Norman Sydney Richards was born in Bristol in 1897 and immigrated to Salmon Arm, British Columbia, in 1914. He returned to England to enlist and went to France in 1917, where he was severely wounded and remained in England recovering until 1919. In 1919 he married a woman who had worked as a V.A.D. in the hospital and together they returned to Salmon Arm in 1919. Richards died in 1986 at the age of 89. The collection consists of miscellaneous documents relating to his life and service.
William Lowry was born in Bannbridge, Ireland, in 1893 and immigrated to Prince George, British Columbia, sometime prior to World War I. He enlisted in January 1916, served in France and was wounded late in 1916. He was sent first to England and later back to British Columbia to recover. The collection consists of seventeen letters covering his convalescence both overseas and in Canada.
Walter MacKay Langdale Draycott was born in Leicester, England, in February 1883. Draycott was alread a veteran of the South African War when he enlisted in December 1914 with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. He served in France and Belgium during the war and after the war settled in British Columbia, Canada. Draycott died in 1985 at the age of 102. The collection currently consists of an undated typed memoir by Draycott, as well as one photograph.
South African (Boer) War Collection
Robert Robinson enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, in January 1900 at the age of twenty-five, and served with the Canadian Mounted Rifles during the South African War. The collection consists of three letters written back to Canada from April 1900 to September 1900.
Charles Roy Stratton was born in Brockville, Ontario, in September 1890 and then later moved to Montreal. Stratton enlisted with in Kingston, Ontario, in February 1916 with the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery. The collection currently consists of a portion of his diary, more than forty photographs, and some miscellaneous documents.
John Melody Dever was born in Montreal, Québec, in June 1897. He enlisted in August 1916 at Kingston, Ontario. Dever served overseas in France until the end of the war, when he returned to Canada. The collection consists of several postcards, photographs, his signalling certificate, and a copy of Arthur Currie's special order for the troops of March 27, 1918.
Roderick Anderson Todd was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1890 and immigrated to Canada prior to the war. He enlisted in Victoria, British Columbia, in February 1914. He served overseas in France and was wounded in 1917. The collection currently consists of fifteen letters written by Todd, most of them while in hospital.
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.
[Editor’s note: The materials in this collection are currently being reviewed/updated. Some materials may be incomplete or inaccessible during this update period.]
Private Keith Bruce Crosby was born in Carleton, Yarmouth Co., Nova Scotia on April 25, 1897, to parents Howard A. and Lillian S. Crosby.
Crosby enlisted in the 40th Battalion on August 6, 1915, at Aldershot, N.S. The following October he shipped for England on board the SS Saxonia, and in March 1916 was deployed to France where he served with the 24th Battalion. Crosby was killed April 11, 1916, in action at Reninghelst, Belgium, and is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ypres, Belgium.
Content notes:
All but one of the letters was written by Crosby while training in Canada and England, and addressed to his father or to “Celia” (full name/relationship unknown).
External links:
Pte. Keith Crosby’s service record (Serv/Reg# 415769) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
WWI Circumstances of Death Registers record card (page #727), Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Crosby can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
[Collection reviewed/updated September 2024.]
Ralph Gooding Ball was born in Hilldale, Alberta, in September 1900. Ball lied about his age and enlisted in Victoria, British Columbia, in September 1916. He was discharged on compassionate grounds in January 1918 at the request of his parents after the deaths of his two brothers, Herbert and Samuel. The collection currently consists of two letters, one photograph, and one clipping.
Willard Hogarth ("Bill") Hutchinson was born in Dorchester, New Brunswick April 16, 1897 and enlisted in Fredericton, New Brunswick in January, 1916. He served overseas in France and returned to the Maritimes in 1919. The collection currently consists of eleven letters written from 1916 to 1919.
Allan Matheson Conquergood was born in Kincardine, Ontario, in May 1872. He enlisted in July 1916 in Winnipeg with the 239th Battalion, the Railway Construction Corps, and served overseas. The collection currently consists of his diary from 1917.
Private Leslie Abram Neufeld was born near Lost River, Saskatchewan, on January 17, 1922. He was among the oldest of ten children in the Mennonite farming family of Henry and Anna Neufeld.
He enlisted in the Army on January 13, 1942, in Saskatoon, Sask., initially serving overseas with No. 10 Field Ambulance, Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps. As planning for D-Day intensified, Neufeld transferred to the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion in February of 1944 and trained as a paratrooper. Late in the evening of June 5, the plane carrying Neufeld’s “C” Company of the 1st Can. Para. Battalion took off from England, to parachute into Normandy, France, ahead of the main Allied landing forces of D-Day, June 6, 1944.
Neufeld was killed in action June 6, 1944; his body was never recovered. He is commemorated at the Bayeux Memorial in Bayeux, Normandy, France.
Content notes:
The first of the collection’s two letters was written by Neufeld to his family the day before his D-Day deployment. The second letter was to his brother Leonard H. Neufeld from the Saskatchewan government, informing him of the naming of “Neufeld Bay” in the Lac La Ronge district in honor of his brother Leslie.
The three poems, about war, duty and soldiering, were written by Neufeld in 1939, several years prior to his military service while he was still in high school.
External links:
Pte. Neufeld’s service record (Serv/Reg# L74243) 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 Neufeld can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated January 2023. One additional letter, three poems, and one telegram added. Transcriptions reviewed and errors corrected. Collection Description expanded (date of death of June 6, 1944, is the date designated by both the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and by Library and Archives Canada).]
Cuthbert King Matthews was born in London, England, in June 1892. He immigrated to Canada at age nineteen, where he began homesteading in Saskatchewan. Matthews enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in March 1916. He served overseas in Belgium and France until wounded in August 1918, and returned to Canada in 1919. The collection consists of eleven letters written by Matthews.
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.
Earl Bolton was born in Ingersoll, Ontario, in 1889 and then later moved to Detroit, Michigan, where he was employed as a grinder. He returned to Canada and enlisted in London, Ontario, in February 1918. Bolton saw service in France beginning in August 1918. He was wounded and died October 9, 1918. The collection currently consists of three letters.
Alexander Ewen was born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, in 1881 and immigrated to Canada prior to the war, where he lived in the London, Ontario, area. He enlisted in September 1914 and served overseas. The collection consists of eight letters and four photographs.
