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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Grennan, George C Parkman

George C. Parkman Grennan was born on 19 September 1887 in Bombay, India.  His parents were Edward Henry Grennan and Mary Watson.  Siblings included Edward Watson Grennan, William Charles Grennan and Gerald Grennan. At the age of 18 George immigrated to Canada arriving on 26 May 1906.  He spent two years in Kelowna, B.C. before… Read More »

Etter, Roy Clifford

Roy Clifford Etter was born on 30 September 1883 in Westmorland Point (later renamed Aulac), New Brunswick, close to the Nova Scotia border where his family farmed. His father Charles Etter was from New Brunswick while his mother Margaret Ann Miller was from Nova Scotia. Roy had two known older siblings, Herbert (1881-1955), and Lucilla… Read More »

Betton, John Richard

Although his attestation papers say that he was born on 3 April 1898 in Liverpool, England, John  Richard Betton’s birth registration was for 1899.  He was the third born child of John Richard and Lavinia (Scarisbrick) Betton. His father John was the son of Philip, occupation engine fitter, and Johanna (Biggins) Betton and Lavinia was the… Read More »

Thomas, William

Private William Thomas (aka William Britton) enlisted early in the war and spent four and a half years overseas. After he returned home he re-enlisted and served in Canada with the military police until January 1920. William was originally from London, England but he was living in Montreal when the war started. He had immigrated… Read More »

Reid, Matthew Robinson

Matthew Robinson Reid was born on 27 February 1894 to William and Eliza (Moggey) Reid in Portage la Prairie. He was the 9th of 11 children. In 1906 the family was living in High Bluff, Manitoba. His name on the census form was given as Robinson. Reid enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces in Winnipeg,… Read More »

English, Clarence Robert

Clarence Robert Marian English was born on 08 July 1894 in Somerset, England. His father, Theodore Hewitt English worked as florist, nurseryman, horticultural commission agent and horticultural auctioneer. Theodore had married in 1884. His wife’s name was Pattie (1891 census) or Martha (probate records). Other children of this couple included: Ellen Vera (b. 1887), Theodore… Read More »

Irish, Charles Asa

According to his delayed birth record, Charles Asa Irish was born on 23 July 1900 in Coe Hill, Ontario. His father Charles Eldridge Irish was from the Brighton-Colborne area of Ontario while his mother Agnes Fortune Trotter was from Chandos or Clydesdale, small communities near Coe Hill. The couple married on 27 March 1893 in… Read More »

Stewart, Charles Clark

Private Charles Clark Stewart was the son of James Stewart and Euphemia Clark of Dundee, Angus County, Scotland. He was born in Dundee on 30 April 1896 and he had an older brother James and an older sister Euphemia (Effie). At the time of the 1891 census their father was a police constable and by… Read More »

Mathers, William Matchett

Sergeant William Matchett Mathers enlisted with the 27th Battalion in October 1914 and went overseas the following spring. He survived three years as a front line soldier in France and Belgium and returned to Canada with his battalion in May 1919. William was the oldest child and only son of Robert Mathers and Mary Matchett… Read More »

Thompson, William Stanley

Sapper William Stanley Thompson was living in the state of Washington when the war started. He enlisted at a British recruiting centre in 1917 and served with the Royal Engineers in the UK, Salonica and Russia, returning home in October 1919. William was the youngest son of Benjamin Franklin ‘Frank’ Thompson and Augusta Bohn. He… Read More »