Kenora Great War Project

 

You can also view an Alphabetical List

The People

soldier_photobar

These are the stories of Kenora participants in the First World War.

Search by name, or filter the search results using the list of options below.

Whitehurst, Clifford Gerald

Clifford Gerald (Gerry) Whitehurst was born on 25 March 1898 in Fort William, Ontario. His father John (Jack) Whitehurst was from Birmingham, England and had immigrated to Canada in 1888 to work for the Canadian Pacific Railway as a wiper. Lodging in those early years at the Queen’s Hotel in the Westport area of Fort… Read More »

Hughey, George Milton

Flight Second Lieutenant George Milton Hughey enlisted in the Canadian Army Medical Corps in August 1915 and two months later he was sent overseas. In October 1917 he was accepted into the Royal Naval Air Service and he trained and served as a pilot. He returned to Canada in April 1919. George was the oldest… Read More »

Thompson, William Richmond

Private William Richmond Thompson was one of three brothers from Saskatchewan who served in the First World War. William and his younger brother Clifford survived the war but their oldest brother Robert died in September 1916 at the Somme. William was born on 6 May 1883 in Keewatin, Ontario. His parents were William Richmond Thompson… Read More »

Knight, F W

As reported in the 2 April 1919 edition of the Kenora Miner and News, the towns of Kenora and Keewatin held a large reception at the Tourist Hotel to honour returning veterans. On the list was F. W. Knight. His identity could not be confirmed.  

Hill, John Harrison

John Harrison Hill was one many British Isle immigrants who came to Canada in the early 1900s to take advantage of land grants for would be farmers in Saskatchewan. For a $10 payment settlers were given provisional title to 160 acres of farmland, and if they could farm the land for five years and erect… Read More »

Locking, Percy Ludwig

According to his Ontario birth record, Percy Ludwig Webb was born on 1 September 1892 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. His mother was Annie Adelaide Jones, date and place of her birth unknown with some records indicating that she was born between 1867 and 1870 in England while others in Wales…. Read More »

Thompson, John

Private John Thompson was born in 1888 in Rat Portage, Ontario. His service file records his birth as 30 July but he was most likely born on 6 August. If this is the correct John Thompson his parents were Benjamin Franklin ‘Frank’ Thompson and Augusta Bohn and his birth was registered in the town of… Read More »

Coppleman, Abraham (Abie)

According to his attestation papers Abraham (Abie) Coppleman was born on 14 April 1896 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. (A delayed Manitoba birth registration from 1899 gave his date of birth as 15 May 1896 while his British Columbia death record recorded it as 14 April 1896.) Both of his parents, Samuel Coppleman and Maggie Rosen, were… Read More »

Brownlee, Melville Edmison

Melville Edmison Brownlee was born on 17 August 1892 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His parents were Charles and Bridget (née Shea) Brownlee who were first found on the 1891 Canada census for Algoma, Keewatin South with both listed as having been born in Ontario. Charles was working as a barber. The couple… Read More »

Sim, Gordon

Gordon Sim was born on 2 May 1856 in Cairnie, Aberdeenshire in Scotland. His parents were William Sim and Catherine Henderson, both from the general area in Aberdeenshire. By the time of the 1851 census the family had a 24 acre farm in Redford, Cairnie. Children born to William and Catherine were John (1832), William… Read More »