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.
Howard Beverly Thorburn was born in 1898. He attended Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, during 1915 and 1916 before he left to take a commission with the Royal Field Artillery, with whom he served in France until the end of the war. The collection consists of seventy-eight letters from 1914 to 1918.
Gerald Vincent Montague was born in London, England, in August 1910. He immigrated to Canada in the 1920s. Montague enlisted in September 1939 and served with The Canadian Scottish, 7th Division, 3rd Battalion, C Company in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany before returning to Canada in 1946.
Gerald Dow enlisted on January 11, 1943 and served overseas with the Essex Scottish Regiment. Dow was taken prisoner at Caen, France on July 20, 1944 and remained a prisoner until his liberation by American troops in April 1945. The collection currently consists of eight letters, three telegrams and three postcards.
Flight Lieutenant Conrad Anthony ("Tony") Selfe, DFM, was born July 22, 1922, in Comox, British Columbia, to parents Richard and Irene Selfe.
He enlisted on July 29, 1941, in Vancouver, B.C., as an Aero Engine Mechanic with the Royal Canadian Air Force. Posted overseas in May 1943, Selfe was promoted to Flight Sergeant rank in October of that same year. He served with No. 425 (Alouette) Squadron before joining No. 426 (Thunderbird) Sqn. in May 1944. Released from service following the end of the war, Selfe rejoined the R.C.A.F. as a pilot in 1951 and was promoted to Flight Lieutenant on July 1, 1955, retiring from military service sometime thereafter (date unknown).
The memoir in the Selfe Collection, written in 1990, is an account of the D-Day mission he flew as pilot of a Halifax bomber with the 426 Sqn., and for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal (DFM). The award was published in The London Gazette on August 22, 1944, with the following commendation:
“One night in June, 1944, Flight Sergeant Selfe captained an aircraft detailed for an operational mission. Whilst over the target the aircraft sustained severe damage. Both the port engines were rendered useless and a large part of one of the wings was torn away. The aircraft became difficult to control but Flight Sergeant Selfe released his bombs. Some height had been lost but course was set for home. When within sight of the English coast, the aircraft suddenly dived to 400 feet. The situation was critical but, by skilful airmanship, Flight Sergeant Selfe regained some height. As the coast was crossed he ordered his crew to leave the crippled aircraft by parachute. This done, he headed the aircraft out to sea before abandoning it himself. This airman displayed great courage, tenacity and devotion to duty in the face of perilous circumstances, setting a most inspiring example.”
External links:
F/S Selfe (Serv/Reg# R110459) survived the war; his Service Record is not open to public access at this time.
The awarding of the Distinguished Flying Medal, published in The London Gazette on August 22, 1944 (# 36665, p. 3883).
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated October 2022. Some additional material was added (the newspaper clipping of 1945-03-10), and the collection description expanded.]
William Ivan Mouat left Salt Spring Island in British Columbia to join the RCAF and was sent overseas in 1941. In July 1943 Mouat was shot down over Belgium and remained a prisoner of war until he was liberated in May 1945. The collection consists of eighteen letters, seven telegrams, three photos and other documents related to his experience as a prisoner of war.
Charles Douglas Richardson was born in Grenfell, Saskatchewan, in December 1891 and graduated from the Manitoba Agricultural College in 1915. Richardson enlisted at Regina, Saskatchewan, in October 1915 and reached the front in the spring of 1916. While serving with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, he was severely wounded in the Ypres sector in June 1916, returning to the trenches in December. Richardson took part in the assault on Vimy Ridge and died on April 9th or 10th, 1917. The collection consists of more than sixty letters written by Richardson to his family.
George Edward Steele was born in Rutland, England, in October 1889. Steele immigrated to Canada prior to the war with his two brothers. He enlisted in September 1914 and served overseas until the end of the war. Terrence Steele was born in Rutland, England, in October 1894 and immigrated to Canada with his brothers prior to the war. He enlisted in November 1914 and served overseas with the 21st Battalion until the end of the war. The collection currently consists of three photographs.
Private Sidney Bainbridge was born in Carlisle, England, on April 13, 1893. Bainbridge was a theological student at the University of Alberta when he enlisted with the 5th Overseas University Co. in Montreal, Québec, on December 13, 1915. He proceeded overseas to England on the SS Olympic in April 1916, and then to France in June 1916 where he was attached to the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. While serving with the PPCLI Bainbridge was wounded, and a result of his wounds was invalided back to Canada on the hospital ship HS Letitia in June 1917 and then demobilized in July 1918.
External Links:
Pte. Sidney Bainbridge's service record (#487386) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
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 Wells Ross was born in Toronto, Ontario, in August 1890. At the time of his enlistment in September, 1914, he was a medical student at the University of Toronto. He served overseas during the war, and at the end of the war returned to Canada to practice medicine. The collection consists of several diary enteries and more than eighty letters, the majority of which are an extended dated journal entry that begins in 1914. See also the Gladys Hope Sewell Ross collection in WWI (his wife) and the Colin Sewell Ross collection in WWII (his son).
Malcolm Theodore Taylor was born in Herefordshire, England, in May 1897 (a note on his attestation papers says that his birth certificate shows his date of birth as 1899). Prior to the war Taylor immigrated to Canada and enlisted in May 1916 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with the 107th overseas Battalion. The collection currently consists of three photographs and one postcard.
John ("Jack") Arthur Cowles was born in Oxford, England, in March 1893. He was a member of the Balliol Boys Club, a club run by the students, graduates, and tutors of Balliol College in Oxford. It was under the Club's auspices that Jack came to Canada in 1913. Jack enlisted with the Canadian forces in Saskatchewan in 1914. Cowles served overseas with B Coy. 28th Battalion and he was killed June 6, 1916. The collection consists of several letters to his sister and to the Balliol Boys Club, three postcards, four photographs, and a letter of condolence from Sam Hughes.
David Robertson was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, in September 1890 and immigrated to Canada sometime prior to the war. Robertson enlisted in September 1914. He was severely wounded and taken prisoner in 1915, repatriated, and then discharged in 1916 as medically unfit for service. The collection currently consists of several letters, postcards, personal items, and the first issue of the Maple Leaf magazine.
Lt. Harvey Simion Burnard was from Theodore, Saskatchewan. Burnard enlisted in January, 1942 and served overseas with the South Saskatchewan Regiment, R.C.I.C until he was killed at age twenty-five on July 25, 1944 in France. The collection consists of more than fifty letters written by Burnard.
Herbert Laurier Irwin was born in Weston, Ontario in 1896. Irwin enlisted in Toronto, Ontario in October, 1915 with the 41st O.S. Battery and served overseas in France and Belgium. The collection consists of twelve letters, four postcards, and two photographs.
