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.
Frederick Edward Wilkinson was born in St. Albans, Hants, England, in March 1890. Prior to the war Wilkinson immigrated to Canada where he worked as a teacher in Regina, Saskatchewan. Wilkinson enlisted in March 1916 in Regina and served overseas with the Canadian Medical Corps. The collection currently consists of two letters written to one of his former pupils, Lois Purdy, and one Christmas card.
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).
George Ridgeway was born in Cheshire, England, in April 1887. He immigrated to Canada around 1912 and moved to Saskatchewan to farm. Ridgeway enlisted in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in January 1916 with the 128th Battalion, and served overseas in France and Belgium with the 49th Battalion. Wounded in 1917 he was invalided back to the military hospital in Moose Jaw, and discharged in 1919. After his discharge he returned to England. The collection currently consists of fifteen images.
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").
This collection contains over 30 letters from World War One published in The Nanaimo Daily News, a local newspaper published in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Newspapers across Canada regularly printed letters home from overseas, either letters written directly to the newspaper by the soldiers, or first written to the family and then contributed to the paper by the family. Collections such as those from The Nanaimo Daily Free Press provide a fascinating look at the relationship of community and war as played out in the pages of the local newspaper. The dates for which the letters are listed represent the dates on which they were published, as the original dates of the letters are not always indicated. Where the original date of writing is known it will be part of the letter text. Introductions to the letters and editorial comments as they appeared in the newspaper have been left as published. All transcriptions have been taken from copies on microfilm and as such there are no scans for this collection.
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.
Edward Robert Hill served with the 58th Battalion. He was killed at Passchendaele in October, 1917. His brother, William Lowrie Hill served with the 49th Battalion until his death at Mount Sorrel in June, 1916. The collection currently consists of one letter and two photographs.
William Hill Johnson was born in Montreal, Quebec in March, 1893. Johnson enlisted in Montreal in June, 1915 and served in France until he was wounded in the summer of 1917. The collection consists of seventeen letters, his diary, photographs, and some postcards.
Gordon Alexander DeGear was born in Battleford, Saskatchewan, in 1891. Prior to the war DeGear had served in the Saskatchewan Light Horse and enlisted for overseas service at Battleford in May 1915. He served in France and returned to Canada in 1919. When completed the collection will consist of more than one hundred letters from DeGear to his family.
Gordon Merritt Shrum was born in Smithville, Ontario, in 1894 and enlisted in April 1916 while a student at the University of Toronto. He served overseas and returned to Canada to teach in 1919. The collection consists of two letters written to Helen Nickle of Smithville. Other correspondents to Davis include the Bill Grassie Collection, the Daniel Austin Lane Collection, the Fred Nickle Collection, and the William Grassie Collection.
William Cunliffe was born in Burnley, Lancashire, England, in August 1891. Prior to the war he immigrated to Canada and enlisted in September 1915 at Niagara, Ontario, with the 109th Battalion. Cunliffe served overseas with the 84th and then with the 75th Battalion until his return to Canada in 1919. The collection currentlly consists of several letters, postcards, a photograph, and miscellaneous personal items.
David McLean was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1880. He immigrated to Canada sometime prior to the war and enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, on January 16, 1916. McLean served overseas in France with the 48th Highlanders and was killed April 20, 1917, leaving behind a wife and infant son. David McLean appears to have been a prolific letter writer for according to his 1916 Vest Pocket Reference Annual where he noted each letter, he sent over 150 letters and other forms of notes from August 31, 1916, alone. It is also noted that from November 17, 1916, onwards he received 55 letters and packages. The collection consists of more than fifty letters and one photograph.
Frederick Boyt was born in Poole, England, in December 1893. He enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, on July 26, 1915. His brother William was born in Poole, England, in February 1896. William enlisted on the same day as his brother. The collection currently consists of four photographs and one postcard.
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.]
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.
Lieutenant Neville Ayrton Astbury was born in Northop, Flintshire, North Wales, on April 6, 1889, to parents Edward and Jane Astbury.
Astbury enlisted with the 66th Battalion in Edmonton, Alberta, on June 12, 1915, and proceeded overseas aboard the SS Metagama in September 1915. He was transferred to the 49th Battalion, with whom he was serving when killed in action on September 16, 1916.
External Links:
Lieut. Neville Ayrton Astbury's service record can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information can be found through The Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
His Circumstances of Death record can be found through Library and Archives Canada.
A memorial page honouring Neville Aryton Astbur can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
The materials here were kindly provided by the Northop Parish Memorials Project.
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.
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.
