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.
Donald Calderwood Reid was born in Middle Musquodobit, Nova Scotia, in January 1895. Reid enlisted in May 1916 and served overseas with the 85th Overseas Battalion, the Nova Scotia Highlanders. He was killed September 25, 1918.
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.
Herbert Cunliffe was born in Lancashire, England, in 1885, and his brother William was born in 1891, and both immigrated to Canada sometime prior to the war. Both brothers, Herbert and William, enlisted at Niagara, Ontario, in September 1915. Herbert was killed October 18, 1916, leaving behind a wife and infant daughter. The collection consists of more than twenty letters from Herbert to his wife, a few letters from William, and two photographs.
Joseph Richard Boucher was born in Kent County, New Brunswick, in December 1885. Boucher enlisted in March 1915 in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He served overseas and was wounded twice before returning to Canada in 1919. The collection currently consists of a family record and a diary of his service.
Raymond Harlan Brewster was born in Boston in 1893 and later moved to Victoria, British Columbia. At the time of his enlistment in May 1917 his father, Harlan Brewster, was the Premier of the province. Brewster served overseas and was killed November 1, 1918. The collection consist of three letters and four photographs.
Arthur Westwood was born in Toronto, Ontario, in November 1896. Westwood enlisted with the 75th Bn. CEF in Toronto, Ontario, in August 1915. The collection currently consists of one letter, his discharge papers, and a Christmas Day 1917 menu.
Pilot Officer James “Jim” Roy d’Arcy Baker was born in Killarney, Manitoba, on May 22, 1921, to parents Hugh and Marjorie Baker.
Following his enlistment in 1939, Baker served overseas with the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry until joining the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1943. He served in the R.C.A.F. for the remainder of the war.
Content notes:
The majority of the nearly 250 letters in the Baker Collection were written to his mother Marjorie; included with his correspondence were eleven poems he wrote during the war.
Please note: All transcriptions have been provided by the collection donor without original documents.
External links:
P/O Baker (Serv/Reg#s J95017; K85260; R225139) survived the war; his service record is not open to public access at this time.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed/updated January of 2023. Several Collection Contents categorizations have been changed (e.g. from “Printed Matter” to “Newspaper Article”); two new letters added; one duplicate & one blank posting corrected. Poems are now identified by their respective letter dates, and poem formatting updated. The Collection Description and some content descriptions have been added or expanded to provide more information, including the addition of Baker’s previously unknown middle names.]
Daniel Serrick was born in Jollimore, Nova Scotia in September, 1920. In 1938 Serrick went to England and joined the Manchester Regiment, serving with 'B' Company until his evacuation from Dunkirk in June, 1940. He then transferred to the British Commandos and then to the 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion in July, 1942. From there Serrick volunteered for the joint American and Canadian The First Special Service Force and was killed in the Italian campaign on May 29, 1944. Daniel Serrick is buried in the Beach Head War Cemetery, Anzio, Italy. The collection consists of one letter to his sister as well as several photographs.
External links:
Staff Sergeant Daniel Serrick’s service record (Serv/Reg# U1805) 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 Serrick can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Herbert Percy Blake was born in Victoria, British Columbia, in January 1886. He enlisted at Vernon, British Columbia, on October 5, 1915, and served overseas in France. He was killed in action February 27, 1917. The collection consists of two letters written in 1917.
Joseph Roy Ferguson was born in Innisfil, Ontario, in July 1884. Ferguson enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, in October 1915 with the 4th Overseas University Battalion. The collection consists of one extended letter written on the SS Lapland during his voyage to England, and two photographs.
The materials in this collection belonged to Emily Hager, the youngest of a family of nine. Four of her brothers served overseas during WWI. The collection consists of a photograph of her brother Wesley Hager who enlisted in Saskatoon in January, 1916, and was killed in France in November, 1916, a Christmas Day 1917 menu for Canadian troops training in England, and two letters sent to her during the war. One letter is from her brother Allen who was born in February, 1892 and enlisted in November 1914. and the other is from a family friend, Harold Panabaker, who fought at Vimy Ridge and describes in his letter his experiences of the attack.
Einar Stefansson Long was born in Iceland in December 1891. He immigrated to Canada prior to the war and was a student in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Long enlisted in February, 1916, in Winnipeg. He served overseas with the 8th Battalion and was killed on August 9, 1918. The collection consists of one photograph of Long and his friend Gudmunder Gudmundson.
James Arthur Lindsay, MM, was born in Lochwinnoch, Ontario in March, 1893. He enlisted at Ottawa in July, 1915 and served overseas with the 23rd Battery, C.F.A. Lindsay was awarded the Military Medal in October 1918, during the fighting at Cambrai. He was discharged in May 1919, and returned to Canada. The collection consists of three letters, a Christmas 1918 program and menu, a letter of appreciation from the Lochwinnoch Branch of the U.F.O., and one photograph.
Charles Gordon Shaw was born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1895. He later moved to Peterborough, Ontario, where he enlisted with the 247th Bn. C.E.F. in October 1916, and served overseas with the 3rd Canadian Reserve Battalion. The collection consists of two letters.
Fred Nickle studied medicine at The University of Toronto and joined the British Navy to serve as a Surgeon Probationer. He served in England and at the end of the war returned to Madoc, Ontario where he practised medicine. The collection consists of eight letters written between 1918 and 1919 to his cousin Helen Davis. Other correspondents to Davis include the Daniel Austin Lane collection, the Gordon Shrum collection, and the William Grassie collection.
Archibald "Archie" MacKinnon was born in July, 1894. He first enlisted with the 74th Battalion and later served overseas with the 58th Battalion. MacKinnon was seriously wounded in September 1916, and discharged as medically unfit in June 1917. The collection currently consists of twenty letters. See also the collections of his uncle William MacKinnon and his brother Ronald MacKinnon.
This collection consists of three letters written to Canada from a member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in France, between October 8, 1918 to December 15, 1918. The three letters in the Millbrook and Cavan Historical Society archives contain no definitive information about who Ralph was nor his relationship to the recipient of the letters, a Mrs. A. S. Kennedy of Winnipeg. Used with permission of the Millbrook and Cavan Historical Society.
Samuel Greenway, from Cedar (Nanaimo) British Colulmbia was born in May, 1889 and enlisted in Vancouver in January, 1918. He served overseas with the 7th Battalion, Canadian Infantry (British Columbia Regiment) until his death in September, 1918. The collection currently consists of fourteen letters, several photographs, telegram, and some official correspondence.
Thomas Ernest Eardley was born in Shropshire, England, in January 1890. Eardley moved to Alberta prior to the war, and enlisted in Medicine Hat, Alberta, in December 1914. He served overseas with the Canadian Mounted Rifles until he was taken prisoner in June 1916. Eardley remained a prisoner of war until his release in 1918. The collection consists of more than eighty letters from 1914 to 1918.
Wilfred Henry Stoll was born in July 1898 in Nottawa, Ontario, and enlisted at Collingwood, Ontario, in March 1916. He served overseas in France until he was discharged in 1918 for medical reasons. The collection consists of one photograph and one postcard.
Clifford Shaver was born in Mountain, Ontario, in 1896, one of ten children of William and Jessie Shaver. He enlisted on February 1, 1916, went to England in October of 1916, and then to France in May 1917. He was killed by a shell October 30, 1917, at the age of 21. His body was never recovered and he is commemorated at the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium. The collection consists of six letters that he wrote home, three letters of condolence written to his parents and published in the newspaper, as well as several photographs.
Levi Dendoff was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, in October 1898. Dendoff enlisted in Nanaimo with the 102nd Battalion in February 1916 and served overseas until his return to Nanaimo at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of more than a dozen postcards, some photographs, and images of a trench art souvenier.
