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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

Albert Edward Wellman was born in Rawdon Township, Ontario, in July 1895.  Wellman enlisted with the 155th Battalion in December 1916 in Marmora, Ontario.  He served overseas with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry until his discharge at the end of the war.  The collection currently consists of six letters and three postcards.

Malcolm James MacDonell was born in Lancaster, Ontario in December, 1896.  He enlisted at the age of eighteen in September 1915, in Montreal, Quebec.  MacDonell served overseas with the 73rd Battalion and 42nd Battalion, both of the Royal Highlanders of Canada, until he was demobilized and returned to Canada in 1919.  The collection currently consists of thirty-three letters, seven photographs, a document of thank you from his church, and a diary. 

Please note that the diary has not been transcribed.  The digitized only format is meant to be temporary, and is a result of resource and manpower issues at this time.

Donald Sinclair Jamieson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in June 1924.  He enlisted with the RCAF and served with the 426 Squadron.  On December 16, 1943, while returning from a mission over Germany, his Lancaster crashed on return to England.  Five crew members were killed immediately, one later died of injuries, and Jamieson walked away with only ten stitches (see his letter of December 1943).  While returning from a mission over Germany on June 28/29 1944 his his Halifax was shot down, but all the crew bailed out successfully over France and were sheltered by French citizens of the village of Honguemare.  Jamieson and another crew member were captured on July 14 and held in prison.  They were taken out of the prison on the night of August 21, 1944 and executed.  Their bodies were never found and they are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial.  Jamieson was twenty years old at the time.  The collection currently consists of two letters and one photograph.

External links:
Flying Officer Donald Sinclair Jamieson’s service record (Serv/Reg# J19863) 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 Jamieson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Frederick Charles Higgerty was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in November 1893.  Higgerty enlisted in Winnipeg in December 1915 with the 108th Battalion.  While in England Higgerty took a commission in the Imperial Army in August of 1917.  He then served with the London Regiment (Post Office Rifles) until he was killed November 30, 1917.  Higgerty is commemorated on the Cambrai Memorial.  The collection currently consists of a poem, a clipping, and one photograph.

Alexander Robertson McQueen was born in Edmonton, Alberta, in July 1892. McQueen was a student at the time of his enlistment in May 1915 with the 2nd University Companyy CEF in Edmonton. He served overseas with the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry until his death from wounds on June 4, 1916. The collection currently consists of thirteen letters and numerous photographs,