John Nuttall Bland was born in Lancashire, England, in April 1880. Sometime before World War I, he immigrated to St. Catharines, Ontario, where he enlisted in May 1916. The collection consists of one photograph of Bland taken in 1916.
Private Harold Wilcox Scales was born in Virden, Manitoba, in February 1899. Prior to the war he moved to Salmon Arm, British Columbia, and enlisted in January 1917 in Victoria, British Columbia. Scales served with the 13th Canadian Field Ambulance and saw service in Europe in 1917 and 1918. This collection currently consists of a diary kept by Scales as a member of the 13th Canadian Field Ambulance from 1917 to 1919.
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.
Russell Shaw was born in Arthur Township, Ontario, in July 1894. He was a farmer before his enlistment in Arthur, Ontario, in March 1916. Shaw served with the 47th Battalion in France. The collection consists of one letter and one photograph of Shaw.
Lt.-Col Lewis Herbert Beer was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, in December 1873. Beer enlisted initially in October 1914 and then received his commission as Lt.-Col. in 1916. The collection consists of a portion of his diary from May to August 1917.
Montague Temple was born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1907, served overseas during World War Two, and died in Vancouver in 1989. The collection consists of one letter written overseas in 1944.
Frances Charman was born in Joggins, Nova Scotia. After graduating from Aberdeen hospital in 1926, she nursed briefly in Truro, Nova Scotia before joining the staff of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. She enlisted with the United States Nursing Corps in 1942. After service overseas during WWII with the rank of Captain she returned to work at the Massachusetts General. The collection consists of more than forty letters written between 1942 to 1945.
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.
North-West Resistance Collection
Walter Stewart was a part of the military force that participated in the Riel Rebellion of 1885. The collection consists of his diary from his enlistment to his return. This diary account was first published in the Weyburn Review, Weyburn Saskatchewan, beginning in April 1966. It was published by the Review with the kind permission of Bob Hamilton, a great-grandson of Stewart. This online version has been made possible with the assistance of Ernest Neufeld of the Weyburn Review. The original introduction to the Review is available here. A copy of this journal is also available at the Toronto Public Library.
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.
Amos William ("Will") Mayse was born in Lincolnshire, England, in March 1880. Mayse served in South Africa with the York and Lancaster Regiment Imperial Forces, where he was twice wounded and discharged with the rank of corporal. He later immigrated to Canada and was a Baptist clergyman in Manitoba before he enlisted in January 1916 in Emerson, Manitoba. Mayse served overseas in France and Belgium until the end of the war. Mayse later settled in Nanaimo, British Columbia, where he continued his work as a clergyman. The collection consists of more than two hundred letters, as well as other personal items.
Click link here to go to the WWI collection of Steel, George and Terrence.
Lieutenant James Stevenson Balfour was born in Regina, Saskatchewan on June 19, 1894 to parents James and Agnes Balfour.
While a student at the University of Saskatchewan, Balfour enlisted with the38th Battalion in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan on April 5, 1915 and sailed overseas aboard the SS Missanabie in May of 1915. Balfour served with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (P.P.C.L.I.) in France and was wounded in 1916. In 1917 Balfour was seconded for duty with the Royal Flying Corps and served as a Flying Officer Observer in France with the 53rd Sqdn. RFC. He was demobilized and returned to Canada in June 1918. The collection consists of thirty-seven letters, as well as photographs and one post card.
External links:
Lieutenant James Balfour’s service record (Serv/Reg# 411089) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
John ("Jack") Fenton Humphrey was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, in October 1922. He enlisted with the R.C.A.F. and trained as an aircraft mechanic in 1941 and was sent overseas to Britain. In 1943 Humphrey trained as a rear gunner and then was sent again overseas. He returned to Canada at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of more than thirty letters written by Humphrey during the war.
George Albert Charles Broome was born in London, England, in 1897 and immigrated to Melfort, Saskatchewan, sometime prior to the war. Broome enlisted in March 1915. He went to England in the fall of 1915 and then to France early in 1916, where he was wounded. He returned to active duty and was wounded at Vimy Ridge, April 9, 1917. Broome was paralyzed and invalided back to England, where he died in a military hospital November 7, 1917, at the age of 20. The collection consists of 27 letters both from and to George Broome, three photographs, and miscellaneous related materials such as telegrams, his personal effect certificate, and his C.E.F. death certificate. The materials cover the period from 1915 to 1921.
John Gardner was born in Belfast, Ireland, in October 1890. He immigrated to Ottawa, Ontario, where he enlisted in November 1915 with the 77th Overseas Battalion. Gardner served overseas with D Coy., 47th Battalion, and was killed January 3, 1917. The collection consists of two postcards and a newspaper article regarding his death.
Harold John ("Jack") Andrews was born in November 1919. Andrews enlisted with the R.C.A.F. in Vancouver, British Columbia, in September 1940. He served overseas as a wireless operator until his return to Canada in 1945. The collection currently consists of his paybook, miscellaneous items, and an extended memoir rewritten from a daily diary he kept from his enlistment to the end of the war.
George Cameron was born in Sarnia, Ontario, in 1893 and enlisted in the artillery there in May 1917. He served in the 7th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery in France and Belgium. The diary covers his experiences in England and at the front from January 1918 to March 1919.
Robert Gordon Brown was born in Beamsville, Ontario, in March 1896, and enlisted at Kingston, Ontario, in January 1916 while a student at Queen's University. He went overseas in 1916 as a gunner but later joined the Royal Flying Corp, with which he served until the end of the war. He returned to Canada in 1919 and finished his education, graduating from Queen's in 1920. The collection consists of more than one hundred letters covering the period from 1916 to 1919, as well as diaries and photographs from his service.
Charles William Parker was born in Scarborough, England, in June 1896. He immigrated with his family to Vancouver Island in 1910. Parker enlisted in February 1915 and served overseas with the 14th Battalion until his death on September 7, 1916. The collection currently consists of one letter, two photographs, and two miscellaneous items.
Robert Hale was born in England in 1893 and immigrated in his late teens to Canada, where he settled in Montreal. He enlisted in February 1915 and served overseas until his discharge in 1919, being wounded three times during his service. The collection consists of more than forty letters written in 1915 and 1917 to his sweetheart Alice, whom he was to marry in 1920.
Malcolm Ronald Healy enlisted in June, 1941 in Kentville, Nova Scotia. Healy served oveseas in Europe and was demobilized in November, 1945. The collection currently consists of nine photographs and miscellaneous personal items.
Edward ("Ted") Loney was born in October 1920 in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1943 Loney joined the Royal Canadian Artillery and served as an anti-aircraft gunner until he returned to Canada in 1946. The collection consists of more than one hundred letters.
Charles Henry Savage was born in Eastman, Québec, in September 1892. Savage enlisted at Sherbrooke, Québec, in February 1915 and served overseas with the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles until his discharge at the end of the war. The collection consists of an extended memoir written after the war and two photographs.
The collection contains three letters from Robina Evelyn Lee home to her parents in Glasgow detailing her journey from Britain to Vancouver. She was coming to Canada as a war bride after marrying Alfred Roberston Lee, a member of the Canadian Navy whom she met in Britain during the war. Also included are other items such as some individual photographs, wedding photographs, and a photograph of the ship on which she came to Canada.
