William Stanley Lane was born in June, 1891. Lane was a law student at his time of enlistment in November, 1914 with the 29th Battalion. He served in France as signaller and was killed on April 6, 1916 in the Battle of St. Eloi. Three of his brothers also served - James Eldon Lane, Robert Wallace Lane, and Walter Ross Lane. The collection currently consists of seven photographs, four newspaper articles, and several miscellaneous items.
Private Sydney Amyas Winterbottom was born in Calgary, Alberta, on November 22, 1895*, the first child of Arthur and Jennie (née Banister) Winterbottom. Soon after Sydney’s birth the family moved to Kamloops, British Columbia, where siblings Helen, Keith, Joan, and John were born.
Winterbottom enlisted with the 11th Canadian Mounted Rifles at Vernon, B.C., on July 15, 1915, and spent the following year training in British Columbia, first at the Vernon Camp, then at Connaught Barracks in Nanaimo, and finally at Willows Camp, Victoria. He was able on several occasions to return home on leave to Kamloops during this time period. Winterbottom sailed for England on board the SS Lapland with the 11th C.M.R. in July of 1916, and then proceeded to France in October of 1916 where he served with the 29th Battalion.
He was killed in action on November 6, 1917, in the Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres). Winterbottom is among the over fifty thousand men without known graves who died defending the Ypres Salient and are commemorated on the Menin Gate (Ypres) Memorial, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.
The majority of the letters in the Winterbottom Collection were written home to his parents and siblings, but also included are several written by other soldiers such as his close friend Adrian Thrupp, who had also enlisted in August of 1915 with the 11th C.M.R. The two friends served together throughout the war until just shortly before Winterbottom’s death. Among the condolence letters is one written to Thrupp by Douglas (Dug) Goudie. Like Thrupp, Goudie was both a good friend of Winterbottom’s from before the war and a close companion during it, and both are mentioned frequently throughout the Winterbottom letters. More biographical information about Thrupp and Goudie can be found on their own individual collection pages, along with copies of their letters and photos that originated here as part of the Winterbottom Collection.
In his letters Winterbottom would almost always include comments or news about other soldiers he was posted with or had known previously back home in Kamloops. Thirty-four of the soldiers mentioned in his letters were able to be identified and connected with military service information (see external links below). Many were young men from the Kamloops area who had enlisted during 1915-1916 with either the 11th Canadian Mounted Rifles or the 172nd Battalion. A reference guide to where the names of those identified can be found in the Winterbottom letters has been posted under “Other Materials” in the Collection Contents section below (please be aware that using just the website search tool to find names in the letters may be problematic owing to the variety of spellings used by Winterbottom).
External links for Pte. Winterbottom:
Pte. Sydney Winterbottom’s service record (Serv/Reg# 116506) 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 Winterbottom can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Pte. Winterbottom is among those commemorated on the Kamloops Cenotaph in Memorial Hill Park, Kamloops, B.C., as are ten of the other identified soldiers in the collection: L/Cpl. Robert Roy Brown, Spr. Frank Alexander Busteed, Pte. Wilfred Albert Duck, 2/Lt. Ralph Vyvian Gordon, Pte. Frederick Lee, 2/Lt. Walter Josiah Pearse, Pte. Ernest Pemberton, Cpl. J. Dallas Slavin, Lt. William Elmer Tait, and Pte. Alfred Lewis Wain.
External links for other identified soldiers in the Winterbottom letters & photos:
L/Cpl. Charles Henry Irwin Akehurst, 172nd Bn. & 47th Bn., enlisted at Kamloops 1916/01/19. Serv/Reg# 687251
Pte. Arthur Trelawney Batchelor, 172nd Bn. & 18th C.M.G. Coy., enlisted at Kamloops 1916/04/03. Serv/Reg# 688066
Cpl. Harry Trelawney Batchelor, 54th Bn., enlisted at Vernon 1915/08/11. Serv/Reg# 443171
L/Cpl. Robert Roy Brown, 172nd Bn. & 47th Bn., enlisted at Kamloops 1916/07/24. Serv/Reg# 688280
Spr. Frank Alexander Busteed, 11th C.M.R., 54th Bn. & 4th C. Div. Signal Coy., enlisted at Vernon 1915/07/15, service number changed with transfer to 54th Bn. in November 1915. Serv/Reg# 116505 & 443172
Pte. Harry Warren Campbell, 29th Bn., enlisted at Vancouver 1915/03/24. Serv/Reg# 76273
Lt. Frank Charles Clark, 172nd Bn & 47th Bn., enlisted at Kamloops 1916/01/01. Serv/Reg# 687005
Pte. Francis Arthur Dempster, 11th C.M.R. & 7th Bn., enlisted at Vernon 1915/07/15. Serv/Reg# 116507
Pte. Rupert Morley Duck, 172nd Bn. & 54th Bn., enlisted at Kamloops 1916/03/24. Serv/Reg# 688016
Pte. Wilfred Albert Duck, 172nd Bn. & 54th Bn., enlisted at Kamloops 1916/03/24. Serv/Reg# 688015
Capt. Eber Atkin Dunfield, 1st Div. Ammo. Park, 1st Bn. & M.H.Q. Ottawa, enlisted at Valcartier 1914/09/22. Serv/Reg# 37064
Pte. Donald Scotney George, 11th C.M.R. & 7th Bn., enlisted at Kamloops 1915/07/15. Serv/Reg# 116508
2/Lt. Ralph Vyvian Gordon, 88th Bn., 25th Bn., & British Royal Air Force, enlisted at Victoria 1915/11/08. Serv/Reg# 180779
Pte. (later R.A.F. Cadet) Douglas Moncrieff Goudie, 48th Bn., 3rd C.P. Bn., 25th Bn. & 29th Bn., enlisted at Victoria 1915/04/12. Serv/Reg# 430974. Joined the British Royal Air Force, 1918/07/25.
Lt. Norman Goudie, DFC, British Royal Flying Corps (2nd Lt. 1916/04/22, Lt. 1917/06/01).
L/Cpl. John Percy Greenhouse, C.A.S.C. & 127th Bn., enlisted at Shorncliffe, Kent, England, 1916/10/02. Ser/Reg# 3663
Pte. Paul William Jarvis Harmon, 62nd Bn., 48th Bn., 3rd C.P. Bn. & 7th Bn., enlisted at Vernon 1915/07/31. Serv/Reg# 463629
Pte. Gordon Walker Harper, C.A.M.C., enlisted at Vernon 1915/07/24. Serv/Reg# 400122
Lt. Noel George Harper, 172nd Bn. & 47th Bn., enlisted at Kamloops 1916/04/17. Serv/Reg# 688126
Pte. Senior Heaton, 172nd Bn. & 11th C.M.R., enlisted at Vancouver 1916/02/18. Serv/Reg# 687724
Lt. Herbert Jefferis, C.A.M.C. & 29th Bn., enlisted at Calgary 1915/05/01. Serv/Reg# 50597
Chaplain (Capt.) Alexander Ketterson, 80th Bn. & 6th Bde., commissioned 1915/11/02. Serv/Reg# not assigned
Pte. Frederick Lee, 172nd Bn. & 47th Bn., enlisted at Kamloops 1916/03/13. Serv/Reg# 687931
Pte. Robert Stephen MacKay, 172nd Bn. & 47th Bn., enlisted at Kamloops 1916/04/03. Serv/Reg# 688061
Pte. Wilfred McKinnon Maclean, 172nd Bn. & 47th Bn., enlisted at Vernon 1916/07/06. Serv/Reg# 688263
Pte. Gordon Alexander McArthur, 172nd Bn. & 47th Bn., enlisted at Kamloops 1916/02/10. Serv/Reg# 687610
2/Lt. Walter Josiah Pearse, MC, Z Bty. 5th Bde., Royal Horse Artillery, B.E.F. No Canadian service record; Canadian Virtual War Memorial page.
Pte. Ernest Pemberton, 54th Bn., enlisted at Vernon 1915/11/11. Serv/Reg# 443183
Cpl. J. Dallas Slavin, 11th C.M.R. & 47th Bn., enlisted at Vernon 1915/07/15. Serv/Reg# 116504
Pte. Percy Wiggett Spaulding, 11th C.M.R. & 29th Bn., enlisted at Vernon 1915/08/20. Serv/Reg# 116551
Lt. William Elmer Tait, 158th Bn. & 7th Bn. Serv/Reg# not assigned
Pte. Adrian Cracroft Thrupp, 11th C.M.R. & 29th Bn., enlisted at Vernon 1915/08/20. Serv/Reg# 116579
Lt. Desmond Odlum Vicars, DSO; 11th C.M.R., 172nd Bn., 72nd Bn., enlisted with 11th C.M.R 1915/03/08, and was appointed as Lt. to the 172nd Bn. 1916/02/02. Serv/Reg# 687308
Pte. Alfred Lewis Wain, 172nd Bn. & 2nd C.M.R., enlisted at Vernon 1915/11/06. Serv/Reg# 687786
[Editor’s notes:
*On date of birth: Winterbottom’s year of birth is recorded throughout his military records as 1896, but is more likely to be 1895 – this is the year recorded in the 1901 Census of Canada records and is supported by other family particulars such as his sister Helen’s birth in May of 1887.
Collection reviewed/updated October 2022: Four additional letters, thirteen photographs, and five personal items have been added, as well as a reference guide to other soldiers in the Winterbottom letters. Transcriptions have been reviewed and transcription errors corrected as needed. Some content descriptions and annotations have been added or expanded to provide more information, including the main Collection Description.]
Reginald John Paul was born on December 14, 1895, in Burin, Newfoundland. He enlisted on December 21, 1914, and served with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. Paul served both at Gallipoli and on the Somme and was killed on the first day of the Somme, July 1, 1916. The collection consists of two letters from the chaplain to his family, and one photograph. Paul's service file is available online through the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador (The Rooms).
Terence Sheard was born in Toronto, Ontario, in February 1898. Sheard enlisted at Cobourg, Ontario, with the Cobourg Heavy Battery and served overseas in France until his return to Canada and discharge in 1919. The collection consists of two letters and five photographs.
Robert Davis was born in London, England, in 1896 and enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in London in September 1915. Davis served in France and he was killed April 9, 1917, in the assault on Vimy Ridge. The collection consists of two letters and one photograph.
Henry Rumsey was born in Montreal in February 1897. He enlisted at Montreal in March 1916 and served overseas in France. The collection consists of one photograph of him in 1916 and one poem he wrote in France in 1917.
John ("Jack") Fenton Humphrey was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, in October 1922. He enlisted with the R.C.A.F. and trained as an aircraft mechanic in 1941 and was sent overseas to Britain. In 1943 Humphrey trained as a rear gunner and then was sent again overseas. He returned to Canada at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of more than thirty letters written by Humphrey during the war.
Walter Fick was born on the Isle of Man in April 1884. Sometime prior to the war he immigrated to Canada and worked in Toronto, Ontario, as a conductor on the Toronto Street Railway. Fick enlisted in Toronto on May 1, 1916. He served with the 21st Battalion (Eastern Ontario Regiment). Fick died in hospital in England in 1918. The collection consists of one letter to his wife Mona, several Red Cross letters, two telegrams, and three photographs.
John Gardner was born in Belfast, Ireland, in October 1890. He immigrated to Ottawa, Ontario, where he enlisted in November 1915 with the 77th Overseas Battalion. Gardner served overseas with D Coy., 47th Battalion, and was killed January 3, 1917. The collection consists of two postcards and a newspaper article regarding his death.
Arthur John Cook was born in Chelmsford, England, in 1892 and immigrated to Canada prior to the war. Cook enlisted in Edmonton, Alberta, in November 1914. He served overseas until the end of the war. The collection currently consists of his 1918 diary and one photograph.
Flying Officer Jack Morris Styles was born in Midland, Ontario, on June 7, 1924, to parents Reuel Clarence and Jessie (née Morris) Styles. Prior to the war he worked as a bank clerk with the Royal Bank in Arnprior, Ontario.
Styles joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1943, training as a navigator before heading overseas to England in April of 1944. He served with the R.C.A.F. 426 “Thunderbird” Squadron. He was killed on February 3, 1945, along with his crew when their Halifax bomber crashed while returning from a mission over Germany. Styles was buried in the Brookwood Military Cemetery, Brookwood, England.
External links:
Flying Officer Jack Morris Styles’ service record (Serv/Reg# J42042) is not available at this time.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Styles can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated August 2022. Letter transcription errors have been corrected and layout/formatting updated as needed. Additional biographical information has been added to the Collection Description.]
Herbert "Bert" Hill White was born July 30, 1880, in Grey County, Ontario. Sometime after his father's death in 1895 Bert moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where his brother and mother then resided. He returned to Canada in 1916 and enlisted in October 1916 as part of the Canadian Railway Battalion. White served overseas as a member of the Canadian Railway Battalion until his return to Canada in 1919. This collection consists of his diary from 1916 to 1919, and one photograph. He died in Ottawa in 1943.
Charles William Parker was born in Scarborough, England, in June 1896. He immigrated with his family to Vancouver Island in 1910. Parker enlisted in February 1915 and served overseas with the 14th Battalion until his death on September 7, 1916. The collection currently consists of one letter, two photographs, and two miscellaneous items.
South African (Boer) War Collection
David Morrison Stewart was born in Manitoba in 1881, the youngest of eight children. In 1900 Stewart joined The Lord Strathcona Horse in Winnipeg with whom he served in South Africa. Stewart returned to Manitoba and went to war again in 1915 with the 107th Battalion where he saw service in France. David Stewart Morrison died in 1929. The collection consists of his diary entries from April 1900 to October 1900.
Malcolm Ronald Healy enlisted in June, 1941 in Kentville, Nova Scotia. Healy served oveseas in Europe and was demobilized in November, 1945. The collection currently consists of nine photographs and miscellaneous personal items.
Robert Hainsworth was born in England, in June 1885. Prior to the war he immigrated to western Canada, where he enlisted in Red Deer, Alberta, in January 1915. The collection consists on one letter written by Hainsworth in 1916, and one photograph.
Click link here to go to the WWI collection of Steel, George and Terrence.
Andrew John "Jack" Napier was born in Scotland in 1884. He later immigrated to Canada and enlisted in Winnipeg on September 1, 1915. He was discharged in 1919. The collection consists of one letter, his discharge certificate, and several photographs.
Herbert D'Alton Bolster was born in Lancaster, Ontario, and later moved to Saskatchewan where he worked as a teacher and later as a railway mail clerk. He enlisted in September 1914, served overseas until he was discharged in 1918, and then returned to Moose Jaw in 1919. The collection consists of one letter and one photograph.
William John Parker was born in Birmingham, England, in August 1878. Prior to the war he immigrated to Canada where he worked as a plumber. Parker enlisted in July 1915 in Guelph, Ontario, and served overseas with the 34th Battalion. The collection currently consists of two letters written while at Bramshott.
Wayne Arnold enlisted in December 1942 in Calgary, Alberta. Arnold arrived in England in October 1943, participated in the D-Day landing in June 1944, and then returned to Canada at the end of the war. The collection consists of a memoir written by Arnold following his return to Canada. Arnold died in October 2004.
David Bracegirdle Jones was born in Wales in 1896 and immigrated to Canada prior to World War I. Jones enlisted with the 6th Bn. 1st Canadian Contingent in September 1914 and served overseas with it until he transferred to the Royal Flying Corp. He served as a Second Lieutenant with the 84th Sqdn. of the R.F.C. until his death in 1918. The collection consists of one letter and one photograph.
Alexander Matheson was born on Prince Edward Island in 1890 and later moved to British Columbia where he worked as a logger. He joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force in January 1918. Matheson served in France and was killed October 10, 1918. The collection consists of seven letters written by Matheson.
Herbert Percy Blake was born in Victoria, British Columbia, in January 1886. He enlisted at Vernon, British Columbia, on October 5, 1915, and served overseas in France. He was killed in action February 27, 1917. The collection consists of two letters written in 1917.
The materials in this collection belonged to Emily Hager, the youngest of a family of nine. Four of her brothers served overseas during WWI. The collection consists of a photograph of her brother Wesley Hager who enlisted in Saskatoon in January, 1916, and was killed in France in November, 1916, a Christmas Day 1917 menu for Canadian troops training in England, and two letters sent to her during the war. One letter is from her brother Allen who was born in February, 1892 and enlisted in November 1914. and the other is from a family friend, Harold Panabaker, who fought at Vimy Ridge and describes in his letter his experiences of the attack.
