John Alexander Stephen, RAF, died in Canada 02/09/1920

[PaulC78]

Hi folks, need a little help with this man:

John Alexander Stephen, discharged from the Canadian Mounted Rifles on 07/11/1918 and joined the RAF on 09/11/1918. The above pension card suggests that he died after discharge on 02/09/1920 but I'm not certain, he was granted a temporary commission as 2nd Lieutenant on 13/06/1919 and I can't tell what happened to him after that.

According to Find-a-Grave he is buried at Valley View Cemetery in Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, so he presumably died in Canada, but I haven't been able to locate a death record.

If he died after discharge then he may be a non-starter as I don't see any evidence of a service-related disability, but obviously it's a different story if it turns out he was still in service.

RAF papers are on FMP, Canadian record here: https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=249893

[PRC]

AIR76 available as a free download from the National Archive, but not looking overly helpful. https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8230151

Looks like he was posted to a Repatriation camp at Shorncliffe in early April 1919 after a spell in hospital.

Like FindAGrave his date of birth is shown as the 18th July 1894 in the AIR76 service record.

May be a co-incidence but a 25 year old John Stephen sailed from Liverpool on the 9th August 1919 aboard the S.S. Caronia bound for New York via Halifax, which was reached on the 17th August 1919. John Stephen disembarked there and gave his final destination as Vancouver, British Columbia. He stated he was Canadian and had lived in the country for 21 of his 25 years. Many of the entries on the surrounding pages are of an age making it likely they were serving, and no occupation details are given.  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2H2R-1D5

"(The Caronia) returned to Cunard on 7 August 1916 and after a refit, she was unexpectedly requisitioned by the British government this time to carry out trooping duties between Halifax and Liverpool.

Caronia continued in this role until the end of the war, at which time she assisted in the repatriation of Canadian troops.

Caronia was finally returned to Cunard and re-entered commercial service on 12 September 1919."
https://www.chriscunard.com/history-fleet/cunard-fleet/1900-1930/caronia/

Cheers,
Peter

Edited 3 September , 2023 by PRC
Typo

[PaulC78]

Thanks Peter.

The AIR76 file is on FMP, like you say it doesn't contain much.

Suspect the passenger list you found is just coincidence, it says he was born in Canada whereas the two RAF records say he was born at Tain in Scotland.