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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McMaster, Charles Wellington

Charles was one of those recruits who faked his birth date when he enlisted for the Canadian army but unlike most recruits who fibbed about their ages, he took three years off his life instead of adding them on. He was 37 at the time. The army’s age limits were 18 years to 45 years… Read More »

Murray, James Hugh

Lance Corporal James Hugh Murray joined the British army early in the war and served with the 6th Royal Highlanders (Black Watch) until July 1916, when he suffered a serious leg wound. He was discharged in December 1917. James was born in 1893 in Dunblane, Perthshire, Scotland, the son of Alexander and Margaret Murray. Alexander,… Read More »

Hendrie, Archibald

Archibald Hendrie was born on 6 December 1893 in Barrhead, Neilston Parish in Renfrewshire, Scotland. His father Archibald Hendrie, a calico machine tenter, was from Bonhill, Dunbarton while his mother Jessie Little, a cotton mill worker, was from Neilston. Archibald and Jessie married on 30 December 1892 in Barrhead. Jessie, a widow, had previously married… Read More »

Gibson, Alexander

Birth date and location: Alexander Gibson was born  in his parents’ home  on an autumn morning, September 7, 1885 in Newton, Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland.   He was the second child of Alexander Gibson, a Journeyman Currier  and Agnes Crawford  Miller. Agnes and Alexander  were married November 10, 1882, in Agnes’s hometown of Dailly, Alexander.  In… Read More »

Boyce, Cyril Delamere

Cyril Delamere Boyce was born on 21 May 1894 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His father Arthur Cyril Boyce was born in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England and after graduating from Osgoode Hall in Toronto, practiced law in Port Arthur, Ontario before moving to Rat Portage. He married Victoria May Louisa Machin on 14 October… Read More »

Barley, Bertie Tomlinson

Although he gave his place of birth as Worcester on his attestation papers, Bertie Tomlinson Barley was born on 27 January 1882 in Claines, Worcestershire in England, a small community outside of the city. His father John Barley was from New Brighton, Cheshire while his mother Eleanor (Ellen) Pardoe was from Claines. The couple married… Read More »

Leyoux, Emile

Sapper Emile Leyoux enlisted three times using three different names (Emile Leyou/Leyoux, Emile Gosselin and Emil Gosling). He served in Canada, Great Britain and France for about 18 months and returned to Canada in March 1919. Emile probably grew up in the district of Nipissing, Ontario but nothing has been found yet about his early… Read More »

Johnston, David Daniel

Corporal David Daniel Johnston was married and the father of five children when he enlisted in the spring of 1915. He served overseas for three years and returned home shortly after the Armistice. David was the youngest son of Henry Johnston and Elizabeth McConnell of Whytewold, Manitoba. Henry was a farmer and he and his… Read More »

Nestok, Martin

According to his later obituary, Martin Nestok was born on 16 March 1890 in Russia. Although a record was not found, the 1921 Canada census suggested that he immigrated to Canada in 1910. On 2 June 1915, in Port Arthur, Ontario, Martin signed his attestation papers. His place of birth was given as Gorodnos (Grodno),… 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 »