Sydney Arthur Row was born in Whitewood, Saskatchewan, in June 1897. Row enlisted in Winnipeg in October 1914 and served overseas with the 27th Battalion. Row may possibly been only 17 at his time of enlistment, although his attestation papers state his age as 18. Both his brothers Francis Dibley Row and John Row Jr. served oveseas with him in the 27th. The collection currently consists of five letters.
Stanley Winfield was a member of the Allied Control Commission (Disarmament) assigned to Germany in the late spring of 1945. The collection consists of the notes for the training course for personnel assigned to the Commission, as well as a short memoir written in the summer of 1945 while in Germany detailing his experiences as part of the Commission.
Norwood Macleod was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1886. He enlisted in September 1914, with the Canadian Field Artillery, and then later transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. He was shot down and killed October 14, 1917. The collection consists of more than fifty letters transcribed by Norwood's father at the end of the war, although the originals have since been lost.
Nicolas MacNeill was born in Colonsay, Argyllshire, Scotland, in February 1892. He immigrated to Canada in 1913 where he worked as a bank clerk. MacNeill was a part of the First Canadian Contingent, enlisting in September 1914. He served overseas until his death in April 1915. The collection currently consists of two photographs and his obituary.
Lieutenant Hart Leech was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on March 9, 1889, to parents John Hillyard Leech and Ida L. Leech. In the months prior to his enlistment he was completing his final year as a law student, with the expectation of joining his father’s Winnipeg law firm of Leech, Leech, Sutton & Hamilton.
Leech enlisted in Winnipeg with the 61st Battalion on June 2, 1915. He shipped for England in May 1916 on board the SS Olympic, and in June was deployed to France to join the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles. Leech was killed in action on September 16, 1916, while serving at the front during the Battle of Mouquet Farm (part of the Battle of Somme). He is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial, Pas de Calais, France.
Content notes:
In addition to the two family letters written by Leech in 1916, there was a third that was written on the eve of going into battle at Mouquet Farm, but not received by his parents until 1928 as recounted in the newspaper article of that date. Further materials relating to the wartime service of Hart’s father Hillyard Leech, including statements collected by him from soldiers in the field with Hart at the time of his death, can be found in the John Hillyard Leech Collection.
External links:
Lieut. Hart Leech’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. [Note: As of June 2024, Leech’s date of death is given as September 15,1916, instead of September 16 as it appears in Leech’s service record, as well as in the WWI Circumstances of Death Registers (record# 46246, page# 441 – please note that page # must be entered manually).]
A memorial page honouring Leech can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial. [Note: The CVWM data is sourced from the CWGC, as given above, and therefore also appears as September 15,1916.]
[Collection reviewed/updated July/Aug. 2024.]
Click link here to go to the WWI collection of Arthur Westwood.
Percy Roy Shannon was born in Walkerton, Bruce County, Ontario, in December 1887. Shannon first enlisted in March 1915 as a stretcher-bearer in the 34th Battalion. At that time he was a medical student at the University of Toronto. He went overseas but was sent back to complete his medical training and graduated in 1917. Shannon received his commission and served with the No.12 Field Ambulance of the R.A.M.C. He was killed serving with the Field Ambulance on November 3, 1918. The collection consists of two letters and one photograph.
William John Howe left Valcartier with the 1st Contingent in September 1914, arriving in England in October. He was killed in action on 24 April 1915, during the Second Battle of Ypres, while serving with the 3rd Battalion. Private Howe’s body was never found; he is commemorated on the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium. The collection consists of four letters he wrote to his wife in Toronto, including one written just two days before his death.
James "Jim" Lloyd Evans was born in 1879 in Wales. He served with the British forces in the South African War and following the war he immigrated to Manitoba in 1903. Evans enlisted in Winnipeg in December 1914, and went overseas in 1915. He was killed in action September 1, 1918. The collection consists of 79 letters and numerous photographs.
Thomas James LeDuc was born in Cache Creek, British Columbia in February, 1882. In 1911 he joined the B.C. Horse, and then enlisted in December, 1914 in Victoria, British Columbia. Leduc served overseas with the 2nd C.M.R. and returned to Canada at the end of the war with the rank of Major. The collection currently consists of five letters.
Frank Clifford Cousins was born on October 24, 1893, in Belmont, Ontario. He began his university studies at the University of Toronto in 1911, and then moved west to the Regina area where he taught school and attended university. Cousins enlisted in Regina, Saskatchewan, in July 1917 and arrived in England in December of that year. In April 1918 he was sent to France where he took part in the Battle of Amiens in August. Later that month he was wounded and sent to England for surgery and to recuperate, and remained in England until the end of the war. Upon returning to Canada he resumed his teaching and his university studies, received his L.L.B. in 1924, and was called to the bar in 1926. He was a partner with the future Prime Minister John Diefenbaker in the firm of Diefenbaker, Cousins & Godfrey. Frank Cousins died in his sleep in June 1927. This collection consist of ninety letters and other miscellaneous materials.
Herbert Stanier Beckton was born in Cannington Manor, Saskatchewan, in June 1892. He later moved to British Columbia and served with the 88th Victoria Fusiliers. Beckton enlisted in February 1915, while overseas. The collection consists of an undated memoir, one letter, and five photographs.
Harold James Ross was born in Toronto, Ontario, in June 1898. Ross was a student when he enlisted in Toronto in July 1915. He served overseas with the 75th Battalion until his death on August 9, 1918. The collection consists of one letter to his brother and numerous photographs.
Theodore Kenneth Melligan was born in Durham, Ontario, in 1897 and enlisted with the 71st Battalion in Wiarton, Ontario, in October 1915. Melligan served in France with the 44th Battalion and was discharged in February 1918 due to the result of his injuries. The collection consists of one letter and several photographs.
John Leslie McNaughton was born in 1886 in Glengary County, Ontario. McNaughton was a graduate of McGill University when he enlisted in June 1915, and served overseas in France and Belgium. He was wounded and taken prisoner in May 1917, and remained a prisoner until the end of the war. The collection consists of fifteen letters from 1915 to 1919.
Sydney Rhodes was born in Mansfield, England, in May 1888. Prior to the war Rhodes immigrated to
Canada, where he enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, in November 1914. Rhodes served overseas with the 20th Battalion. The collection currently consists of postcards and photographs.
Winifred Chapman was born in 1900 and worked at the Tankerton Hospital, Kent, England during the First World War. She kept an autograph book from her time there, which includes inscriptions from four Canadians. There is an incription from Pte. Bruce Nelson Sandford, 27th Battalion from September 29, 1918; an inscription from G. West, 78th Battalion, from September 29, 1918; an undated incription from Pte. Ryan, 26th Battalion; and an undated inscription from Cpl. Thomas Wells.
Gordon Stuart Robinson was born in Fort William, Ontario, in August 1897. Robertson enlisted in April 1916 in Fort William with the 94th Overseas Battalion. The collection currently consists of eighteen letters, as well as several photographs and postcards.
Private Edwin Charles Askew was born in London, England, on October 12, 1885, to parents George Frederick Askew and Harriet Askew.
Askew enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with the 144th Battalion on December 28, 1915. He shipped to England aboard the SS Olympic, leaving Halifax, Nova Scotia, on September 18, 1916, arriving in Liverpool, England, on September 25. Due to illness Askew remained in England until 1918, and was then demobillized and returned to Canada in the spring of 1919.
External Links:
Pte. Edwin Charles Askew's service record (#830032) can be viewed/downloaded in pfd format through Library and Archives Canada.
William Cameron Hay was born in Toronto, Ontario in March, 1925 and joined the RCAF in 1943. He served overseas with the RCAF until the end of the war. The collection consists of more than forty letters from 1943 to 1945 between Bill Hay and his girlfriend and later wife, Hilda Cook.
Mm. Marie-Louise Depreaux was an American born woman who lived in Paris with her French husband, Albert Depreaux, during the German Occupation. The collection consists of an ongoing letter written to her two sisters to relate to them the details of her life during that time, written between August, 1940 and September, 1944. The spelling in the original has been retained as closely as possible in the transcription.
This collection includes letters from area soldiers published in The Speaker, as well as other articles from that paper pertaining to local soldiers and activities in the town. Overall the collection provides an excellent sense of the connection that a small town in Ontario had to World War One through the pages of its local paper. Whenever possible we have linked the names of individuals appearing in the paper with their attestation papers and/or their commemoration through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The Canadian Letters and Images Project is indebted to Dion Loach for graciously sharing his research.
South African (Boer) War Collection
William J. Macdonald, a medical student, enlisted in Toronto on December 29, 1899, with the 9th Toronto Field Battery. He was 24 years of age. Macdonald served overseas with "C" Field Battery, Royal Canadian Field Artillery until he was discharged in January 1901.
Joseph Mack Freeman was born in March, 1909 in Innisfail, Alberta. Freeman joined the army in 1941 and returned to Canada in August, 1945. He died in Didsbury, Alberta in October, 1953. The collection consists of his scrapbook of photographs, postcards, and clippings from his time in the army.
South African (Boer) War Collection
Alfred Chapman Tresham was born on March 25, 1866, in Leamington, Warwickshire. He was trained in military music at Kneller Hall, Twickenham, and served in two English regiments, the 91st Warwickshire and the 62nd Wiltshire. In 1885 he immigrated to Canada where he served as a bandsman in the Royal Grenadiers Active Militia, the Infantry School Corp at New Fort Barracks, Toronto, and the 2nd Battalion of the Queen's Own Rifles until 1889. In 1895 Tresham resumed his military career as band leader of the 7th Fusiliers in London, Ontario. Two years later he joined the Dufferin Rifles Active Militia (38th Regiment) in Brantford as band leader.Tresham was invited to join the 2nd Canadian Contingent, Special Services, R.C.R. in the South African War. He was deployed as the Sergeant Bugler in October 1899, and invalided due to rheumatism exactly a year later.
The eight letters in this collection originally appeared in the Brantford Courier. Five were written to commissioned officers of the Dufferin Rifles, and three to the Editor of the Brantford Courier. They span, rather unevenly, the period from November 1899 to June 1900. Upon his return to Canada, Tresham remained with the Dufferin Rifles Band & Orchestra until his resignation from military life in 1911. He died in Hamilton of natural causes on August 19, 1943, and was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Brantford.
