Kenora Great War Project

 

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The People

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

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Spence, Robert

Robert Spence was born on 3 November 1893 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. His parents Robert Spence and Elizabeth Park Johnston were both from the Orkneys in Scotland, marrying on 21 June 1888 in Burray, South Ronaldshay. At the time Robert, a widower, was working as a fisherman. Later that year… Read More »

Cox, Charles Edward

Private Charles Edward Cox was called up in January 1918 and sent to France to serve with the 78th Battalion (Winnipeg Grenadiers). He was injured in a motor lorry accident in October 1918 and he spent almost a year recovering at hospitals in England and Canada. Charles Edward (or Edwin) was born on 18 February… Read More »

Wood, Sydney Ernest

Sapper Sydney Ernest Wood was married and the father of a young son when he enlisted with a railway unit in February 1917. Five months later he was severely wounded in Belgium and he was invalided home to Canada in December 1917. Sydney was born on 2 February 1885 in Deptford, London, England. His parents,… Read More »

Sparks, William Thomas

Corporal William Thomas Sparks enlisted in December 1914 and served in England, France and Belgium. He was wounded at the Battle of the Somme in 1916 and he spent over a year recovering in hospitals and convalescent centres. William was the son of Thomas George Sparks (Sparkes) and Eliza Mackler of West Ham, London, England…. Read More »

Douglas, Robert James

Private Robert James Douglas was born on 10 June 1898 in either Norman or Rat Portage (Kenora), Ontario. His parents, William James Douglas/Douglass and Alice Anderson, were married in 1893 in the parish of St. Andrew’s, Manitoba and Robert was one of at least ten children. For both the 1901 and 1906 censuses the family… Read More »

Woodley, Charles James

Gunner Charles James Woodley was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and living in California when the war started. He returned to Canada in 1918 and served for 14 months with the Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery. Charles was the oldest son of Henry Richard and Matilda Woodley of Victoria, British Columbia. He was born in Winnipeg on… Read More »

Ramier, Peter

Lance Corporal Peter Ramier enlisted in February 1916 and served for three years in Canada, Great Britain, France and Belgium. He was wounded three times but he survived the war and returned home in March 1919. Peter was the son of John Thomas Ramier and Charlotte Chatterton of Port Daniel, Bonaventure County, Quebec. John and… Read More »

Mann, Arthur Joseph

Although he gave his date of birth as 21 August 1890 on his recruitment paper, Arthur Joseph Mann was born on 23 August 1891 in Bonfield, Ontario. His parents James and Marguerite (née Laporte) Mann, both originally from Quebec,  had married in Bonfield.  Other children born to the couple were Henry Laporte (1887-1922), Jean (John)… Read More »

Hunter, James

James Hunter was born on 5 December 1893 in Dailly, Ayrshire in Scotland. His father James Hunter, coal miner, was from Dailly as was his mother Elizabeth Jones. The couple had married on 2 August 1889 in Dailly. The next year they gave birth to their first child, daughter Rosina, followed by daughter Margaret (Maggie)… Read More »

McDiarmid, James Willard

Private James Willard McDiarmid enlisted in October 1915 at age 20 and served overseas with a field ambulance unit for almost three years. He returned to Canada in May 1919. His only brother Findlay Howard McDiarmid was killed in November 1917 at the Battle of Passchendaele. James was the youngest son of James and Ida… Read More »