Roger Wilson was born in Kendall, Westmoreland, England, in April 1896. Wilson came to Alberta, Canada, in the spring of 1914 where he worked as a farmer. He enlisted in December 1915 in Calgary, Alberta, with the 89th Battalion and then later served overseas with the 31st Battalion. Wilson died on April 9, 1917, in the attack at Vimy Ridge. The collection currently consists of four letters written by Wilson and a newspaper notice of his death.
George Elliot Creswell was born in Saskatchewan in 1924. He enlisted in the RCAF on June 8, 1942, the day after his 18th birthday. Creswell went overseas in the fall of 1943 and served as a Flight Officer with the 432 Sqdn. He was shot down and killed on his 15th mission on February 21, 1945. The collection consists of 95 letters, photographs, and other printed items.
External links:
Flying Officer George Elliot Creswell’s service record (Serv/Reg# J35134) 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 Creswell can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Alfred Fern Nelson was born in Victoria, British Columbia in July, 1922 and served overseas with the Calgary Highlanders. Nelson was wounded in France in the summer of 1944 and then taken prisoner in the fall of 1944. He remained a prisoner of war in Germany until the end of the war. The collection consist of more than thirty letters.
Elmer David Bell was born in Drew, Wellington County, Ontario, in 1909. Elmer was practising law when he enlisted in the army in 1941. He served overseas until 1945 and was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Order of the Crown (Belgium) as a result of his service. He returned to Canada at the end of the war and died in 1998. The collection includes fifteen letters from Elmer. See also the correspondence from his brothers James Bond Bell and William Robert Bell.
Lieutenant Cullen Hay Perry was born in Whitby, Ontario to parents John Ham Perry and Louisa Hay Perry on August 15, 1893.
Perry enlisted at Valcartier, Quebec on September 22, 1914. Prior to that, Perry had served for one year with the militia in Cobourg, Ontario. He sailed to England in October 1914 aboard the SS Tunisian as part of the First Contingent and served with the 3rd Battalion, Queen’s Own Rifles, in France. In June 1915 Perry took a commission in the British Imperial Army and was attached to the Royal Fusiliers as a Second Lieutenant and from there transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. He was sent to Egypt in October of 1917 and was killed in an accident on February 3, 1918. Perry is buried in the Alexandria (Hadra) War Memorial Cemetery in Alexandria.
External links:
Lieutenant Cullen Hay Perry’s CEF service record (Serv/Reg# 10161) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information for Perry is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Perry can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Perry’s Royal Flying Corps record can be downloaded from the National Archives in Britain. A free registration is required to access the materials.
Collection note:
The collection consists of seven letters written home to his mother in Whitby, Ontario, as well as one photograph. The original letters can be found in the Whitby Archives, Whitby, Ontario.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated January, 2026. Scans of the original letter photocopies have been added. Additional information added to content description and additional external links added.]
Garfield Willard Weston was born in Toronto, Ontario, in February 1898. Weston enlisted in February 1917 in Toronto with the Divisional Signallers, Engineering Company. Weston served overseas during the war, and following the war he was a successful businessman, philanthropist, and served as an MP in the British Parliament during WWII. For further information on Weston, see the Weston Family Foundation website. The collection currently consists of one letter and three photographs.
Laura Margaret Morton was born in Kingston, Ontario, in March 1891. She trained as a nurse in Ontario and in 1917 she enlisted with the CAMC. Morton served overseas in France and Britain during the war. The collection consists of her photograph album from her time at the Winwick Hospital in Britain, which during the war was known as the Lord Derby War Hospital. We have scans of the complete album pages as they appeared, as well as the individual photographs on those pages.
James A. Jones was born in Lancashire, England, in 1881 and later immigrated to Alberta, Canada. Jones enlisted at Medicine Hat, Alberta, in May 1916 and served overseas in France until his death in June 1917. The collection currently consists of his diary from January 1917 until his last entry in June 1917.
Flight Sergeant Edward "Ted" Gordon Coke Richards was born on October 10, 1916 and served as a gunner with the 49th Squadron. He was killed on a raid over Germany, March 15, 1945, leaving behind a wife and infant daughter in Canada. The collection consists of five letters, two photographs, and seventeen poems he wrote while stationed overseas.
External links:
Flight Sergeant Edward Gordon Coke Richards’ service record (Serv/Reg# R252612) 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 Richards can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
The collection consists of letters of Ernest Mosley Taylor and Wilfrid Entwisle "Bill" Bury from Vermilion, Alberta. They were related by marriage, as Ernest's brother Raymond had married Wilfrid's sister Elisabeth in 1914.
Ernest Mosley Taylor was born in England in May 1885, the youngest of a family of eleven. He immigrated with his brother Raymond to the Vermilion, Alberta, area in 1905, where they took up farming. Ernest enlisted at Vermilion in January 1915, and served with the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles (Saskatchewan Regiment). He was killed May 7, 1916, and is buried in the Menin Road South Military Cemetery in Belgium.
Wilfrid Entwisle Bury was born in England in 1881, the fifth child of seven of Edward and Augusta Bury. Wilfrid moved to the Vermilion area in 1909 where he took up farming. He enlisted in Vermilion in January, 1915, and served in the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles (Saskatchewan Regiment). He was killed November 5, 1917, and is buried in the Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium.
The collection consists of 20 letters from the two soldiers.
Harold Gregg Keating, MM, was born in Kemptville, Ontario in February, 1892. Keating enlisted with the 72nd in Vernon, British Columbia in June 1915, and served overseas with the 1st Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade. He was awarded the MM. The collection currently consists of numerous photographs and postcards, as well as some miscellaneous items.
Donald Calderwood Reid was born in Middle Musquodobit, Nova Scotia, in January 1895. Reid enlisted in May 1916 and served overseas with the 85th Overseas Battalion, the Nova Scotia Highlanders. He was killed September 25, 1918.
Gordon Joshua Dennison (referred to as Billy or Billy) was born in Assiniboia, Saskatchewan in July, 1922. He enlisted with the RCAF in January, 1941 and served first as an Air Engine Mechanic. Dennison later switched to Gunnery School. He went overseas in January, 1944 and served as a tail gunner with the 199th Sqaudron. Dennison was shot down September 16, 1944. The collection currently consists of more than one hundred letters.
External links:
Pilot Officer Gordon Joshua Dennison’s service record (Serv/Reg# J95170) 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 Dennison can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
William Henry Walker was born in Clinton, Ontario, in 1897. He worked as a drug clerk until his enlistment at Clinton on January 20, 1915. Walker served overseas and was killed December 19, 1916, at the age of nineteen. The collection consists of one photograph of Walker.
Peter Newman was born in Leyton, England, in 1895 and immigrated to Toronto, Canada, in 1913. He enlisted in September 1914 and served overseas in France and Belgium. Lance Corporal Newman was killed on June 6, 1916. As he has no known grave his name is listed on the Menin Gate, a memorial listing more than 58,000 individuals who died on the Ypres Salient and whose bodies were never found. The collection consists of five letters home from Newman, seveal letters of condolence following his death, photographs, postcards, a songbook, and other miscellaneous items.
Joseph Richard Boucher was born in Kent County, New Brunswick, in December 1885. Boucher enlisted in March 1915 in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He served overseas and was wounded twice before returning to Canada in 1919. The collection currently consists of a family record and a diary of his service.
Spanish-American War Collection
William Haslam Dickson was born in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1873 to Canadian parents. When the Spanish-American war broke out in 1898 he volunteered with the 14th Minnesota Volunteers. The Dickson family moved back to Canada sometime after 1900. William died in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1922. The collection consists of eighteen letters written during 1898.
Arthur Westwood was born in Toronto, Ontario, in November 1896. Westwood enlisted with the 75th Bn. CEF in Toronto, Ontario, in August 1915. The collection currently consists of one letter, his discharge papers, and a Christmas Day 1917 menu.
Hugh Buie was born in Colonsay, Scotland, in August 1898. In 1913 he immigrated with his family to Montreal, Québec. Buie enlisted in Kingston, Ontario, in March 1916. He served overseas with the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles, and was killed at Passchendaele on October 26, 1917. Buie has no known grave. The collection consists of four photographs and his newspaper obituary.
Robert Wallace Lane was born in Belmore, Ontario in September, 1887. He later moved to New Westminster, British Columbia where he worked as a barrister. Lane enlisted in Kingston, Ontario in January, 1916 and served overseas with the 50th Battery, 13th Artillery Brigade. Three of his brothers also served - James Eldon Lane, William Stanley Lane, and Walter Ross Lane. The collection currently consists of two letters, a newspaper article, and more than thirty photographs.
John Alexander McArthur was born in Poplar Hill, Ontario, in 1893 and enlisted in the 134th Battalion at London, Ontario, in January 1916. He was wounded in 1918 and spent time in a convalescent hospital in England until he returned to Canada. The collection consists of more than forty letters written by McArthur from 1916 to 1918.
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.
Louis Wilfred Mullen was born in Cove Head, Prince Edward Island, in April 1896. Mullen previously was a member of the militia before he enlisted in February 1916 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with the No. 11 Overseas Field Artillery Brigade Ammunition Column. He served overseas with the 43rd Battery until his return to Canada at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of his photograph album containing over one hundred photographs, a letter, postcards, and other miscellaneous personal items.
Einar Stefansson Long was born in Iceland in December 1891. He immigrated to Canada prior to the war and was a student in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Long enlisted in February, 1916, in Winnipeg. He served overseas with the 8th Battalion and was killed on August 9, 1918. The collection consists of one photograph of Long and his friend Gudmunder Gudmundson.
