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WWI

These collections contains any material relating to Canada from 1914 to 1918 from either the home front or the battlefront. External links in collection descriptions are either to online attestation papers at Library and Archives Canada or casualty and burial information at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

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Private John Alfonso Fahey was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on December 21, 1896, to parents Joseph and Ella Fahey. Prior to his enlistment, Fahey served with the 100th Winnipeg Grenadiers and the 34th Fort Garry Horse.

He enlisted in Winnipeg with the 78th Battalion on July 4, 1915, and in September proceeded overseas from Montreal, Québec, to England, aboard the SS Corsican. Fahey was sent to France in March 1916, where he joined the 28th Battalion. Fahey was killed in action at Passchendaele, Belgium, on November 6, 1917, age twenty. Fahey’s body was never found. He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium.

Fahey’s older brother, Lieutenant Ernest Edward Fahey, also fought in World War I. He was killed September 27, 1918, while serving with the 78th Battalion.

Content notes:
The collection has only one item, a newspaper clipping reporting on Fahey’s death.

External links:
Pte. John Alfonso Fahey’s service record (Serv/Reg# 147451) can be viewed/downloaded through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
memorial page honouring Pte. Fahey can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Lieutenant Ernest Fahey’s service record (Serv/Reg# 20984) at Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Lt. Fahey can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed April 2023. Transcription updated and Collection Description expanded.]

Private George Samuel Fardoe was born in Brandon, Manitoba, on February 1, 1893, to parents William and Sarah Fardoe. The family later moved to Hayfield, Man., where George was working as a farmer prior to the outbreak of World War I. He enlisted in Winnipeg, Man., on December 26, 1915, with the 53rd Battalion of the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force.

Shipping for England on board the SS Empress of Britain in March 1916, he soon proceeded to France the following June where he served with the 28th Battalion. Towards the end of the war, in June 1918, he transferred to 2 Company, Canadian Forestry Corps. Fardoe returned to Canada in early May 1919 and was demobilized May 19, 1919.

While there are only two letters in the Fardoe Collection, much of his war-time correspondence was done via postcards. In recognition of this, correspondence-type postcard messages have been transcribed and added to the “Letters” section of “Collection Contents” below. The postcards themselves can also be viewed without the transcriptions in the “Postcard” section, along with over thirty other individual postcards and three souvenir postcard albums. Additionally there are three diaries Fardoe kept during his time in service for the years of 1916, 1917, and 1919, as well as several photos and other items.

A completely transcribed issue of the trench newspaper The Listening Post, edition No. 18 of July 21, 1916, published by the 7th Canadian Infantry Battalion, can be read in the “Newspaper Articles” section.

External links:
Pte. George Fardoe’s service record (Serv/Reg# 441804) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

James Henderson Fargey was born in Belmont, Manitoba, in December 1897. He enlisted in July 1915 in Winnipeg and served overseas with the 43rd Battalion. Fargey was killed in action October 15th, 1916. The collection currently consists of more than eighty letters, as well as photographs, postcards, telegrams, and other miscellaneous items.

Armament Sergeant Major George Herbert Farlie, MSM, was born in Catford, London, England on March 17, 1880. His father was John Leonard Farlie. Prior to his enlistment in the First World War, Farlie had worked as a machinist, in addition to serving in the Active Militia and with past service in the Canadian Corps.

Farlie joined the Canadian Ordnance Corps at Valcartier, Québec, in September of 1914, and shipped to England aboard the SS Ivernia in early October. Following his arrival in England, the Attestation Paper in Farlie’s service record documents his enlistment at Salisbury Plains on December 28, 1914. He initially  served in both England and France with the 2nd Canadian Field Artillery Brigade, then subsequently with No. 26 Canadian Travelling Ordnance Workshop Unit (redesignated the 81st Canadian Ordnance Workshop Unit (Light) in November of 1918).

On January 1, 1917, Farlie was awarded the British Meritorious Service Medal. Following the end of hostilities, he returned to Canada where he was demobilized on August 17, 1919.

Content notes:
Included are two diaries kept by Farlie, beginning prior to his enlistment through to August 1917, in which he recorded details relating to his armament work along with personal observations. A content sample has been provided with a transcription of the diary’s entries for the month of April 1917. Photographs include both pre and post war military groups or individuals (date range 1893 to 1923).

External links:
S.M. George Farlie’s service record (Serv/Reg# 41669) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
The awarding of the Meritorious Service Medal to Farlie was published The London Gazette of January 1, 1917 (#29886, p.55).

James Percy Faulkner was born in Mount Denson, Nova Scotia, in April 1886. Faulkner was recruited in 1918 and sent overseas to Bramshott for training. The collection consists of numerous photographs and postcards that Faulkner sent home to his family.

Oscar James Fearman was born in Middleport, Ontario, in January 1893. Fearman enlisted with the 125th Battalion in Brantford, Ontario, in December 1915. He served overseas with the 1st Battalion until his death on April 9, 1917 at Vimy Ridge. The collection currently consists of one letter and one postcard.

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

Joseph Roy Ferguson was born in Innisfil, Ontario, in July 1884. Ferguson enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, in October 1915 with the 4th Overseas University Battalion. The collection consists of one extended letter written on the SS Lapland during his voyage to England, and two photographs.

Arthur Lewis Fernyhough was born in Fenton, Stoke on Trent, England, in September 1890. Prior to the war he immigrated to Canada, where he worked as a butcher. Fernyhough enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in December 1915 with the 144th Battalion. The collection currently consists of photographs, postcards, his paybook, the Returned Soldiers' Handbook, the 144th Winnipeg Rifles Song Book, and other miscellaneous items.

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.

Corporal Harry Fielder was born in Plaistow, England, on July 1, 1892. He was working as an engineer in the Royal North-West Mounted Police force prior to his enlistment at Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, on January 1, 1916, into the 4th Division Cavalry.

Shipping for England on board the SS Olympic in May 1916, he was called-up to action in France to serve with the 46th Battalion later that August. He was demobilized following the end of the war, on July 29, 1919.

The collection consists of over 40 letters written by Harry to his sweetheart Agda Johnson, beginning while he was in service overseas in the fall of 1916 and continuing post-demobilization into September 1920.

External links:
Cpl. Fielder's service record (Reg/Ser# 115884) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Lance Corporal John "Jack" Lindsey Fisher was born in Wales in 1887, and immigrated to Canada in 1899, and by 1910 was living in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

Having previously served with the British Army Royal Artillery, Fisher returned to England and enlisted with the Royal Engineers on May 23, 1916. He was discharged following gas-related injuries in August 1917, and returned to Canada.

The letter in the Fisher Collection was published in the Ladysmith Chronicle, and was compiled along with those of other local WWI soldiers through the work of the Ladysmith & District Historical Society (links shown below).

The complete list of soldiers in the can be found in the Ladysmith and District Historical Society collection.

External links:
L/Cpl. Fisher (Serv/Reg# 649-F-11207) is listed in the Imperial Gratuities records at Library and Archives Canada, but information is limited to the record identification only.
The record of his Medal card with the Royal Engineers, (Reg# 158208), is held by the National Archives, Kew, U.K.; registration is required for access.
A collection of WWI soldiers' letters published in The Ladysmith Chronicle was undertaken by the Ladysmith & District Historical Society through their work with the Ladysmith Archives.

Reginald Walwin Fisher was born in Alliston, Ontario, in March 1895. Prior to the war he moved to Regina, Saskatchewan, where he went to school and then later worked in the city assessor's office. Fisher enlisted in February 1916 in Regina with the 195th Battalion and then later was transferred to the 52nd Battalion when overseas. He was killed October 26, 1917. The collection currently consists of a clipping announcing his death in a Regina newspaper.

Bombardier Walter Taylor Fitzpatrick was born in Ottawa, Ontario, on January 4, 1890.

Fitzpatrick enlisted in Ottawa in January 1916 with the 32nd Battery, Canadian Field Artillery. He sailed February 5, 1916, aboard the SS Metagama, arriving in England on February 14. Here the 32nd Batty. was assigned to the 9th Brigade, 3rd Divisional Artillery, C.F.A. They proceeded to France on July 13, 1916, where they were reassigned to the 8th Army Field Brigade.

At the end of the war Fitzpatrick returned to Canada aboard the SS Northland, arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia, April 5, 1919. He was demobilized three days later.

External link:
Bde. Walter Taylor Fitzpatrick's service record (Serv/Reg# 311885) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

Walter Earnest Peter Flett, DSC, was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1887. Flett played with the Toronto Argonauts in the 1907 season and was the league leading scorer with 29 points. During the war Flett served in the RNAS with the No.3 Naval Wing. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Cross de Guerre in 1917. The collection consists of more than twenty letters from 1916 through to 1917.

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.

Kenneth Walter Foster was born in London, England, in 1897 and immigrated to Canada sometime prior to World War I. He enlisted in Vernon, British Columbia, in July 1915 and served overseas until the end of the war. The collection consists of four photographs and one extended memoir written sometime after the war detailing his service. Foster died in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1947.

Captain Jordan Mott Fowler was born in Redbank, New Jersey, U.S.A. on April 16, 1884, to parents Jordan M. and May Pricilla (née Harvey) Fowler. He was a student at the University of Toronto, graduating as a medical doctor in 1908. After spending two years interning in Michigan and New York, Fowler moved to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, eventually going into practice in 1914 with Dr. R.L. Fraser in Victoria, B.C.

He received his commission as Captain in the Canadian Army Medical Corps (C.A.M.C.) on April 13, 1916. Arriving in England in September of 1916 he served as a Medical Officer with the 15th Brigade, Canadian Field Ambulance (C.F.A.). In early 1917 Fowler was posted to the 14th Brigade, C.F.A., and was sent over to France later that August. With the conclusion of the war Fowler returned to Canada and was demobilized on June 24, 1919.

The Fowler Collection contains the diary he kept from December of 1917 to December of 1918. Also included are the letter and certificate that he received in recognition of his being Mentioned in Dispatches by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, in Haig’s letter of March 16th, 1919, “for gallant and distinguished services in the Field.”

External links:
Capt. Fowler’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Fowler’s Mentioned in Dispatches was published in The London Gazette on July 8, 1919 (#31448, p.8824).

William Fradley was born in Bristol, England in July, 1891.  He enlisted in Toronto in July, 1915 with the 35th Battalion and sailed to England in October, 1915.  Fradley was transferred to the 23rd Reserve Battalion and then later to the 3rd Battalion, in which he was serving at the time of his death on September 23, 1916.  The collection currently consists of a photograph of Fradley and a copy of his will.

John William Fraser was born in Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec in April, 1896. Fraser enlisted in Montreal in September, 1915 and served overseas first with the 73rd Battalion and then later with the 85th Battalion. The collection consists of one letter written to his father from Fraser's commanding officer about his son as a soldier.

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Latest Readings from World War One collections

James Moore

Reads a 09/21/1916 Letter by Drader, Eugene Robert from World War One collections. View full Letter

RH Thomson

Reads a 07/06/1917 Letter by Mayse, Amos William from World War One collections. View full Letter

RH Thomson

Reads a 07/05/1917 Letter by Mayse, Amos William from World War One collections. View full Letter