Henry Ralph was born in Dover, England, in November 1885 and immigrated to Toronto, Ontario, sometime prior to the war. Ralph enlisted in September 1914 and served overseas with the 48th Highlanders. During the war he was taken prisoner and returned to Canada after the war. The collection consists of an extended letter written in 1918 describing his experiences as a prisoner, as well as one photograph.
Maurice Melville Maloney was born in Meaford, Ontario in February, 1918. Maloney served overseas with the 15th Canadian Ambulance Corps as well as the 4th Canadian Armoured Division Medical Corps. He returned to Canada at the end of the war and died in 1996. The collection currently consists of fourteen letters, poems, telegrams, clippings, and other miscellaneous items.
William Douglas Watson was born in 1924 and resided in Grand Valley, Ontario. He enlisted in the R.C.A.F. in 1943 and graduated as a Navigator in December, 1943. He was killed on July 23, 1944 along with all of his crew while practicing night flying in a Wellington bomber over Cardigan Bay in Wales. The collection consists of twenty seven letters written home to his parents in 1944.
External links:
Flying Officer William Douglas Watson’s service record (Serv/Reg# J39281) 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 Watson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Ed Gallagher was from Australia, born in 1916. He was a Wireless Airgunner who spent his war years (1941-1943) flying out of Mt. Batten (Plymouth, England) and Pembroke Dock (Wales) on Sunderlands. These two letters, part of a collection of 106 letters, describe his impressions of Canada as an Australian on his way to war in 1941 and in 1943 waiting to return to Australia. He was at the time writing to Molly Thomson, who he married in 1943 on his return to Australia.
Gerald Smedley Andrews was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in December 1903. He taught school from 1926 to 1930, and then joined the British Columbia Forest Service where he worked as a surveyor until World War Two. During the war he rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and he was responsible for charting the Normandy beaches in preparation for the D-Day landings. At the end of the war he returned to Canada, and served as the Surveyor General of the Province of British Columbia. Andrews was a Member of the Order of the British Empire, and was awarded the Order of British Columbia and was made a member of the Order of Canada. Andrews died in December 2005 at the age of 102. The collection currently conists of more than two hundred eighty letters, as well as telegrams and miscellaneous items.
Pte. George Leslie Adkins was born to mother Alice Mary Adkins on March 4, 1889, in Banbury, England. He enlisted with the 49th Battalion, C.E.F., in Edmonton, Alberta, on March 25, 1915, and sailed overseas with his battalion from Montreal on June 4, 1915, on board the SS Metagama. Adkins arrived in England on June 14, 1915, and then embarked for France on October 9, 1915, where he remained with the 49th Battalion until the end of the war. He returned to Canada, sailing from Liverpool, England, on March 8, 1919, and was discharged in Edmonton, Alberta, later in March.
External links:
Pte. George Leslie Adkins’s service record (Serv/Reg #433085) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
The letter of August 27, 1928, which described his brother Martin’s death, was written by Inar William Anderson, DCM, who had served with Martin and George in the 49th Battalion. Lieutenant Inar William Anderson's service record can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
The service record for George’s brother Pte. Martin Adkins, who was killed June 27, 1916, can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada. Burial information for Martin Adkins is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Walter Liddiard was born in Montreal, Quebec in May, 1894. He moved to Victoria, British Columbia and was enlisted in 1917. Liddiard served overseas as a Gunner with the No. 5 Coy, Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery. The collection currently consists of nearly forty letters, as well as several letters and postcards.
Charles Bovyer Hamm, MM, was born in Bunbury, Prince Edward Island in June, 1889. Hamm enlisted in April, 1915. He served overseas, where he was wounded in September, 1916. The collection consists of more than forty letters, as well as postcards and other items.
John Drysdale, the son of William and Flora Drysdale, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in May 1893. When he immigrated to Canada is uncertain. He enlisted at Sydney, Nova Scotia, in September 1915. Drysdale served in France and was killed October 7, 1918. The collection consists of annotated pages of Songs of a Sourdough, a book Drysdale carried with him in France.
Robert William Shirley was born in 1897 and enlisted in February 1916 at Swan Lake, Manitoba. He served overseas in France and was killed August 11, 1918. The collection consists of one letter from his commanding officer to his mother, and an undated obituary from the local newspaper.
Michael John Quinlan was born in July, 1915, the son of Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Quinlan of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Quinlan served with the RCAF as a Pilot Officer until his death in March, 1944. The collection currently consists of thirteen letters and three photographs.
External links:
Pilot Officer John Michael Quinlan’s service record (Serv/Reg# J85433) 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 Quinlan can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Frederick Ernest Carter was born in Essex, England, in 1871 and immigrated to Kamloops, British Columbia, sometime prior to the war. His wife died in 1912, leaving him with two small children. Carter enlisted in May 1915 at the age of 44. He served overseas in France where he was killed in action April 14, 1916, leaving behind two orphaned daughters in Canada. The collection consists of four letters.
Lieutenant Robert Grierson Combe, VC, was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1880. He immigrated to Moosomin, Saskatchewan, where he worked as a chemist. He enlisted at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, in April 1915 [note: there is a discrepancy between his attestation papers which date his enlistment as 1915 and other records which date his enlistment as 1916]. He was killed on May 3, 1917, and has no known grave. He was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery. The collection consists of one letter to his grammar school magazine and his citation for bravery.
Private Thomas James Aston was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.A., on February 10, 1889, to parents William and Jane Aston.
Aston enlisted with the 74th Battalion in Toronto, Ontario, on July 19, 1915, and proceeded overseas from Halifax, Nova Scotia aboard the SS Empress of Britain, arriving in Liverpool, England, on April 9, 1916. After being sent to France, Aston was transferred to the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles, with whom he served until he returned to Canada aboard the HMS Baltic in March 1919, and was demobilized later that month in Toronto, Ontario.
External Links:
Pte. Thomas James Aston's service record (#135963) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Joseph ("Jo") Forman served overseas with the Royal Canadian Air Force as a navigator. Forman and his crew were shot down over France on July 25, 1944, during a mission. Forman survived and returned to Canada at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of an extended memoir of his time with the R.C.A.F.
William Henderson, MM, was born in Wick, Caithness, Scotland, in 1892 and immigrated to Canada in early 1914. Henderson enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, in August 1915 with the 48th Highlanders and eventually served with the 24th Battalion Queen Victoria Rifles in France, with whom he was awarded a MM in August, 1918.
Private Norman Cecil Nayler was born in Marmora, Hastings County, Ontario, on October 26, 1898, to parents John W. and Annie Nayler. Prior to enlistment he worked as a lumberman.
Nayler enlisted with the 230th Forestry Battalion, Canadian Forestry Corps, on March 20, 1917, at Marmora, Ont. He shipped to England aboard the SS Olympic in June of 1917, departing the following month for France with No. 55 Company, C.F.C. He returned to Canada and was discharged April 3, 1919.
Content notes:
The letters were written by Norman Nayler to his brother Walter Nayler between October 1917 and January 1918.
External links:
Pte. Norman Nayler’s service record (Serv/Reg# 1013495) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed June 2023. The Collection Description, letter transcriptions, and content descriptions have been reproofed and revised as needed. Jpg file added of envelope for letter of October 28, 1917; one duplicate jpg file removed.]
Victor Arthur Green, DCM, was born in Kent, England, in January 1895. Green immigrated to Canada prior to the war and enlisted in Victoria, British Columbia, in November 1914 with the 88th Fusiliers. He was wounded three times, including at Vimy Ridge, and was awarded the DCM. The collection currently consists of sections of his pay book, telegrams, a newspaper clipping, several photographs, and an undated memoir of his service experiences.
Private John Allan Hunter was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1892 and later moved to Meteor, Saskatchewan. He enlisted at Prince Albert, Saskatchewan in March of 1916. He served in France in 1917 and died of wounds in November, 1917. The collection currently consists of six letters and one photograph.
Arthur Bryan Morlidge was from Lloydminster, Saskatchewan. He served with the 419 Squadron as a Flying Officer until he was shot down and killed in October, 1942. He is buried in the Netherlands. The collection currently consist of personal correspondence, official correspondence concerning his death, and some photographs.
External links:
Flying Officer Arthur Bryan Morlidge’s service record (Serv/Reg# J9762) 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 Morlidge can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
James Jackson Woods was born in Elimville, Ontario, in June 1890. Woods enlisted with the 161st Huron Battalion in Exeter, Ontario, on April 11, 1916, and served overseas until the end of the war. The collection consists of eight letters and one photograph of Woods.
John William Law, MM, was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1892 and enlisted in Toronto in November, 1914. He served overseas until his discharge in 1919, first with the 19th Battn. and then later transferred to the Royal Flying Corp in 1917. The collection consists of more than fifty letters written between 1915 and 1919.
Frederick John Milthorp was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1889 and immigrated to Canada in 1912. Milthorp enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in April 1915 and served overseas in France until his discharge in 1919. The collection consists of thirty-seven letters written during 1917 between he and his fiance Miss Emily Beastall, as well as one photograph.
Gordon J. Morrisette was born in the Eastern Townships of Quebec near Minton in 1895. He attended elementary school in North Hatley where he first met Marjorie Reed, whom he married after WWI, and who was the recipient of these letters. While attending McGill University he enlisted May 1, 1916, with the siege battery raised by the principal of McGill, Sir William Peterson, which eventually became the 7th Canadian Siege Battery overseas. At the end of the war he returned to Canada, completed his engineering degree at McGill, and married Marjorie in 1924. The collection consists of more than forty letters sent by Gordon to Marjorie from 1916 to 1919.
Arthur Calvin Smith was born in Dunnville, Ontario, in April 1897. Smith enlisted in February 1916 in Dunnville, Ontario, with the 114th Battalion, Brock's Rangers. While overseas he was transferred to the 19th Battalion. He was wounded in the Battle of Lens August 16, 1917, and died the same day. The collection currently consists of more than forty letters, photographs, postcards, and other miscellaneous items.
