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.
Albert Edward Roscoe was born in Belfast, Ireland, in December 1890 and then came to Canada as a Barnardo boy and lived with the Bateman family near Stirling, Ontario. Prior to the war he moved to the west and took up farming. Roscoe enlisted September 24, 1914, and served with the 5th Bn., Canadian Infantry (Saskatchewan Regiment). He was killed May 24, 1915, and his name is one of the over 11,000 names found on the Vimy Memorial of Canadian soldiers whose graves are not known. The collection consists of two letters and one photograph.
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.
Wesley Garrod, MM, was born in Ispswich, England, in November 1891, and sometime prior to the war he immigrated to Brownlee, Saskatchewan. Garrod enlisted in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in January 1916. He served overseas as a corporal with the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles Battalion and was awarded the Military Medal for bravery. Garrod was killed in September 1918. The collection consists of one letter from Garrod to his brother.
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.
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.
William Steel served with the R.C.A.F. during WWII. This collection consists of more than 20 letters between himself and family members, miscellaneous documents, as well as some photographs. Some of the letters describe his life in Ceylon where he was stationed towards the end of the war.
Owen Walsh was born in Québec, February 18, 1888. We know very little about him. Prior to his enlistment he listed his residence as Montreal, his occupation as boilermaker, and he had served three years with the 8th Royal Rifles of Québec and three years with the Queen's Own Hussars. Walsh enlisted in Montreal September 1, 1915. He saw action in France and was killed in action April 20, 1916. The collection consists of one letter of condolence to his wife.
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.
George Morton Bird was from Port Alberni, British Columbia. He enlisted in 1915 and went overseas in the spring of 1916 with the 62nd Battalion. Bird was killed in France on May 6, 1917 at the age of 26. The collection consists of more than fifty letters written by Bird.
This collection consists of more than 30 letters, as well as news items and editorials, originally published in the Dutton Advance newspaper in Ontario. These are letters home from soldiers overseas to family and community, spanning the years 1900 to 1944, which offer a unique glimpse of the ties between the soldiers and their homes. The dates indicated for the letters are those on which the letters were published in the newspaper, not the date of writing. Original headings and commnents at the time of publication have been retained.
John Alexander McDougall was born in Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1892 and later moved to Calgary, Alberta. He enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in December 1915, and served overseas in France. The collection consists of more than twenty letters and several photographs covering the period 1915 to 1918.
Charles Wilcox was born in July 1889 at Stanstead, Québec. Wilcox enlisted in October 1914 and served with the 4th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He served overseas in France and was wounded twice, the second time at Passchendaele late in 1917. Wilcox returned to Canada in 1919. The collection consists of nine letters that he wrote home while overseas. These letters are reproduced here with the kind permission of the Georgeville Historical Society and were originally published in the Georgeville Enterprise (Winter 1996).
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.
William Lester Broome was born in Renfrew County, Ontario, in June 1897. He was farmer in Saskatchewan before he enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in April 1917. The collection consists of ten letters, some postcards, and one photograph of Broome.
South African (Boer) War Collection
Noble John Jones was born in Owen Sound, Ontario, and enlisted for service in South Africa in October 1899 at the age of 27. Jones served in South Africa until he was discharged in November 1900 having completed his year of service. The collection consists of more than forty letters from Jones to his family members back in Canada.
Richard Aubrey Bright was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, in January 1910. He attended the University of British Columbia, graduating with a degree in civil engineering, and during the war served in England with the Royal Canadian Engineers. The collection consists of more than twenty five letters covering the period from 1940 to 1946 written to his sister Muriel ("Moo") and her husband Charles Dustin ("Dusty").
Born in 1889 in Ontario, Wilbert Gilroy studied dentistry and in 1911 moved to Winnipeg to take over a practice. He enlisted in Winnipeg in 1914 and was sent to France in 1915 with the Canadian Dental Corps. In 1917 Gilroy had himself attached to the Royal Flying Corps and flew with them during 1917 until wounded in October of that year. He returned to England and then subsequently to Canada where he continued to practice dentistry. The collection consists of 130 letters written from 1911 to 1917.
