Hartley Samson Ivey was born in Campbellford, Ontario in June, 1894. He enlisted with the 73rd Battalion in Kingston, Ontario in February 1917 and served overseas until his return in 1919. Ivey was one of the correspondents to Reverend Arthur Mansell Irwin from Norwood, Ontario, whose collection is also contained in this project. The Ivey collection currently consists of one letter and one newspaper clipping.
William Edward Drader was born in London, Ontario in April 1884. Drader enlisted with the 66th Canadians in Edmonton, Alberta, in December 1915. He served in England before returning to Canada in April 1919. This collection currently consists of six letters and one photograph.
Andrew Byron Bennett was born in Spencerville, Ontario, in July 1890. Bennett enlisted with the 202nd Battalion in Edmonton, Alberta, in July 1916 and served overseas in France with the 31st Battalion. The collection currently consists of one letter written by Bennett.
Eugene Robert Drader was born in London, Ontario, in July 1891. Drader enlisted in Calgary, Alberta, with the 51st Battalion in June 1915. He served in France and was killed in action while with the 49th Battalion on September 16, 1916. This collection currently consists of over 20 letter and 4 photographs.
Joseph Earl Drader was born in London, Ontario, in March 1887. Drader enlisted in Edmonton, Alberta, with the 138th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force in March 1916. He served in France until his return to Canada at the end of the war. This collection currently consists of over ten letters and two photographs.
Calrence Wilbert ("Bert") Drader was born in London, Ontario, in February 1889. Drader enlisted with the 66th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Edmonton, Alberta, in March 1916. He served in France and earned before being invalided back to Canada in March 1919. This collection currently consists of over ten letters and a single portrait.
George Roderick Chisholm was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, on March 15, 1897. Chisholm enlisted with the 78th Battalion of the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force in April 1916. He served in France and was killed at Vimy Ridge April 9, 1917.This collection consists of a note written by Chisholm three days prior to the attack on Vimy Ridge and his Circumstances of Death record.
Ernest Corbett was born in Orangeville, Ontario, in February 1893 and later resided in Wellington, British Columbia. He enlisted in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in March 1916 and served overseas with the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles. Corbett was killed August 21, 1917. The collection currently consists of one letter and one photograph.
Donald Elwood Pinder was born in Guelph, Ontario, in 1924. During WWII he served in the Merchant Marine, as well as in the Canadian Navy. Pinder served on the Nipigon in convoys in the North Atlantic, and for a short time on the Haida. The collection currently consists of numerous photographs and documentation from his time in the navy.
Horace William Wilson was born in Newport, England, in February 1896 and immigrated to Waseca, Saskatchewan, prior to the war. Wilson enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in April 1916. The collection currently consists of photographs, as well as the diary he kept during the war.
Corporal John Henry Anderson, known as “Henry,” was born January 26, 1892, in Duluth, Minnesota, United States, to parents Augustus J. and Albertina Anderson. In 1898 the family moved from the United States to Canada.
Anderson was working as a brakeman on the Canadian Pacific Railway prior to his enlistment with the 54th Battalion in Vernon, British Columbia, on May 28, 1915. Anderson proceeded overseas to England with the 54th Battalion, and was sent to France on January 5, 1916, where he was attached to the 7th Battalion. He was killed in action during the battle for Vimy Ridge between April 8-10, 1917. He was buried at Arras Road Cemetery, Roclincourt, Pas de Calais, France.
Content notes:
Two of the collection’s letters were sent home by Anderson from France in early 1917. The other two are condolence letters to Anderson’s family written by fellow soldiers following his death at Vimy; one is from Corporal Hugh Gordon Baxter, the other author is unknown. Included in the photographs is a group picture of the officers and N.C.O.’s of the 7th Battalion, No. 4 Company, taken in France in January of 1917.
External links:
Cpl. John Henry Anderson’s service record (Serv/Reg# 442007) 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 Anderson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Cpl. Hugh Gordon Baxter’s service record (Serv/Reg# 116358) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated December 13, 2022. Letter transcription and image files have been reviewed and any errors found corrected. Photo descriptions have been added, and one duplicate photo removed. The Collection Description has been revised and expanded.]
Charles Frederick Ritchie, DSO, MC, was born in Trois Riviere, Québec, in October 1888. Ritchie enlisted in Montreal in October 1914 and served overseas until his return to Canada with the 24th Battalion, Victoria Rifles of Canada, in 1919. Ritchie returned to Canada with the rank of Lt. Col., as well as being awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Military Cross. The collection consists primarily of photographs, including photos of Canadian participation in a victory parade in London, England.
Alfred Frank Warn was born in Christchurch, Hampshire, England, in November 1889. Prior to the war Warn immigrated to Canada. He enlisted with the 75th Battalion in August 1915, at Niagara-on-the-Lake. The collection currently consists of one photograph of Warn.
Edward Bracey was born in London, England, in July 1883 and sometime before the war immigrated to Montreal, Québec. Bracey enlisted in Montreal in July 1915 and served overseas as a Lance Corporal with the 73rd Highlanders. Bracey was killed November 2, 1916. The collection consists of two postcards.
Eric Gauntlett Steele was born in Hamilton, Bermuda, in 1891 where he enlisted in August 1916. He served overseas and was killed in action July 7, 1917, at Vimy. The collection consists of a copy of the Bermuda Colonist & Daily News 1918 and various documents and letters concerning Steele's death.
Thomas Frederick Jackson was born in London, England in November, 1876. At the time of his enlistment in Vancouver, British Columbia in September, 1915 Jackson was living in Vancouver and was married. Jackson served overseas with the 47th Battalion and was killed April 13, 1917. The collection consists of one letter and one photograph, as well as a thank you letter from Buckingham Palace.
Karl Vincent Butler was born May 6, 1912, son of Horace and Violetta Butler of Sydney, Nova Scotia. Butler served as a Lance Corporal with the West Nova Scotia Regiment, R.C.I.C. and was part of the invasion of Italy in 1943. He was killed August 2, 1943 in Italy, age 31. The collection consists of more than seventy letters, some photographs, postcards, and other miscellaneous items.
External links:
L/Cpl. Butler’s service record (Serv/Reg# F54612) 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 Butler can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Albert John Simpkins was born in Walthamstow, London, England, in November 1878. He was a mineral water manufacturer. Prior to the war he had travelled and worked in Canada, living for some time in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Simpkins was back in England during the war, and enlisted at Seaford, Sussex, in May 1918. He served overseas with the 8th Battalion, and was killed in action on September 29, 1918, age 39. The collection currently consists of numerous letters, photographs, postcards, and digital images of his personal effects returned to the family after his death.
Geoffrey William Francis Turpin was born in Montreal in 1916. In 1939 he joined the Victoria Rifles of Canada and in 1940 transferred to the Royal Montreal Regiment. He was sent to France in July, 1944 and returned to Canada in January, 1945. He died in Toronto in 1996. The collection consists of more than forty letters and more than forty photographs representing his time in service.
Seymour McLeod Gerard was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, on March 31, 1911, the second of five children of Theodore Isaac and Euphemia Estella (née McLeod) Gerard.
He served overseas with the Canadian military in WWII. His demobilization date is unknown.
Content notes:
The earliest letter in the collection was written to Seymour’s younger sister Helen McLeod Gerard, from a Cpl. J Pennington, while Pennington was in hospital in Nijmegen, Netherlands. The other letter was from Seymour to his Aunt “Myrt” (Myrtle Jean McLeod).
Both of the personal items, including an RCAF Pass to the Eastern Air Command Headquarters in Halifax, N.S., belonged to Seymour’s older brother Ira Goodwin, who worked at that time as a plumber in Halifax.
External links:
Seymour McLeod Gerard (Serv/Reg# unknown) survived the war; his service record is not open to public access at this time.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated December/2022. Original collection name was “Gerard, Helen and Seymour.” Two photographs and two personal items have been added. Letter transcription been reviewed and any errors found corrected. The Collection Description has been revised and expanded.]
Sergeant George Walter Adams was born in East Finchley, England, on September 25, 1896, to parents Walter and Emily Adams. Prior to enlistment he lived with his widowed mother in Toronto, Ontario, where he worked as a clerk.
He enlisted with the #2 Canadian Army Service Corps Training Depot, in Toronto on October 27, 1916. Adams was transferred to the 257th Battalion the following January, shipping with them to England on board the SS Missanabie February 16‑27, and then on to France on March 29, 1917. (The 257th Battalion was redesignated as the 7th Battalion, Canadian Railway Troops, on March 8, 1917.) He remained with the 7th Bn. C.R.T. until his demobilization on March 21, 1919.
The Adams Collection contains letters written to George by his mother Emily Adams in the period following the cessation of hostilities with the Armistice of November of 1918, and prior to his return to Canada in March of 1919. Also included are transcriptions of the diaries he kept throughout the war years.
External links:
Sgt. George W. Adams’s service record (Serv/Reg# 513165) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated November 2022. The collection description has been expanded; the daily diary entries have been consolidated into a more user-friendly yearly format.]
Dr. Charles James McNeil Willoughby was born in Cookstown, Ontario, in 1894. Willoughby joined the British Royal Medical Corp in 1916 after graduating from the University of Toronto medical school. He was posted first to Mesopotamia, and then later served in England, France, and Belgium. After the war he returned to Canada where he practiced medicine in Kamloops, British Columbia. Willoughby died in 1995. The collection consists of nearly two hundred letters as well as photographs.
Andrew Ernest Tait was born in Durham, England, in February 1879. Prior to the war he immigrated to Canada and enlisted in May 1916 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Tait served overseas with the 72nd Battalion until his death in March 1918. The collection currently consists of eight letters, one photograph, and one miscellaneous item.
Arthur James Hay was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1895 and enlisted July 22, 1915. Hay served oveseas in France with the 38th Bn. In 1917 he was wounded by a gas attack, and returned to Canada in July, 1918 as a result of his injuries. Arthur James Hay died in 1963. The collection consists of a photograph of Hay and a copy of his pension identification certificate.
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.
