Kenora Great War Project

 

You can also view an Alphabetical List

The People

soldier_photobar

These are the stories of Kenora participants in the First World War.

Search by name, or filter the search results using the list of options below.

Nelson, Joseph

Joseph Nelson was born on 20 August 1871 in the parish/inner city  of Toxeth in Liverpool, Lancashire, England. His father James was from Ormskirk, a town just north of Liverpool, while his mother Julia, the daughter of Irish immigrants, was born in Leeds, Yorkshire. The family first lived in Wednesbury in Staffordshire where children Edward… Read More »

Bird, Henry James

Cadet Corporal Henry James Bird enlisted with the 196th Battalion and spent four months in England before he was sent back to Canada due to being underage. When he turned 18 he joined Royal Air Force (Canada) and trained as a cadet pilot. Henry, usually known as Harry, was the oldest son of Joseph Edward… Read More »

Cox, Edwin Walter

Ted was the youngest of the 6 children of James Henry Cox and Emma Jane Cox (formerly Smith). His siblings were Willie James (1872-1917), Alice Louise (1874-1962), Frederick Henry (1876-1959), James Arthur (1878-1936), and Florence Ada (1881-1929). On the census taken in England during 1911 he was shown as a 24 year old fireman with… Read More »

McMurdie, Edward Alphonse

According to his birth registration*, Edward Alphonse McMurdie was born on 17 October 1887 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. Born in Lambeth, Surrey, England, father Charles McMurdie had immigrated to Canada around 1870 while his mother Catherine (née Sullivan) McMurdie was from Peterborough, Ontario. Although Charles was found in the Rat Portage area… Read More »

Osmond, William

The son of Thomas and Mary Ann (née Selman) Osmond, William Osmond  was born on 28 November 1889  at #3 Ridgeway Road in  Fishponds, Gloucestershire, England, name on birth registration given  as William Osmond Selman*. His mother was born in Tormarton, Gloucestershire while his father was from Claverton, Somerset. They married on 13 July 1891… Read More »

Webb, Earl Edward

Earl Edward Webb was born on 24 December 1893 in Keewatin, Ontario, a small town a few kilometres west of Kenora in northwestern Ontario. His parents William Webb and Josephine Zapfe married on 5 November 1880 in Bayfield, Ontario. By the next year the couple was living in Guelph, Ontario, giving birth to son William… Read More »

Brown, Maurice

Although he gave his place of birth as Peterborough on his attestation papers, Maurice Brown was born on 13 June 1894 in the hamlet of Newark on the outskirts of Peterborough, Northamptonshire, England. His father Frederick Brown was from Peterborough while his mother Elizabeth Doe was from Stoke by Clare, Sussex. The couple married during… Read More »

Dennett, Robert William

Robert William Dennett was born on 9 January 1894 in Windsor, Berkshire, England. His father, a solicitor’s clerk, was also named Robert and was born in Camberwell/Pimlico in London. Robert Jr’s mother was Henrietta Baldwin who had been born in Cholsey, Berkshire; the couple had married in Windsor in 1890. Robert had two younger sisters,… Read More »

Kenny, James

James Kenny is the son of James Kenny and Jane Davies. On the 1911 census of Keewatin Ontario, James Kenny is age 22, born Scotland, single, and a lodger. He states he is working on the tugboat Verbena and that he had come to the area in 1906.   James’ brother, John Kenny is also… Read More »

Linklater, Frank

According to his attestation papers, Frank Linklater was born on 23 August 1881 in the RM of St Andrews, Manitoba. He was the first born child of Charles Patrick Linklater and Margaret Donald who had apparently married on 12 March 1880, both having Métis roots in the Red River Settlement. It appears that the couple… Read More »