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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Brodie, Benjamin John

Born in  the city of London, England in the parish of St. Botolph, on  August 15, 1877, Benjamin John Brodie  was the son of  James and Elizabeth A. Brodie.    He had an older sister, Elizabeth J. Brodie and a younger sister, Lydia Barbara Brodie.   By 1891 mother Elizabeth had remarried to William Collins and… Read More »

Favel, John Thomas

Private John Thomas Favel enlisted in December 1915, at age 16, and served in France and Belgium with the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles. He was wounded twice but he survived the war and returned home in December 1918. His father and older brother also enlisted and served overseas. John Thomas, usually known as Thomas, was… Read More »

Bunch, Charles

Private Charles Bunch enlisted in June 1915 and served in France with the 44th Battalion. He was killed in action in October 1916, during the Battle of the Somme. Charles was born in 1883 in Stepney, London, England. His attestation records his birth date as 26 September but on his baptism record it’s 25 September…. Read More »

McEachern, Daniel Francis

By most accounts Daniel Francis McEachern was born on 27 April 1885 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario although a birth record was not found. His father John McEachern was from Scotland while his mother Margaret McLean was from Nova Scotia. According to a family tree the couple married on 29 August 1869 in… Read More »

Montalbetti, William Floyd

According to an Ontario delayed birth registration of 1952, William Floyd Montalbetti was born on 3 July 1883 in Kenora (Rat Portage at the time), Ontario. According to the record, his parents, both born in Italy, were Carlo (Charles) Montalbetti and Maria Malnati, the couple giving birth to twelve children with five still living at… Read More »

Meek, Thomas McDougall

Thomas McDougall Meek was born on 16 June 1895 in Govan, Lanarkshire, Scotland.   His parents were Matthew Meek and Martha McDougall. He married Margaret Melvin on 15 January 1915 in Glasgow, Scotland and listed his occupation as ‘rivetter’. On 09 June 1916, Thomas enlisted with the 5th Battalion, Scottish Rifles (regimental # 1123). He… Read More »

Barley, Bertie Tomlinson

Although he gave his place of birth as Worcester on his attestation papers, Bertie Tomlinson Barley was born on 27 January 1882 in Claines, Worcestershire in England, a small community outside of the city. His father John Barley was from New Brighton, Cheshire while his mother Eleanor (Ellen) Pardoe was from Claines. The couple married… Read More »

Mathewson, Alexander Charles

Alexander Charles Mathewson was born 18 March 1897 in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He was the son of farm servant William and Isabella (née Paterson) Mathewson who had married on 29 December 1888 in the Chapel of Garrioch. He had four older siblings Jennie (Jane), William (both born prior to the marriage), Martha, and James and… Read More »

Richards, William Ernest

Lance Corporal William Ernest Richards joined the 52nd Battalion in August 1915 and served overseas in England, France and Belgium, returning to Canada in March 1919. William was the son of William Thomas Richards and Mary Saunders of Kenora, Ontario. William Thomas was born in Pembroke, Ontario and his wife was from Timmins. They had… Read More »

Waites, Fred

Fred Waites was born on 11 December 1897 in Chorley, Lancashire in England. His father Samuel Waites was from Chorley while his mother Martha Booth was from nearby Preston. The couple married during the second quarter of 1889 in the registration district of Chorley. Children born to the family were Jane Ellen (1889), Florence (1891),… Read More »