James Stokesbury Thorpe was born in Iowa, U.S.A., in January 1889 and immigrated to Canada in the pre-war years. Thorpe enlisted in July 1915 at Vernon, British Columbia, and served as a Lieutenant in the Canadian Machine Gun Corps. Thorpe was killed on June 13, 1916, and is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium. The collection consists of one letter written from Flanders home to his mother and older sister.

John Jackson Beck was born in Sheffield, England, in June 1882. Prior to the war Beck worked as an architect in England, Toronto, and New York before serving with the 32nd Siege Battery. Beck was a prolific writer, writing several hundered letters betweeen 1915 and his demobilization in April 1919.

Private William Menzies McLeish was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on December 12, 1891. Having immigrated to Canada with his family prior to the outbreak of WWI, he enlisted at Valcartier, Québec, on September 25, 1914, with the 5th Regiment Royal Highlanders of Canada.

Shipping for England on board the SS Alaunia in October of 1914, he proceeded to France on April 1, 1915, as part of the 13th Battalion Canadian Infantry, 1st Division. He was captured on April 24, 1915, during the Second Battle of Ypres, and interned at the Münster (Rennbahn) Prisoner of War Camp in Westphalia, Germany.

McLeish remained at Rennbahn until repatriated following the Armistice in November of 1918. He returned to Canada and was demobilized on March 29, 1919.

The McLeish Collection includes rare materials from the Rennbahn P.O.W. Camp, including photos and programmes of prisoner theatrical performances of works such as Roll on Blighty, as well as miscellaneous items from both his time prior to and following imprisonment, such as postcards of England’s Salisbury Plain Flood in January of 1915.

Private George Buford Williams, who is listed among the performers of Roll on Blighty in the McLeish Collection, is also connected with the Private Ralph Clement Gale Collection. Like McLeish, Pte. Gale also spent time as a German P.O.W. in the Rennbahn Camp, and Pte. Williams was among the fellow prisoners whose correspondence with the Gale family was preserved.

External links:
Pte. William Menzies McLeish’s service record (Serv/Reg# 24446) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Pte. George Buford Williams, service record (Serv/Reg# 16487)

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[Editor’s note: Collection checked/updated February 18/2022. Some additional materials have been added and some changes to categorization of Collection Contents have been made; no materials have been removed.]

John Vernon Davey was born in April, 1918. Davey enlisted with the R.C.A.F. in July, 1940 and was sent overseas in 1941. While flying with the 112th R.A.F. Squadron he was reported missing over North Africa in May, 1942. The collection currently consists of more than forty letters, as well as telegrams, and one photograph.

External links:
Flight Sergeant John Vernon Davey’s service record (Serv/Reg# R74906) 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 Davey can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Charles John Bunbury was born in Burhampore, East Indies, in November 1871. At the time of his enlistment in July 1916 with the 143rd O.S. Batt. he was the Chief of Police in Kamloops, British Columbia. The collection currrently consists of an undated book of poems entitled "Disarmament and Other Poems" likely written during the war and published after his death.

Ira Layton Holmes was born on Prince Edward Island in July, 1893. Holmes enlisted in Regina, Saskatchewan in January, 1915 and served overseas. The collection currently consists of two letters, a short diary from 1916, photographs, and miscellaneous items.

Arthur Louis Sedgwick was born in November 1920, the son of Thomas and Jane Sedgwick of Toronto, Ontario. Sedgwick was a pilot with the 419 Squadron during the war. On the night of November 18, 1943 he was flying a Halifax on a return mission from Mannheim when the plane went into a dive. Sedgwick remained at the controls while the rest of the crew evacuated safely, but was unable to escape himself before the plane crashed. He was twenty three years of age at the time of his death. The collection currently consists of more than twenty letters, as well as photographs and miscellaneous documents.

External links:
Flight Sergeant Arthur Louis Sedgwick’s service record (Serv/Reg# R141113) 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 Sedgwick can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

John Walter Ellis was born in Reading, England, in February 1895. At some time unknown he immigrated to Canada and settled in Tillsonburg, Ontario. In May 1916 he enlisted at Tillsonburg. He served overseas in France, where he died May 13, 1917. The majority of the letters are addressed to his wife Katherine "Kitty" in Glasgow, Scotland, who, when her husband enlisted, returned to Scotland to live with her parents. The collection consists of more than thirty letters, several photographs, and a small number of postcards.

Duncan Wallace Livingstone was born in Asbestos, Quebec in May, 1895. Livingstone enlisted in March 1915, and served overseas as a Lance Corporal with the 5th Canadian Mounted Rifles. Livingstone was killed at Passchendaele on October 30, 1917. The collection consists of photograph of Livingstone and a letter of condolence concerning his death.

Daniel Austin Lane was born in Pelham Union, Ontario in December, 1894, and enlisted in April, 1916. At the time of his enlistment he was a student at the University of Toronto and while there had studied Arabic at Victoria College. Due to his Arabic studies he was recruited to join the South Persian Rifles by the British and arrived in the Persian Gulf in August, 1917.  Lane returned to Canada and practiced law in Calgary. He died in 1966. The collection consists of more than thirty letters written to his friend Helen Davis, as well as several photographs.

Joseph McCartney was born in Liverpool, England, in 1882 and immigrated to Canada sometime prior to the war. He enlisted in Calgary, Alberta, in May 1916. McCartney had worked for the Allin family near Whitby, Ontario, and continued to corresponded with their daughter Curtie during the war. He was killed in France on April 8, 1918, age 36 years, and is buried in the Thelus Military Cemetery at Vimy Ridge. Three of the letters were written by Joe to Curtie, and one letter was from Curtie to Joe. That letter of March 8, 1918, was returned to Curtie following Joe's death in France. One letter is from his brother in England to Canada requesting the return of Joseph's personal effects. This collection consists of five letters written between December 1917 to September 1918.

Allan Hamm was born in Bunbury, Prince Edward Island in July, 1897. He worked as a carpenter prior to his recruitment in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island in 1917. The collection consists of more than seventy letters, as well as photographs, postcards, telegrams, and other items.