A British immigrant in the CEF - one story

[Canadawwi]

I thought I'd post this sample from my collection so that I could let others know that there is a chance that I might have a WWI era article on a British immigrant to Canada. I have thousands of such clippings as posted below, and I keep them on my pc sorted alphabetically by surname. Feel free to send me an email through this forum and I can always check to see if I have something.

This tragic story refers to Pte. Henry John Phillips, 916737, 2nd Mounted Rifles, British Columbia Regiment, CEF. He left Toronto with the 198th Battalion (Buffs) and had been in Toronto just 5 years. He was killed in action on August 8th, 1918. Remembered on the Vimy Memorial. He was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Phillips, 12, London End, Woburn, Bedfordshire, England and husband of Florence Jessie Taylor of 47, Princes Avenue, Watford, Herts, England. Perhaps somebody is looking for information about this man. His brother Sgt. Arthur Phillips was killed on September 4th, 1916 and was with the British army.

Pte. H. J. Phillips - record on the Canadian Virtual Memorial

 

[leigh]

Hi,

Hows about.....

Alfred Henry Perrott 27243

Owen Charles Perrott 35509

Neither are casualties

Regards

Leigh

[Desmond7]

It never fails to amaze me how 'press friendly' people were in those days .. even in the depths of grieving. Thank God says I or we'd be losing out on a lot of info/human interest stories.

Excellent.

Des

[Canadawwi]

I don't have anything for that name, but will take another look. Articles mostly appeared when someone was wounded or died, although there was a feature in at least two Toronto papers where photos of all the men who had enlisted that week were published. This was to give the men some recognition and to motivate others to enlist. Sometimes all the men in a specific unit were photographed and this was published in the paper when they were ready to leave for further training in England (see picture below of Toronto's 74th battalion, published in the Toronto Star on December 27th, 1915).

[leigh]

PARROTT , WILLIAM ROBERT 760684

PARRETT , GORDON VIVIAN CYRIL 745159

PARRETT , GEORGE 348559

PARRETT , HENRY 61088

PARRETT , WILLIAM WALKER 467526

PORRITT , JOHN MILLIGAN 47312

PORRITT , JOHN WILLIAM 649327

And those as well if its possible

They are casualties.

Thanks in advance for any effort

Leigh

[roger]

Could you have a look for

VERITY, JOSEPH CYRIL

Private

2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles (British Columbia Regt.)

31

01/11/1917

687129

Son of Watson and Mary Verity, of Warren House, Ellington, Masham, Yorks., England.

YPRES (MENIN GATE) MEMORIAL

Thank you,

Roger.

[Canadawwi]

Leigh,

Thank you for posting the names. I will refer to them here when I check again. I hope I can find something for you.

Des,

I have also noticed how grieving families shared many details with the reporter who arrived to take the story, rather than slamming the door. I think they wanted the story in print as they were very proud of their family's contribution. In addition, for the men who were not wealthy or connected with institutions that would publish a roll of honour with a biography (such as the private schools - "Private school" in Canada means public school in England, or universities), this was the only chance they might have for something appear in print. I will later be posting a full article about how this was coordinated by one newspaper in Toronto.

Here's an article that tells the story of one Scottish immigrant to Canada. One can just picture the sad scene, and how the family pulled out the letters and photographs to share with the reporter...

(Pte. Alexander Bartholemew Johnson, 15th Battalion CEF, died September 26th, 1916. Remembered on the Vimy Memorial. Pte. Johnson was born in Falkirk Scotland in 1884 and worked as a plasterer in Toronto. He enlisted in Toronto in August 1915 with the 92nd Highlanders, and his wife's name was Elizabeth.)

[Mark Hone]

Any sign of Sydney A. Olive, late of Canadian Engineers? He was an old boy of Bury Grammar School, Lancashire, where I teach. He was born about 100 yards from where I live. He emigrated to Canada and lived at 60 Mackay Avenue Toronto with his wife Sarah. He joined 2nd Canadian Engineers and was badly wounded at 2nd Ypres. He was invalided out but died sometime before the end of the war. He appears on our school war memorial but is not commemorated by the CWGC. I have obtained his service record, but it does not give his date of death. He will be one of the 5 CEF men who went to Bury Grammar School whom we shall remember on our October Battlefields tour.

[Canadawwi]

Hi Mark,

I have nothing on Sydney Olive at the moment, but I will take a another look next week and get back to you if I find anything.

To everyone posting a request on this thread: I will check into every name listed here and report back to you if I find anything.

I am still going through newspapers page by page, so if I don't find something now, I still might find something in the future. I have gone through every day of the Toronto papers for 1916 and 1918 and Jan-May 1917.

Marika

[Mark Hone]

Thanks Marika. Just to clarify-no fewer than 17 Bury Grammar School boys served with the CEF, five died, including our oldest war death Richard Hopkinson, a driver in Canadain Field Artillery,who was 54.

[Gary Samson]

Hi Marika,

First of all, many thanks for your kind offer. In your collection, do you have anything on:

- 925219 Pte Arthur George BECK 5th Bn, Canadian Infantry KiA 28/04/1917

- 412512 Pte George Cecil PARSONS 24th Bn, Canadian Infantry KiA 15/08/1917

Gary

[Canadawwi]

Hi!

I will be checking into everyone's request on this thread, and will post anything I find or contact you.

I've started at the top of the thread, and was able to find just one newspaper clipping for George Parrett #348559. This is one that I donated at least a year ago to the Canadian Virtual Memorial - therefore you may have already seen it. I also donated his biography from the church he attended - if you go to the link here, then click on "photo collection" then click again on his photograph to enlarge it, you will see his biography posted underneath. That church has a nice memorial plaque inside - there is an image of it in the Trinity War book (I have this book), but I am still trying to get into the church to get an actual photo of the plaque. This church isn't open to the public because of the potential for vandalism in that area.

Here's the link on the CVM record mentioned above:

Pte. George Parrett

For Porritt, I found the following article. I've retyped it because it is in poor condition.

**************************************

Article from the Toronto Star - May 1st, 1917

Pte. Wm. Porritt Dead.

Pte. Wm. Porritt died of wounds according to the official casualty list. He had been in France about two and a half years, leaving with the first contingent. He was born in England 26 years ago, and had resided in Canada for about seven years. While in this city he lived at 14 Russell street. He is married, and his home is in England.

***************************************

Best regards, Marika

[leigh]

Thats great Marika

Thanks for the effort and I will add it to my growing information.

If your anywhere near Ottawa I'll buy you a Keiths next time I am over.

Many regards for you effort

Leigh

[Canadawwi]

Success! Here's something about Owen Charles and Alfred Perrott. Article dated May 7th, 1915, Toronto Star. Members of Toronto's famous 48th Highlanders! The museum is just a few blocks away from me today (pictures on my website).

[Terry]

Marika,

I wonder if you might check out these fellows, all 1915 casualties from the 1st Division:

- 6832 Pte.Alexander W.Mathieson, 1st Bn., KIA 23 Apr.,1915

- 18474 Pte.Carl Boolsen, 2nd Bn., KIA 26 Apr.,1915

- 7654 Pte. John Legg, 2nd Bn., DOW 19 Nov.,1915

- 8078 L/Cpl. Robert L. Butcher,2nd Bn., KIA 27 Apr.,1915

- 22074 Pte. Ernest R. Latham, 7th Bn., KIA 24 Apr.,1915

- 24604 Pte. John R. W. Hollands,13th Bn., KIA 23 Apr.,1915

And two men who were made prisoner at 2nd Ypres, April,1915:

- 494 L/Cpl.Frank Sharp, 8th Bn.

- 9788 Pte. Herbert Gardner, 3rd Bn.

Cheers,

Terry

[Canadawwi]

Terry,

I was able to find something on two of the names you posted. These are all Toronto Star articles. The "Herbert Gardner" seems to be the same man (3rd battalion), but the Frank Sharp info from the casualty list isn't detailed enough for confirmation, but I'll post it anyway.

To eveyone else who posted requests - if I find something I will let you know - so far I could not find anything on Joseph C. Verity, Arthur G. Beck, and George C. Parsons. I will keep these names on hand in case something turns up in the future.

Marika

The attached picture is from a newspaper article dated May 20th, 1915.

[Canadawwi]

An article from May 15th, 1915 - re Herbert Gardner - missing.

[Canadawwi]

And the reference to Frank Sharp - published May 29th, 1915

[Canadawwi]

And the casualty list - published May 15th, 1915

[Gary Samson]

... so far I could not find anything on ... Arthur G. Beck, and George C. Parsons. I will keep these names on hand in case something turns up in the future.

Many thanks indeed for taking the time to look, Marika. Much appreciated.

All the best

Gary

[Canadawwi]

Gary:

Thanks for your note. I did find one thing so far - it is the official casualty list with G. C. Parsons' name listed. It was published in the Toronto Star on Sept. 6th, 1917, and I believe the same list was published in newspapers across Canada.

I'm sorry I could not find anything else - but I will keep on checking.

Best regards, Marika

[Terry]

Marika,

Many thanks for your information on Gardner. Sharp is probably not the same fellow, as you say.

Cheers,

Terry

[pilot]

Hello

I'm looking for any cliping regarding CEF soldiers fallen during the battle of Amiens august 1918.

regards

[Canadawwi]

Pilot,

Hopefully I can help you. I have hundreds of clippings of CEF soldiers who died during August 1918. However, the newspaper articles at that time did not state "battle of Amiens", simply that the man died, and usually (but not always) the date of death. This was a partly a result of censorship. Censorship also meant that the unit he was with at death is not generally mentioned.

Therefore I could burn a CD and send you all the clippings I have from that time frame, but you'd need to look through them to determine if they fit your needs. I'd probably need to send you August - November since there was often a delay in the death being reported, plus, you might want to include the men who died of wounds - and this could happen several months after the battle.

Each file is named with the man's name and the date the article appeared in the newspaper. I have also wherever possible looked up the man's actual record, and I can send you an excel spreadsheet with all this information.

It would be wonderful if you could make use of them. Email me to discuss (email address is in my profile).

Best regards,

Marika

[dorrie]

Hello Marika

have you any information on John Edwin Yates he enlisted in the CEF at Weyburn and was a member of the 152nd Battalion. At the time of his death (1st Nov 19170 however he had transferred to the RFC. He was born in Nottinghamshire and at some stage moved to Canada where he was a DRug Clerk.

Thanks

Dorrie