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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Begg, Adolphus

Adolphus Henry Begg was born on 17 April 1891 in the Rat Portage, Ontario (later named Kenora) area. His parents were John and Juliette (Sturgeon) Begg. The son of Charles Begg, a Hudson Bay Company employee that had immigrated from Favel, Sandwick, Orkney, Scotland in 1831 and married a Metis woman, Catherine Spence, Adolphus’ father… Read More »

Kemp, Peter Gillespie Muir

Peter Gillespie Muir Kemp was born on 15 April 1898 in Ballymacarrett, Belfast in northern Ireland. His father John Kemp, a ship rivetter, was from Port Glasgow in Scotland while his mother Sarah Havelin was from Glasgow, the couple marrying on 15 June 1888 in Port Glasgow. Children born to the couple in the Port… Read More »

Chandler, Frederick George

Frederick George Chandler was born on 16 September 1888 in Sydenham, Lewisham in London, England. His father James Chandler, a gas fitter, was from Brighton in Sussex while his mother Hannah Keys was from Dover in Kent. The couple had married during the first quarter of 1869 in the registration district of Dover. Their first… Read More »

Chase, Harry Edward

According to his service record, Harry Edward Chase was born on 14 August 1884 in Redditt, a community about 30 kilometres north of Kenora in northwestern Ontario. Living in Duluth, Minnesota, Harry crossed the border into Canada at Fort Frances prior to enlisting in Winnipeg on 20 June 1918. His occupation was given as lumberman… Read More »

Mills, William Walter

According to his attestation papers, William Walter Mills was born on 28 November 1882 in Durban, Natal, South Africa. His father Walter John Mills, born in Meopham/Ridley, Kent, England,  had enlisted with the 60th Kings Royal Rifles and served as Private during the Zulu War in South Africa 1877-79. Upon discharge he stayed in Durban… Read More »

Richmond, Arthur Gordon

  Gunner Arthur Gordon Richmond was a student when he enlisted in January 1916, at age 17. He served in Great Britain, France and Belgium with the Canadian Field Artillery and returned home in July 1919. Arthur was born on 1 July 1898 in Drummond Township, Lanark County, Ontario. His parents, George James Richmond and… Read More »

Gascoigne, Percival

Sapper Percival Gascoigne enlisted in May 1915, at age 19, and served in Canada and the UK for three years. He suffered from ill health for much of that time and he was invalided back to Canada in March 1918. Percival was the youngest son of Herbert Gascoigne and Elizabeth Neale of Kemble, Gloucestershire, England…. Read More »

Lancaster, Ivan Bruce

Ivan Bruce Lancaster was born on 25 October 1898 in Cedar Springs, Kent, Ontario. His father Joseph Lancaster was from England while his mother Mary Jane Cullis was from the Port Hope area of Ontario. The couple married on 7 February 1876 in Howard, Kent. The family first farmed in the area of Euphemia, Bothwell,… Read More »

Rushton, Horace Walter

Horace Walter Rushton was born on 25  October 1897 in Worcester, Worcestershire, England. His father Walter and mother Letitia (née Booth) Rushton had married in Worcester in 1894. While in England Walter’s occupation on the censuses was given as ‘China Printer Earth’. There were four children in the Rushton family, Ernest (b 1895), Percy Frank… Read More »

Nairn, John White

Although he gave his place of birth as Edinburgh in Scotland, John White Nairn was born on 19 April 1892 in nearby Leith. His father John Nairn was from Johnstone, Renfrewshire while his mother Isabella Stuart was from  Deskford, Banffshire. John and Isabella had married in 1887 in Edinburgh. After the marriage the couple lived… Read More »