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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Millership, George John

George John Millership was born on 21 May 1890 in Causeway Green, Worcestershire, England. His parents George and Selina (née Brown) Millership had married during the third quarter of 1887 in King’s Norton, Worcestershire. By the 1891 census the family was living in nearby Cakemore, Worcestershire where father George was working as an engineer. Household… Read More »

Gauthier, Albert

Albert Gauthier was born on 06 February 1898 in Norman, Ontario.   His parents were Joseph Gauthier (a miner) and Rose Delima Messier. Marie Louise (Gagnon), Arthur and Archie were his siblings. Albert spent much of his life in the Canadian wilderness – from the turn of the century to the late 1960’s.   He… Read More »

Wright, Jack George

Private Jack George Wright enlisted in Edmonton, Alberta in May 1918, at age 27. Records indicate that he was using an alias and he was actually Patrick Stafford Savage. Patrick Stafford, usually known as Stafford, was the son Patrick Richard Savage and Mary Adeline Casey of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Patrick and Mary were born in New… Read More »

Hucker, Thomas John Senior

Thomas was born in Okehampton, Devon, England.  His attestation papers gave his birth date as 18 October 1874, however other documents suggest the year of birth could be from 1869 to 1874 and the documents in his service file have May as the month of his birth. Thomas married Elizabeth Ann Evans on 24 December… Read More »

Stanbrook, Albert

Gunner Albert Stanbrook was living in Canada when the war started. He was called up as a British army reservist in August 1914 and he served in England, France, Belgium and India until June 1919. Albert was the son of Richard Stanbrook and Annie Letitia Haywood of Southampton, Hampshire, England. Richard was born in Yorkshire… Read More »

Desmarais, Rene

The son of Eusebe and Josephine (Belanger) Desmarais, Rene Desmarais was born in Keewatin, Ontario 7 May 1891.  According to his father’s obituary in the Kenora Miner and News of 6 August 1932, the family came to Keewatin with the first sawmill that was brought over the ice to Keewatin in the early pioneer days…. Read More »

Meikle, Ivie

Ivie Meikle was born on 31 October 1885 in Catrine, Ayrshire, Scotland. A village on the River Ayr, Catrine was constructed around one of the first cotton mills (1787)  in Scotland that was enlarged in 1823 by adding a bleaching works. Ivie was the son of Thomas Meikle and Elizabeth Garvan who had married on… Read More »

Shelton, Roy Alwyn

Roy Alwyn Shelton was born on 12 December 1902 in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England.  His parents were Thomas Shelton and Emma Cartlidge.   In 1911 they were running a boarding house in Margate, Kent, England.  Roy had at least nine siblings, including: Tom, Elsie, Alex, Hilda, Lilian, Kenneth, Leslie, Alan and Vera. On 29 January 1919… Read More »

Francis, John McKechnie

The Battle of the Somme was a five-month long offensive that began in July 1916. The Canadian Corps arrived at the Somme in late August and in less than three months they suffered 24,000 casualties. One of the fallen was Private John McKechnie Francis of Kenora, Ontario. John was born on 20 November 1864 in… Read More »

Lavigne, William

Sapper William Lavigne was living in the Nelson area in British Columbia when he enlisted on 6 September 1916. According to his attestation paper he was born on 27 January 1876 in Kenora, Ontario, although it’s very unlikely he was actually born there. His death registration records his birth as 19 February 1877 in Ontario… Read More »