The collection consists of one letter from May Grenville, a nurse who had served overseas with the A.E.F. home to her mother in Thorold, Ontario, at the end of the war in 1918. Used with permission by Heritage Thorold.
Edward Porter was born in Norfolk, England, in August 1889. Prior to the war he immigrated to Toronto, Ontario, where he enlisted in November 1915. The collection currently consists of his paybook.
Michael Francis Murphy was born February 27, 1894, in St. John's, Newfoundland. Murphy enlisted on December 15, 1914, with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (sevice #754), part of the original "C" coy. Murphy served in Gallipoli, Egypt, and France, and returned to Newfoundland at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of two photographs of Murphy and one letter to his daughter. Murphy's service file is available online through the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador (The Rooms).
William Wallace Haig Martyn was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in December, 1915. He joined the RAF in 1936 and during the war he flew with Squadron Nos. 802, 758, 759, 760, and 880 and was awarded the DSC. The collection consists of more than 140 letters written by Martyn from 1939 to 1945.
William Monro was born in County Down, Ireland, in 1895 and immigrated to Canada sometime prior to the outbreak of war. He enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, in July 1915 and served overseas in France. The collection consists of seven letters.
Harry Morris was born in Montreal in 1882 and enlisted 87th Battalion in Montreal in November 1915. He served in France with a trench mortar battery and was wounded early in 1917. Morris was discharged in February 1918 as a result of his wounds and returned home to Montreal. The collection consists of numerous photographs, telegrams, four letters, one poem, and miscellaneous documents. One of the letters is an extended account of the being wounded and the process of medical treatment.
Nurse Sarah Ellen Arnold worked at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading, England, during the war. While there, she kept a journal in which she asked the patients to write. After the war Sarah married John Harold Bridgeman, one of the Canadian soldiers she had nursed.
External links:
Private John Harold Bridgeman's service record (Serv/Reg #440109) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Lawrence Earl Johns was born in Elimville, Ontario in December, 1893. Johns enlisted at Exeter, Ontario on April 11, 1916 with the 161st Huron Battalion, C.E.F. He served overseas with the 58th Battalion and died September 12, 1917. The collection consists of more than one hundred twenty letter as well as a rich visual component of photographs, postcards, and other personal items.
One part of the collection consists of letters written by Harry Clark, Jr., to his mother, Jane (Jennie) Clark, in London, Ontario, after he had enlisted in the Canadian Army. The other letters were received by a distant relative, Kathleen Jackson (ne Hastings), while she was recovering from tuberculosis in London, Ontario. The letters, which describe conditions in wartime Britain, were written by relatives of Kathleen,s father Hugh Hastings, who died while convalescing from wounds sustained in the First World War.
James R. Chisholm was born in Inverness, Scotland, in 1885 and immigrated to Canada sometime prior to the war. He enlisted at Lethbridge, Alberta, in December 1914. James served overseas in France and was killed June 3, 1916. Alexander Chisholm was born in Inverness, Scotland, in March 1888 and immigrated to Canada prior to the war. He enlisted in Brandon, Manitoba, in April 1915. He served overseas in France and was killed October 9, 1916. The collection consists of one undated photograph of the brothers.
Lewis G. Billard was born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, in 1923. He joined the R.C.A.F. in 1943 and worked on the Rolls-Royce Merlin engines in Lancaster bombers in England and in Mosquito Nightfighters in Europe. The collection consists of more than one hundred letters written home by Billard from 1943 to 1946.
This collection contains materials presently held by the Missisquoi Historical Society. There are presently four letters from Walter Adolphe Veniez and one letter from Sydney Horace Blinn. In addition there is a concert program in aid of The Canadian Prisoners of War Fund given in Montreal, and two editions of the Canadian Hospital News from 1917. Thank you to the Missisquoi Historical Society for permitting us to use these materials.
Albert James Gilmore was born in Wooster, Ohio in February, 1884. He later lived in Toronto, Ontario where he worked as a linotype operator for the Toronto Star. Gilmore enlisted in Toronto in August, 1915. He served overseas with the Canadian Field Artillery and was killed September 15, 1918. The collection consist of one letter, a photograph of Gilmore, and a newspaper death notice.
Francis Dibley Row was born in Whitewood, Saskatchewan, in December 1887. Row enlisted in Winnipeg in November 1915 and served overseas with the 27th Battalion. Both his brothers Sydney Arthur Row and John Row Jr. served with him in the 27th. The collection currently consists of two letters.
Thomas Orval Wilson was born in Craik, Saskatchewan in 1923 and raised in Regina, one of a family of eight brothers. He enlisted with the R.C.A.F. in 1941, training in Canada before being posted overseas in 1943. Warrant Officer Thomas Orval Wilson was shot down and killed on his first mission, February 20, 1944. The collection consists of more than forty letters, as well as numerous photographs and miscellaneous documents.
External links:
Warrant Officer Thomas Orval Wilson’s service record (Serv/Reg# R155694) 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 Wilson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Paul Lapointe was born in Chicoutimi, Quebec on Jan 30, 1905. He enlisted on February 26, 1943 and sailed overseas on July 19, 1944. He served in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany with the Royal Canadian Engineers. He returned to England on August 1, 1945 and back to Canada on January 23, 1946. Paul Lapointe passed away on November 7, 2002. This collection consists of four letters and one diary in the original French with English translations, as well as photographs and miscellaneous documents.
Ronald Francis Broome enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in August 1940. Broome served overseas during the war with the 3rd Canadian Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment. The collection currently consists of letters, photographs, his paybook, a regimental history, a copy of the Maple Leaf Scrapbook, and other miscellaneous items.
South African (Boer) War Collection
Thomas Bertrand Day was born November 28, 1877, in Woodford County, Sydenham, Ontario, the eldest of six children of Daniel and Jean Day. He enlisted in Toronto in 1901 and was killed at the Battle of Hearts River during the South African War, April 2, 1902. The collection consists of one letter written to his father in 1902.
Ewen Nicholson was born in Grimsay, Scotland, in May 1892, and immigrated to Saskatchewan in 1912. Nicholson enlisted in September 1914, and served overseas in Belgium and France in 1915 and 1916. He was killed June 3, 1916. The collection currently consists of more than forty letters.
Ernest Albert Underwood was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1915. Ernest along with his brother, Leslie, enlisted in Victoria in 1939 with the 3rd LAA Battery, RCA. They arrived in England in 1941 and were recognized as members of the first Canadian gun crew to destroy an enemy aircraft (Junkers 88) on August 6/7 1941. Both brothers participated in the Dieppe Raid in August of 1942. Ernest was wounded on the beach and became a Prisoner of War. He was released at the end of hostilities and returned home safely to Victoria, British Columbia in 1945. The collection consists of numerous letters, pictures and miscellaneous documents.
William Howard Curtis, MM, was born and raised in Peterborough, Ontario, where he served in the 57th Regiment. He was in Alberta when the war broke out and joined the 9th Battalion in Edmonton in August 1914. After brief training at Valcartier, Québec, Curtis went to England with the 1st Contingent and shortly after arrival transferred to the 2nd Battalion. He later served in the battalion's machine gun section, was three times wounded in action, and was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in the field. Lance-Sergeant Curtis was killed in action on October 8, 1916, in the closing stages of the Battle of the Somme. The collection consists of eighteen letters from Curtis to his mother and sister, and three letters to the Curtis family sent after his death.
American Civil War Collection
Donald Forbes was born sometime in the 1840s, son of Dr. John Forbes and Ann Forbes of Chippawa, Canada West. He first worked in Fergus, Canada West, and later moved to Newark, New Jersey, in the United States. He joined the Union Army in February 1864 and died on June 22, 1864. The collection consists of more than two dozen letters.
Arthur Donovan Corker, MM, was born in February 1894 in Victoria, British Columbia. Corker enlisted in September 1914 and was part of the First Canadian Contingent. He was serving with the 7th Battalion when he was taken prisoner during the Second Battle of Ypres on April 24, 1915. As a prisoner, Corker attempted to escape six times, was recaptured, and finally succeeded in his seventh attempt in 1918. The collection consists of one letter written shortly after he made his escape to Holland. As well, Corker did an interview in 1983 describing his escape, which is part of the University of Victoria archives. To listen to Corker, click here.
Lieutenant Robert Grierson Combe, VC, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1880. He immigrated to Moosomin, Saskatchewan, where he worked as a chemist. He enlisted at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, in April 1915 [note: there is a discrepancy between his attestation papers which date his enlistment as 1915 and other records which date his enlistment as 1916]. He was killed on May 3, 1917, and has no known grave. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery. The collection consists of one letter to his grammar school magazine and his citation for bravery.
Private Thomas James Aston was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.A., on February 10, 1889, to parents William and Jane Aston.
Aston enlisted with the 74th Battalion in Toronto, Ontario, on July 19, 1915, and proceeded overseas from Halifax, Nova Scotia aboard the SS Empress of Britain, arriving in Liverpool, England, on April 9, 1916. After being sent to France, Aston was transferred to the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles, with whom he served until he returned to Canada aboard the HMS Baltic in March 1919, and was demobilized later that month in Toronto, Ontario.
External Links:
Pte. Thomas James Aston's service record (#135963) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
