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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Wilding, Alfred John

Lance Sergeant Alfred John Wilding enlisted in February 1916 and served overseas for three years. He was wounded twice but he survived the war and returned to Canada in June 1919. Alfred was born on 3 February 1890 in Stagsden, Bedfordshire, England. His parents were Harry Wilding, a farm worker, and Jane Elizabeth Hobbs. Harry… Read More »

Goulet, Raymond

Gunner Raymond Goulet enlisted in March 1918 and served for a year with the Canadian Field Artillery, most of that time in England. He returned to Canada in April 1919. Raymond was the son of Albert and Marie Louise Goulet and the grandson of Elzéar Goulet. During the 1860s Elzéar was the mail carrier between… Read More »

Halliday, William Charles

Private William Charles Halliday was sent to Canada as a Home Child in 1905. He enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force a few months after the war started. In 1916, while he was in England being treated for wounds, he saw his mother for the first time in eleven years. He recovered from his injuries… Read More »

Morgan, James George

Throughout the war railroads were essential for evacuating the wounded and moving troops, equipment and supplies, and skilled workers were needed for their construction, maintenance and operation. Sapper James George Morgan, a CPR employee from Kenora, Ontario, enlisted with a railway unit in March 1917 and served in France and Belgium for two years. George… Read More »

McCall, Wallace Henry

Although he gave his place of birth as Simcoe, Ontario on his attestation papers,  Wallace Henry  (Henry Wallace  on birth registration) McCall was born on  15  October 1877 in nearby Charlotteville, Norfolk. His parents Lewis and Prudence (née Cassills) McCall had married 29 December 1869 in Charlotteville, Lewis’ occupation was given as farmer. Children born… Read More »

Esselmont, John Wesley

Private John Wesley Esselmont enlisted in Vancouver in September 1915, at age 20. He was wounded at the Battle of Passchendaele in November 1917 and spent the remainder of the war in Great Britain. John was born on 30 May 1895 in Fort William, Ontario. His father, James Esselmont, had immigrated to Canada from the… 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 »

Ramsay, Andrew

Private Andrew Ramsay enlisted in November 1916 and served in France for a year with the Canadian Forestry Corps. He returned to Canada in May 1919. Andrew was born on 5 May 1889 in the town of Rat Portage, Ontario. His parents, Andrew Ramsay Sr. and Janet Closs, were both born in Scotland. They were… Read More »

Schwitzer, Rupert William

Private Rupert William Schwitzer enlisted in May 1916, at age 18, and served in France with the 46th Battalion. He died of wounds in September 1918,  two months before the Armistice. Rupert was the only son of John Edward Schwitzer and Eva McNaughton of Winnipeg, Manitoba. His parents were both born in Ottawa, Ontario and… Read More »

Lock, Francis George

Francis George Lock was born on 10 May 1878 in the Southwark borough of London, England. Both of his parents, Frederick and Ann Granger (Wild) Lock, were from Lyme Regis in Dorset but had married in 1877 in Lambeth, London. Frederick was a joiner/carpenter. George was their first born child, followed by Ellen, William, Annie,… Read More »