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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Osmond, William

The son of Thomas and Mary Ann (née Selman) Osmond, William Osmond  was born on 28 November 1889  at #3 Ridgeway Road in  Fishponds, Gloucestershire, England, name on birth registration given  as William Osmond Selman*. His mother was born in Tormarton, Gloucestershire while his father was from Claverton, Somerset. They married on 13 July 1891… Read More »

Leavesley, Ernest Thomas

Ernest Thomas Leavesley was born on 13 July 1883 in Basford, a suburb in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. His father Charles Leavesley was from Newton Regis in Warwickshire while his mother Hannah Mee was from Basford where the couple married in 1874. Ernest had an older sister Sarah and a younger brother Charles. Charles Sr first… Read More »

Fisher, Robert Davidson

Robert Davidson Fisher was the son of Robert Armour Fisher and Mary Jane Davidson. His father Robert also signed up at the same time in Kenora, Ontario. On his attestation papers he had lied about his year of birth, stating that it was 1897. It was  discovered later that he was underage when he joined up… Read More »

Holmstrom, August Michael

August Michael Holmstrom was born on 25 August 1895 in the village of Norman near Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. His father Erik Olaf (Jansson) Holmstrom was from Gräsmark, Varmland in Sweden and had immigrated to Canada with his parents John and Kasja in late October of 1887. The family settled in… Read More »

McLean, Athol Archibald

The Battle of the Somme lasted from 1 July to 18 November 1916 and resulted in over a million casualties for all the forces involved. The Germans refer to the battle as ‘the blood bath’ and the Somme has been called the graveyard of armies. On the first day alone the British army suffered 57,000… Read More »

Stanford, Charles Robert

Charles Robert Stanford was born on 12 February 1881 in Hackney, London, England. His father Joseph Stanford, a bootmaker, was from Norwich in Norfolk while his mother Sarah was from Exeter in Devon. Over the years the family lived in a number of London communities, Shoreditch, Bethal Green, Hoxton, Hackney, and Islington. Nine children were… Read More »

Huggins, Cyril Clifford

Cyril Clifford Huggins was born on 25 December 1893 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. Both of his parents, William Caro Huggins and Eliza Harriet Betsworth, were born in England. William immigrated to Canada as a young child with his parents and siblings and along with his brother James first came to the Lake… Read More »

Davidson, Gilbert Kerr

Private Gilbert Kerr Davidson was the oldest son of Thomas Henry Davidson and Ellen Jane Webster of Manitou, Manitoba. Thomas and Ellen (Nellie) were both from the township of Chatham in the province of Quebec. By 1891 Thomas was living in the Rat Portage area in northwestern Ontario, where he worked in the lumber industry…. Read More »

Kinney, James Arthur

Although a birth record was not found, by most accounts James Arthur Kinney was born in 1877 on Manitoulin Island, Algoma, Ontario. Both of his parents James Kinney and Malina Johnson were from Prince Edward County in Ontario, the couple marrying on 11 February 1863 in Athol. At the time of the 1871 census the… Read More »

Orr, James Walker

Acting Sergeant James Walker Orr enlisted in March 1915 and served overseas for three years. He was wounded at Vimy Ridge in April 1917 but he survived the war and returned home with a war bride. James was the son of Robert Barclay Orr and Margaret Walker Bryce of London, Ontario. Robert was born in… Read More »