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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Houghton, Fred

Ordinary Seaman Fred Houghton joined the Naval Service in October 1917 and served in Canada for four months. He survived the horrific explosion in Halifax harbour on 6 December and he was discharged in February 1918. George Wilfred Houghton, known as Fred, was the son of John Houghton and Sarah Elizabeth Guest. John and Sarah… Read More »

Flett, Hector George

Private Hector George Flett enlisted early in the war and served with the 52nd Battalion for four years in Canada, England, France and Belgium. Hector was the son of Charles (Sr.) and Mary Flett of Kenora, Ontario. Charles came to the Lake of the Woods area from Selkirk, Manitoba and his wife Mary was born… Read More »

Gordon, Marshall Vinton

Marshall Vinton Gordon was born on 16 June 1885 in Thessalon, Ontario. He was the son of John Gordon and Mary Willan, the couple marrying in 1880. Marshall had an older sister, Cecilia Mildred (b 1884) and a younger sister Pearl Irene who only lived for a few months in 1887. Sadly Mary passed away… Read More »

Campbell, Harold Bertram

Lance Corporal Harold Bertram Campbell was working as a bank clerk when he enlisted in December 1915. He arrived in France a year later and died in April 1917 at the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Harold was the oldest son of Peter Clarence Campbell and Jessie May McOuot of Salmon Arm, British Columbia. Peter was… Read More »

Campbell, James Meiklejohn

James Meiklejohn Campbell was born on 29 January 1886 in Dunfermline, Fife in Scotland. His father Henry Campbell was from Busby in Lanarkshire while his mother Margaret Meiklejohn was from Greenock in Renfrewshire. The couple married on 6 June 1873 in Barrhead, Renfrewshire. They gave birth to daughter Janet in 1874 and son Robert in… Read More »

Roberts, Frederick Owen

Frederick Owen Roberts was born on 10 March 1900 in Keewatin, Ontario, a small town just west of present day Kenora. His father Owen Ellis Roberts, born in 1858 in Bala, Merionethshire in Wales, immigrated to Canada in 1882, arriving in Quebec on 26 June on the Circassian. He settled in Winnipeg where he married… Read More »

Fullerton, Elmer Garfield

Flight Second Lieutenant Elmer Garfield Fullerton enlisted in June 1916 and served with the Signal section of the Canadian Engineers before becoming a pilot in 1918. After the war he had a long and successful career with the Royal Canadian Air Force and in 1973 he was inducted into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame. Elmer… Read More »

Kerr, David Thomas

David, baptised as Frederick David Thomas Kerr, was born on 24 July 1894 in Richmond, Quebec. His father David Duncan Kerr had been born in Scotland. In February of 1888, David Sr married Janet Edna Lay in Richmond. Janet, also known as Jane and/or Jennie, had been raised in Melbourne, a community a short distance… Read More »

Dyer, Francis (Frank) John

Francis (Frank) John Dyer was born on 21 December 1900 in Kilburn, Middlesex, England. He was the eldest child of merchant seaman Francis Joseph Dyer  and Gertrude Shapcott. Siblings included sisters, Gertrude Louisa (b. 1901), Lilian Maud (b. 1904), Beatrice Nellie (b. 1905) and Nora Helena (b. 1907). His father enlisted with the Royal Garrison… Read More »

Welch, William George

The son of Emily Elizabeth Welch, William George Welch was born on 13 February 1883 in Chardstock, Dorsetshire, England. Emily, daughter of David and Lavinia (née Hodder) Welch, had been born in Bridport, a community about 30 kilometres southeast of Chardstock. The 1891 England census found William living in Chardstock with his widowed grandmother Lavinia,… Read More »