Walter Ross Lane was born in Belmore, Ontario in April, 1893. Lane was a medical student at his time of enlistment in Toronto, Ontario in March, 1915. He served overseas in France but was discharged on medical grounds in August, 1916. Three of his brothers also served - James Eldon Lane, Robert Wallace Lane, and William Stanley Lane. The collection currently consists of two photographs and one newspaper article.
Joseph McCartney was born in Liverpool, England, in 1882 and immigrated to Canada sometime prior to the war. He enlisted in Calgary, Alberta, in May 1916. McCartney had worked for the Allin family near Whitby, Ontario, and continued to corresponded with their daughter Curtie during the war. He was killed in France on April 8, 1918, age 36 years, and is buried in the Thelus Military Cemetery at Vimy Ridge. Three of the letters were written by Joe to Curtie, and one letter was from Curtie to Joe. That letter of March 8, 1918, was returned to Curtie following Joe's death in France. One letter is from his brother in England to Canada requesting the return of Joseph's personal effects. This collection consists of five letters written between December 1917 to September 1918.
Francis Charles Williams was born in Shrewsbury, England, in April 1893. Williams enlisted at Rimouski in October 1914. The collection consists of his paybook, as well as numerous postcards and photographs.
Allan Hamm was born in Bunbury, Prince Edward Island in July, 1897. He worked as a carpenter prior to his recruitment in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1917. The collection consists of more than seventy letters, as well as photographs, postcards, telegrams, and other items.
The Women's Alliance of the First Unitarian Congregation of Toronto sent packages of food and other items to members of the congregation serving overseas. The collection consists of twelve letters of thank you from recipients to the Women's Alliance for the items they received.
Harry Henry Foote was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1892 and enlisted in September 1914. The collection consists of one letter written enroute to England in October 1914 and one photograph taken at Valcartier, Quebec in 1914.
Harold Keith Davey was born in Enterprise, Ontario, in July 1897. Davey enlisted with the 4th Battalion Canadian Engineers in Toronto in June 1916. He served in France before being discharged and returned to Canada in May 1918. This collection currently consists of one letter, two diaries, two photograhs, one postcard, two railway passes and a rest camp ticket.
Note: In the diary section of the collection, transcriptions of all entries for 1917/1918 can be read together under the respective links to "1917" and "1918". Scans of the original handwritten diaries can also be accessed here, organized by their individual dates of entry.
The two letters in the collection were originally published in a Charlottetown newspaper in late 1916 and the clippings were part of a scrapbook kept by one of the residents of the city during the war. Few details are known about either the individuals in the letters or the circumstances of publication. The Cudmore letter was from John Richard Cudmore, born on Prince Edward Island in May 1898. Cudmore enlisted in March 1916 in Summerside, Prince Edward Island. Herbert H. King enlisted and served with the Newfoundland regiment. Both soldiers appear to have survived the war. If anyone can provide any further information about these letters, please contact The Canadian Letters and Images Project.
Lola Passmore was born in 1899 and lived in Peel County, Ontario, near the village of Huttonville. Around 1916 she and her family moved into the city of Toronto. The collection consists of twenty-two letters from her male friends from Huttonville written to her during the war. The largest portion (15 letters) is from George Henry Tripp, who was killed May 5, 1917. As well there are letters from John (Jack) Booker and his brother Alex Booker, one from George Edward Manners, and one from her uncle, Dr. James Fraser, a Major who served with the Ambulance Corps.
Alexander Hubert Matthews was born in Albeton, Prince Edward Island, in January 1892. He was one of twelve children of Anthony and Barbara Matthews. He enlisted in February 1917 and served overseas as a sapper with the No. 58 Railway Operating Co. The collection consists of a postcard, pages from his paybook, and a certificate of gallantry from the Royal Engineers Transportation Branch.
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.
See R.C.A.F. Flight Officer Robert James Scofield Collection.
Frederick George Pearson was born in Lancashire, England, in September 1894. He immigrated to Canada in 1909 and settled in the Red Deer District. Pearson enlisted in Calgary in July 1916 and served overseas with the 10th Battalion. The collection currently consists of his diary from 1917.
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.
Claude Senton was born in Simpson, Saskatchewan in July, 1919. He enlisted with the RCAF in the summer of 1941 and served with the 422 Squadron as a Pilot officer. Senton was killed on May 24, 1944 when his plane was shot down, and is buried in Norway. The collection currently consists of personal correspondence, official correspondence regarding his death, as well as photographs and other miscellaneous items.
External links:
Pilot Officer Claude Senton’s service record (Serv/Reg# J89686) 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 Senton can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
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.
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.
Melville Thomas Lean was born in Camborne, Ontario in October, 1895. He enlisted in Cobourg, Ontario in December, 1915 and served with the Cobourg Heavy Battery. The collection currently consists of seven letters.
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.
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.
Earle Shaw Grant was born in Hyndman, Ontario in September, 1896 and moved to Vancouver, British Columbia around 1907. Earle enlisted in July, 1917 with the Canadian Army Medical Corp, and then later transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. He survived the war and returned to Vancouver where he taught school. The collection consist of four photographs and an extended letter. The letter is comprised of type written excerpts from Earle's letters to his brother Harry, who compiled them in the present form.
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
