevens was born on August 7, 1915, the son of George and Beatrice Stevens of St. James, Manitoba. He enlisted with the RCAF and flew with the 106 (R.A.F.) Squadron as a Pilot Officer (Air Gnr.). Stevens was shot down and killed April 27, 1944. The collection consists of two photographs, a pass, and an official letter regarding his status as missing.
External links:
Pilot Officer William George Stevens’ service record (Serv/Reg# J89945) 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 Stevens can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
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.
Reverend William Beattie, CMG, was born in Fergus, Ontario, in April 1873. After his graduation from college in 1900 he moved to Cobourg, Ontario, where he was the minister in the Presbyterian Church. Beattie enlisted in September 1914, and sailed with the first contingent to France as the Chaplain to the First Canadian Brigade, and then later served as the Senior Chaplain of the Second Division. Beattie was appointed a Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in recognition of "...his most conspicuous gallantry and distinguished conduct at the gas attack at St. Julien and through all the subsequent severe fighting of the period. Working unremittingly, with complete disregard to danger, he assisted in collecting wounded on many fields of action." He later returned to Ottawa in 1918 to organize the Chaplain Service of Canada and was at that time promoted to the rank of Colonel. The collection currently consists of thirty-four letters and two photographs. There are however other Beattie letters in the Cobourg World collection in the Special Items section, as he also sent letters back to the local newspaper for publication.
James John Parker was born in Belfast, Ireland, in January 1894. He immigrated to Canada, and enlisted with the 92nd Battalion in August 1915 in Toronto, Ontario. The collection currently consists of images of his paybook, two photographs, and his certification as an Air Raid Warden during the Second World War.
See R.C.A.F. Flight Officer Robert James Scofield Collection.
Bernard Freeman Trotter was born in Toronto in 1890 and graduated from McMaster University in Toronto in 1915. He began graduate work at the University of Toronto before leaving for England in March 1916. Although ill health prevented him from being accepted into the Canadian army, he was determined to serve and was able to secure a commission in the British Army. Trotter went to France in December 1916 with his Leicestershire Regiment, and was killed by a shell on May 7, 1917. The collection consists of 87 letters home to his family from March 1916 to his death in May 1917. Trotter was also a noted poet. His poems were collected by his father in 1917 and published later that year by McClelland and Stewart as A Canadian Twilight. The complete Trotter fond is located at McMaster University. All materials ©McMaster University and used with their permission.
Cecil Moody was born in England in November, 1892, and immigrated to Canada prior to the war. Moody enlisted in October 1915 and served overseas with the 8th Canadian Field Ambulance until the end of the war. The collection currently consists of thirty-nine letters, as well as photographs and other miscellaneous items connected to his service.
Jay Batiste Moyer was born in Toronto, Ontario, in January 1897. Moyer enlisted in Toronto in October 1915 with the 95th Overseas Battalion and served overseas with the Western Ontario Regiment. He was killed at Vimy Ridge, April 9, 1917. The collection consists of more than seventy letters written between 1915 and 1917 and one photograph.
Harold Holt was born in Manchester, England, in May 1897. Prior to the war he immigrated to Victoria, British Columbia. Holt enlisted in September 1915 in Victoria and served overseas until his discharge. He was the brother of James Henry Holt, who served as James Henry. The collection currently consists of four photographs and some miscellaneous personal items.
Lieutenant John Ernest McLurg was born in Prospect Hill, Ontario on April 12, 1875. Prior to his enlistment in WWI, John and his wife (Annie Allan née Corry) lived in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., where he worked as a sales manager and served in the Militia with the 51st Sault Rifles.
He enlisted in Valcartier, Quebec, on September 22, 1914, and was commissioned with the 2nd Battalion, 1st Canadian Infantry Division. Once overseas McLurg served in both France and Belgium before being wounded and taken prisoner at the Second Battle of Ypres on April 24, 1915. As a P.O.W. in Germany he was initially sent to Siegburd until fully recovered from the gunshot wound to the head he had suffered at Ypres, and then was transferred to the Camp at Heidelberg in July of 1915, and later to Soltau in June of 1916.
On August 12, 1916, he was transferred to the P.O.W. camp in Mürren, Switzerland (an agreement between the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss government allowed many sick or injured POWs to be interned in Switzerland until eligible for repatriation), where he was joined by his wife Annie in November of 1916. Their daughter, Margaret Gillespie McLurg, was born in nearby Vevey, Switzerland, on October 26, 1917. Shortly thereafter John was repatriated, travelling with his family to England in late December of 1917, and then on to Canada where he was medically discharged from service on April 20, 1918.
The McLurg Collection has two main components. The first is a book of drawings and messages created by McLurg’s fellow prisoners at Heidelberg as a gift to him at the time of his departure from the camp in August of 1916. The second is a set of 27 photographs documenting his time at Mürren, Switzerland. Also included are a small number of other items such as John’s bullet-pierced Maple Leaf Badge, and Annie McLurg’s Visa for transit with their daughter through the United States while returning to Canada in 1918.
External links:
Lt. John Ernest McLurg’s service record (Serv/Reg# unassigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated May 2022. Some additional materials have been added and some changes to categorization of Collection Contents have been made; content descriptions have been reviewed and in many cases expanded to provide more information. No materials have been removed but duplicate postings, if present, will have been corrected.]
Francis Harold McLorg was born in Moosomin, Saskatchewan, worked as a barrister and then enlisted for overseas duty in October 1914. He saw duty in France, where he was wounded in 1916. McLorg recovered and continued to serve until the end of the war, by which time he had been promoted to the rank of Captain. The collection consists of eight letters, telegrams, and photographs.
Andrew Wilson was born in Brussels, Ontario, in 1880, moved west in 1906, and enlisted in Rosetown, Saskatchewan, in 1916. He served in France from October 1917 to September 1918 until being wounded, returning to Canada in December 1919. The collection currently consists of his diary from October 19, 1917, to December 31, 1917, and one letter home to his wife.
Harold Hartley Littler was born in Liverpool, England in December, 1881. Littler enlisted in Port Alberni, British Columbia and then was later sworn in at Victoria, British Columbia in November, 1915. The collection consists of a short memoir written by Littler in the 1920s which describes his time from enlistment until his return home.
Frederick Boyt was born in Poole, England, in December 1893. He enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, on July 26, 1915. His brother William was born in Poole, England, in February 1896. William enlisted on the same day as his brother. The collection currently consists of four photographs and one postcard.
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.
Wilfred Edgar Hawkes was born in England in 1889. Sometime later he immigrated to Canada and enlisted at Vernon, British Columbia, in August 1915. The collection constist of two letters written to his young nephew Jack, in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1916.
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
William Vincent Gauthier was born in North Rustico, Prince Edward Island in October, 1897 and enlisted in Charlottetown in 1915. Gauthier served oveseas Enland, France, and Belgium until his return to Canada at the end of the war. The collection consists of a memoir written by Gauthier sometime after the war.
Lieutenant Neville Ayrton Astbury was born in Northop, Flintshire, North Wales, on April 6, 1889, to parents Edward and Jane Astbury.
Astbury enlisted with the 66th Battalion in Edmonton, Alberta, on June 12, 1915, and proceeded overseas aboard the SS Metagama in September 1915. He was transferred to the 49th Battalion, with whom he was serving when killed in action on September 16, 1916.
External Links:
Lieut. Neville Ayrton Astbury's service record can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information can be found through The Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
His Circumstances of Death record can be found through Library and Archives Canada.
A memorial page honouring Neville Aryton Astbur can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
The materials here were kindly provided by the Northop Parish Memorials Project.
Joseph Thomas Wright was born in Toronto in 1907. He served overseas in Africa and Europe during the war and then returned to Canada at the end of the war. The collection consists of one letter written to his sister Bea from Italy in September, 1944.
Gordon Merritt Shrum was born in Smithville, Ontario, in 1894 and enlisted in April 1916 while a student at the University of Toronto. He served overseas and returned to Canada to teach in 1919. The collection consists of two letters written to Helen Nickle of Smithville. Other correspondents to Davis include the Bill Grassie Collection, the Daniel Austin Lane Collection, the Fred Nickle Collection, and the William Grassie Collection.
