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Private Edward James Fright was born in Birchington-on-Sea, England on December 12th, 1896, to parents Edward James & Christiana Fright. Both died while Edward was quite young leaving himself and his younger brother Alfred orphaned at the ages of five and two. They were taken in at Dr. Barnardo's Home for Orphans in London, England.

Both Edward and Alfred were sent to Canada as "Home Children" in March of 1910, aboard the ship Dominion.  Both were eventually placed into domestic work with a family in South Dorchester, Elgin County, Ontario.

On January 1st, 1916, in Saint Thomas, Ontario, Edward enlisted with the 91st Overseas Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He arrived in England abord the troop ship S.S. Olympic on July 5th, 1916, and was sent to France in October of that same year.

Pte. Fright was killed in action in an attack at Bellevue Spur at Passchendaele, Belgium, on October 26th, 1917. He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium.  

External links:
Pte. Fright's service record (Reg/Ser# 189881) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.
Library and Archives Canada also has immigration information for Fright as part of their database on Home Children.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Pte. Fright can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

The Memorial Honour Roll Plaque to the Home Children of WWI, designed by Dawn Heuston, was sponsored by veteran Len Brown in memory of his mother Miriam Ann Morris who came to Canada as British Home Child. A high resolution jpg of the Plaque can be downloaded from the website of the British Home Child Advocacy and Research Association.

Private William Nelson Campbell, known as “Nelson,” was born in Clyde, Ontario, on December 28, 1894. He enlisted with the 1st Battalion Canadian Infantry in Valcartier, Québec, on September 19, 1914. Sent into action in France in February 1915, he remained with the 1st Bn. throughout most of the war.

Campbell was killed by snipper fire during an attack on the Canal-Du-Nord, near Haynecourt, on September 27, 1918. He is buried in the Ontario Cemetery at Sains-les-Marquion in France. 

Most of the letters in the Campbell collection were written by Nelson to his cousin Ester "Essie" Douglas. Nelson’s mother Mary Anne "Annie" Campbell (née Nelson) was the sister of Essie’s mother Ester Douglas (née Nelson). Orphaned at a young age, Nelson lived for much of his childhood with his widowed Aunt Ester and his six Douglas cousins, four girls and two boys, in Orchardville, Ontario. Essie was the youngest of the girls, and quite close in age to Nelson, being just one year his junior. The final letter in the collection was written to Essie by Corporal W.A. McArthur, a mutual friend of herself and Nelson.

External links:
Pte. Campbell's service record (Reg/Ser# 7224) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring him can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Private Percy Sprunt was born in Greenfell, Saskatchewan, on February 2, 1893, to parents Thomas and Charlotte Sprunt. Prior to enlistment he worked in Manitoba as a clerk at the Eaton's Department Store. On May 11, 1915, he enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with the 44th Battalion C.E.F. (having previously served with the Royal Winnipeg Riffles 90th Battalion). 

He shipped for England on October 23, 1915, on the troopship SS Lapland. He was deployed to France with the 8th Battalion Canadian Infantry, Manitoba Regiment. Pte. Sprunt was killed in action on June 14, 1916, and is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium.  

The collection consists of a single letter sent from Bramshott Camp, England, and two photos.

External links:
Pte. Sprunt 's service record (Reg/Ser# 622347) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring him can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Percy Sprunt is among those commemorated on the T. Eaton Company Memorial Plaques, which currently reside at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, Ontario, and at the Canada Life Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Private Thomas Hughes was born in Manchester, England on April 26th, 1892. Immigrating to Canada prior to the outbreak of World War I, he enlisted with the 2nd Division Cyclist Corps in Toronto on December 8th, 1914.

He embarked for England on the troop ship S.S. Corinthian in May of 1915, and was sent to France the following October. He remained with the Cyclist Corps throughout the war (all Cyclist units merged to become known as the Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion from May 1916 onward).

Pte. Hughes died of pneumonia while still in service post-Armistice, on January 19th, 1919. Originally buried in the Poppelsdorf Cemetery in Bonn, Germany, he was later reinterred to Brussels Town Cemetery in Brussels, Belgium.  

The photos here are from the Canadian Letters & Images collection of fellow Cyclist Corps member Pte. Edward Cresswell Ramsey.

External links:
Pte. Hughes' service record (Reg/Ser# 185) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Pte. Hughes can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Private Edward "Eddie" Cresswell Ramsey was born on February 2, 1896, in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. Immigrating to Canada prior to the outbreak of World War I, Ramsey enlisted in Toronto on December 8, 1914, with the Canadian Expeditionary Force's 2nd Divisional Cyclist Corps in Toronto, Ontario.

He arrived in England aboard the SS Corinthian in May 1915 and was soon on his way to France where he would serve a remarkable total of 42 months without being seriously wounded or ill.

He remained with the Cyclists for the entirety of his service (within his letters there are several name changes from the original "Divisional Cyclist Corps," most notably in mid-1916 to the "Canadian Corps Cyclist Battalion"). Following the armistice in November of 1918, Ramsey was demobilized on April 23, 1919.

The letters in the collection were written by "Eddie" Ramsey to his father Capt. E.C. Ramsey, his mother Nellie Ramsey, his sister Eve, and his Aunt Madge & Uncle Jack (J.R. Arkley).

Included are photos of Pte. Ramsey and the Cyclist Corps, as well as photos of the funeral and gravesite of fellow 2nd Division Cyclist Private Thomas Hughes. Hughes had enlisted alongside Ramsey in 1914 but died in Belgium of pneumonia on January 27, 1919, only a few months before he would have been demobilized back to Canada.

External link:
Pte. Ramsey's Service Record (Reg/Ser# 40) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.

Laurence William Webster Slack was born in Kings County, Nova Scotia, in February 1891. Slack served overseas as a Lieutenant with the 60th Battalion. The collection consists of one letter written to a Miss McCammon informing her of the death of Joseph William George Robinson, also a Lieutenant with the 60th Battalion, who was killed September 16, 1916. Robinson is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial. See also the Joseph William George Robinson collection which contains one letter of condolence from Robinson's commanding officer to Robinson's mother.

Ralph Frank Greenard was born in Toronto, Ontario in December 1896.  Greenard enlisted with the 103rd Battalion in Victoria, British Columbia in January 1916.  His unit sailed for England in July 1916, and when in France he served in the 29th Battalion.  He suffered a gun shot wound at Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917, and after hospital treatments in France and England he returned to Canada in October 1917.  He was discharged as medically unfit due to the complications of the wound. It would appear that in the confusion of the attack he was hit by one of his own machine guns from behilnd.  For that information see his Medical Board sheet in the collection which can be found in his CEF Service File.  The collection currently consists of one letter written while in hospital in May1917 as well as the information from the Medical Board.

Pte. Amos Theodore Stretch (nickname "Slim") was born in Elk River, Minnesota, U.S.A., on June 24, 1891, and later moved with his family to Port Coquitlam, British Columbia. Amos was a member of the Active Militia's 104th Regiment when on January 12, 1916, he enlisted at New Westminster with the 131st Overseas Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, at the age of 24.

He embarked for England abord the SS Caronia on November 1, 1916. Shortly after arrival he was transferred to the 30th Res. Battalion, then to the 1st Res. Bn., before being sent over to fight in France. In February 1917 he transferred to the 29th Bn., Canadian Infantry, where served for the rest of his time in action.

Having suffered a burn wound to his foot, he was convalesced back to England, and from there demobilized at the end of the war, shipping back home to Canada in early 1919.

The letters and field-postcards in this collection were mainly written by Pte. Stretch to his parents James & Diana Stretch in Port Coquitlam.

Private William "Will" Herbert Donnelly was born in Peterborough, Ontario, in 1882. At the time of enlistment he was living in Calgary, Alberta, working as a mercantile broker with the local firm Donnelly, Watson and Brown. He enlisted with the 82nd Battalion, Canadian Infantry (Alberta Regiment), on March 23, 1916, at the age of 33. 

Following training in Canada, he shipped for England on May 20, 1916, on the SS Empress of Britain. In 1916 he was transferred to the 9th Battalion, and then in France to the 31st Battalion. He was killed in action on September 27, 1916, and is buried at the Courcelette British Cemetery, Somme, France

The collection consists of 7 letters written by Will Donnelly to his parents, Henry & Martha Donnelly of Calgary, as well as to his siblings. Also included is his military will, a copy of which was preserved as part of his personnel records

A memorial page for Pte. Donnelly can be visited at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial .

Lee Grant Darrach was born in 1882 and grew up in Clyde River, Prince Edward Island. At the start of WWI Darrach was living in Boston with his brother Jack. In 1915 he headed overseas with the intention of joining the British Army. Enlisting with the British Lancaster Fusiliers, he trained in England before being sent into combat in Egypt and France, remaining on active service until May 1919.

The collection consists of thirty-two letters written by Lee to his brother Jack (often also to Jack's wife Beatrice, refered to as "B"), back in Boston. They are an uncommon collection within the Canadian Letters in Images Project in that they document the history of a Canadian soldier not as a member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, but in the British Army with the British Expeditionary Force, which as Darrach describes it, was often a very different environment.

The letters are used with the kind permission of the Clyde River History Committee. More information on Lee Grant Darrach, as well as audio recordings of his letters read by Alan Buchanan, are available through their website at: https://clyderiverpei.com/letters-from-the-great-war.

Private Richard William Mercer was born in Bolton, England, on July 27, 1897, to parents William and Georgina Mercer. On April 20, 1916, he enlisted at Wawota, Saskatchewan, with the 196th Western Universities Overseas Battalion, “B” Company (University of Saskatchewan), Canadian Expeditionary Force.

He completed his basic training at Camp Hughes, Manitoba, before shipping to England on the SS Southland in November of 1916. He served both there and in France with a number of different units including Bordon’s Motor Machine Gun Battery and the 1st Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade. He was transferred to the 2nd Canadian Motor Machine Gun Brigade in December of 1918 and served with them as part of the Allied Occupation Force in Germany, until finally returning to Canada for demobilization on May 18, 1919.

External links:
Pte. Mercer’s service record (Serv/Reg# 911016) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.

The Mercer collection was provided through the work of Dwight G. Mercer who has documented Pte. Richard Mercer’s Letters from the Great War history online, where more information can be found about the Mercer story and of the history of the 6th Brigade & 2nd Battalion Canadian Machine Gun Corps. Dwight Mercer’s footnotes have been included with both the letters and the memoir, and provide extensive background information on both content and context.

Corporal Alfred John Arthur Killough ("Arthur") was born in Regina, Saskatchewan on January 12th, 1896. After training with the 2nd Contingent in Victoria, he enlisted in November 1914 in Quebec with the 23rd Battalion, Canadian Infantry. Killough was serving in France with the 3rd Battalion at the time of his death on September 4, 1916, when a shell explosion caused a trench cave-in. He is buried in the Sunken Road Cemetery, Contalmaison, Somme, France.

The oldest of 8 siblings, most of the letters in the collection were written to and from Arthur's family from their home on the Merryfield Fruit Ranch in Castlegar, British Columbia:
Capt. Joseph Arthur Killough - father
Lillian Emma Killough - mother
May, Annie, Gwen, Myrtle & "Baby" - sisters
Joe & Harry - brothers
"Auntie" F.A. Clark 

The collection currently consists of nineteen letters, a diary of his voyage overseas, photographs, and other misc. items. 
Many of the early letters in the Killough collection are unusual in that the majority of CLIP's war letters (and especially those in most WWI collections) were written by service members and then sent home to family & friends.  In the Killough letters we get an uncommon glimpse at the other side of the story – letters written to a soldier by his family and then sent to Arthur while he was still in training here in Canada. How and when these letters were returned to his family in Castlegar is unknown.

Corporal Killough is also remembered online through the Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History "First World War Kootenay Soldiers" online photo album.

Robert John Conners was born in Montreal, Québec, in October 1890. Conners enlisted in Montreal in January 1917 and served in France with the Broad Gauge Railway Operating Company. He was demobilized and returned to Canada in 1919. The collection currently consists of one letter and two photographs. See also the collection of his brother, Horace Kelvin Conners.

Thomas William McAloney was born in River Hebert, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, in August 1889. McAloney enlisted with the 89th Battalion in November 1915 in Calgary, Alberta. He served overseas with the 89th, was twice wounded, and returned to Canada at the end of the war.  The collection currently consists of an untranscribed diary from November 1918 to January 1919, his discharge certificate, and two photographs.

John Edgar Hamilton was born in Montreal, Québec, in November 1881. He enlisted at Valcartier in June 1915. Edgar was serving overseas with the 60th Battalion when he was wounded at Ypres in June 1916, resulting in the amputation of his leg. He returned to Canada in 1918. The collection currently consists of one postcard to his sister Kate.

Lieutenant Thomas Alexander Rowat was born in Winchester, Ontario, on August 19, 1878, to parents Rev. Andrew and Margaret McKenzie Rowat. Prior to enlistment he was working as an accountant/business manager in the Cobalt, Ont., region.

Rowat enlisted on January 14, 1915, in Haileybury, Ont., as a Private with the 159th Battalion. He was discharged that November to become a commissioned officer with the 97th Regiment. Rowat shipped for England in October of 1916, and was sent to France in late November to join the 38th Battalion. He was killed by enemy shell fire in Avion on June 28, 1917. He was buried in Villers Station Cemetery, Villers-au-Bois, France, and is commemorated on the cenotaph in the Major Holland VC Park in Cobalt, Ontario.

Content notes:
Most letters in the collection were written by Rowat to his parents and to his siblings Donald, William “Willie,” Ina [“Tina”?], and Margaret, as well as Donald’s wife Rhoda. The original handwritten letters have been lost but typed transcriptions were made sometime after the war. Scans of these typed copies have been included with each letter.
In the external links below, Rowat’s date of birth is shown as 1888 on some of the documents in his service file.
[The Collection Description was last updated in August 2023.]

External links:
Lt. Alexander Rowat’s service record (Serv/Reg# 540450) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
WWI Circumstances of Death Registers record card (page# 855), Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Rowat can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

John Alexander Selter Thompson was born in Denver, Colarado, U.S.A., in October 1897. Thompson enlisted with the 196th Battalion in September 1916 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was killed at Passchendaele on October 26, 1917, while serving with the 46th Battalion. Thompson is commemorated on the Menin Gate. The collection currently consists of twenty-eight letters and some miscellaneous items.

Charles Eric Robertson was born in Walkerton, Ontario, in April 1889. After taking private flying lessons he was given a commission in the Royal Flying Corps on December 7, 1915.  At the time of his death on July 12, 1917, he was commanding the 11th Sqdn. RFC. The collection currently consists of 121 letters, as well as photographs and other miscellaneous items. Although the original letters have been lost, these transcriptions are from a typed version of the letters done following the war.

Edward Beverly Nash was born in Gorrie, Ontario, in April 1887.  He enlisted in December 1915 with the 161st Battalion in Wroexeter, Ontario.  Nash served overseas with the 47th Battalion and the Canadian Machine Gun Corps until he was demobilized and returned to Canada in 1919.  The collection currently consists of sixteen letters.

Henry Errol Beauchamp Platt, known as Errol Platt, was born in London, Ontario in May 1891.  When war broke out he took a commission with The Queen's Own Rifles in Toronto, and then proceeded overseas with the 35th Battalion.  Platt was serving with the 3rd Battalion at the time of his death on May 5, 1916. He is buried in Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery in Belgium.

The collection consists of 83 letters, 3 photographs, and other miscellaneous items. 

Within the letter collection, the main correspondents are:
Fern McIntyre, sweetheart/fiancée
Helen Platt (“Nennie”), mother
Arthur Thomas Platt, father,
Catherine Platt (“Kae”), sister
Madeline Platt (“Molly”), sister
Lieutenant George Lawrence Bisset Makenzie, close friend/fellow soldier

Additional remembrances of Lieutenant Platt can be found at both the The Canadian Virtual War Memorial and The Great War Law Student Memorial Project (pg 112).

Note: The original handwritten letters have been lost but typed transcriptions were made sometime after the war. It is the scans of these typed copies that have been included with each letter. 

George William Cochrane was born in July 1893 in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. Cochrane enlisted in March 1916 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, with the 196th Battalion. He served overseas with the 46th Battalion and died of wounds April 14, 1917. The collection currently consists of three letters, three photographs, and two newspaper clippings.

Joseph William George Robinson was born in Camden East, Ontario, in August 1889. Prior to enlistment Robinson had worked as a salesman and had served one year with the 95th Saskatchewan Rifles. He enlisted in the CEF with the 59th Battalion in Brockville, Ontario, in February 1916 and went overseeas on the SS Olympic in April of 1916. Robinson served overseas with the 60th Battalion as a Lieutenant until he was killed on September 16, 1916, and is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial. The collection currently consists of one letter Robinson and one letter from Robinson's commanding officer to Robinson's mother. See also the Laurence Slack collection which contains a letter describing Robinson's death to a Miss McGammon.

Oscar James Fearman was born in Middleport, Ontario, in January 1893. Fearman enlisted with the 125th Battalion in Brantford, Ontario, in December 1915. He served overseas with the 1st Battalion until his death on April 9, 1917 at Vimy Ridge. The collection currently consists of one letter and one postcard.

Percy Lytton Bonsall, MC, was born in Poltimon, Québec, in May 1891. Bonsall enlisted in Montreal, Québec, in April 1916 with the Canadian Railway Construction Corps. He rose to the rank of Major before being demobilized and returning to Canada at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of three letters.

Thomas Lytton Bonsall was born in Brantford, Ontario, in 1871. He attested with the 238th Battalion in July 1916 and served overseas with that Battalion until he was demobilized and returned to Canada in 1919. The collection currently consists of three letters.