Pre-1914 collections | Canadian Letters

Title

Pre-1914

These collections contains all materials prior to World War One, including the Riel Rebellion and the South African War. It also contains materials relating to he service of Canadians outside of Canadian forces, such as the American Civil War and the Spanish-American War. External links in collection descriptions are to online attestation papers at Library and Archives Canada.

Anderton, James Henry Patrick

South African (Boer) War Collection
Private James Henry Patrick Anderton was born in Toronto, Ontario, on November 22, 1870, to parents William and Helen Anderton. Prior to his enlistment he as worked as a carpenter and had also served in the 5th (British Columbia) Regiment of Garrison Artillery, Canadian Army.

Anderton enlisted to serve in the South African (Boer) War in Victoria, B.C., on October 20, 1899. He arrived in Cape Town, South Africa, on April 11, 1900, where he served with the 2nd (Special Service) Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry. He was invalided back to England on June 6, 1900, and was subsequently discharged from service on December 25, 1900.

Content notes:
The collection includes an 1899 group photograph of the 5th Regiment; the description written on the photo references “Sergeant Northcott,” believed to be Sgt. Joseph Roger Northcott (link to service file provided below). The second photo, also from 1899, is of three soldiers at the Green Point Common military encampment, Cape Town, South Africa.

External links:
Pte. James Henry Patrick Anderton’s service record (Serv/Reg# 7016) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Sgt. Joseph Roger Northcott’s service record (Serv/Reg# 7002) at Library and Archives Canada.
Information on the 2nd (Special Service) Battalion, Royal Canadian Regiment of Infantry, is available on the Canadian War Museum website.

Brophy, Lewis Lans

North-West Resistance Collection
Private Lewis Lans Brophy was born in (or around) 1863 in Québec City, Québec, to parents John P. and Mary Anne Brophy. The family later moved to Ottawa, Ontario.

Brophy was serving as a member of Ottawa’s 1st Battalion Governor General’s Foot Guards when the North-West Resistance broke out in 1885. He volunteered in late March to join the newly organized Ottawa Sharpshooters, which soon set out for Battleford (in present day Saskatchewan) where Brophy participated in the Battle of Cut Knife. Brophy returned with his unit to Ottawa in July of 1885.

Content notes:
The collection’s correspondence, written by Brophy between March 31 and June 19 of 1885, chronicles his time with the Ottawa Sharpshooters including the often arduous journey west by rail and on foot, and the Battle of Cut Knife.
Regarding biographical details, Brophy’s exact date of birth is uncertain. The 1871 census lists him as eight years old, which is corroborated by the collection’s obituary clipping of 1918 which references his birth as “about 55 years ago.”
Collection content is posted without editing, as originally created; visitors are strongly encouraged to review and be mindful of the project’s Historical Language Advisory.

External links:
No service record information is accessible online for Pte. Lewis Lans Brophy through Library and Archives Canada at this time, except for the record of his North West Canada Medal, which was issued to most participating military personnel.

Day, Thomas Bertrand

South African (Boer) War Collection
Thomas Bertrand Day was born November 28, 1877, in Woodford County, Sydenham, Ontario, the eldest of six children of Daniel and Jean Day. He enlisted in Toronto in 1901 and was killed at the Battle of Hearts River during the South African War, April 2, 1902. The collection consists of one letter written to his father in 1902.

Dickson, William Haslam

Spanish-American War Collection
William Haslam Dickson was born in Duluth, Minnesota, in 1873 to Canadian parents. When the Spanish-American war broke out in 1898 he volunteered with the 14th Minnesota Volunteers. The Dickson family moved back to Canada sometime after 1900. William died in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1922. The collection consists of eighteen letters written during 1898.

Dore, George Launchberry

South African (Boer) War Collection
George Launchberry Dore was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and enlisted at Pincher Creek, N.W.T., in December 1899 at the age of 23. He served in South Africa with the 2nd Bn. Canadian Mounted Rifles and was discharged in January 1901. The collection currently consists of two letters.

Forbes, Donald M.

American Civil War Collection
Donald Forbes was born sometime in the 1840s, son of Dr. John Forbes and Ann Forbes of Chippawa, Canada West. He first worked in Fergus, Canada West, and later moved to Newark, New Jersey, in the United States. He joined the Union Army in February 1864 and died on June 22, 1864. The collection consists of more than two dozen letters.

Jones, Noble John

South African (Boer) War Collection
Noble John Jones was born in Owen Sound, Ontario, and enlisted for service in South Africa in October 1899 at the age of 27. Jones served in South Africa until he was discharged in November 1900 having completed his year of service. The collection consists of more than forty letters from Jones to his family members back in Canada.

Macdonald, William J.

South African (Boer) War Collection
William J. Macdonald, a medical student, enlisted in Toronto on December 29, 1899, with the 9th Toronto Field Battery. He was 24 years of age. Macdonald served overseas with "C" Field Battery, Royal Canadian Field Artillery until he was discharged in January 1901.

Matier, Alexander

Spanish-American War & World War I Collection
Alexander Matier was born in 1880 and raised in New York City where in May, 1898, he enlisted in the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War. He saw service in Cuba and returned to New York. In 1915 Matier enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force and saw service overseas, where he was wounded in Belgium in the spring of 1916.

He spent more than two years in convalescent hospitals in England and Canada before he was discharged in September 1918. He died in Winnipeg in 1920. More information about this time period is available in his service file, which is unusually detailed about his medical history, including time spent at the Tuxedo Military Hospital in Winnipeg, receiving treatments such as galvanism, faradism, electric current baths and ionization (radiation).

The collection consists of two letters written home from Cuba in 1898 and an extended eighteen page letter written in 1918 detailing his wounding and convalescence.

Please note: Because of the way files are organized on the website, letters written by one author but across multiple wars may not always be visible together (the pages will look very similar, only the headings above the name and the # of letters in the "Collection Contents" list below will be different. If needed, the following links can be used to move between the two time periods of the Matier collection:

Click here to go to the Spanish-American War letters from 1898.

Click here to go to the WWI letter from 1918.

Moodie, Walter Hill

South African (Boer) War Collection
Walter Hill Moodie was born in Québec City, Québec. In October 1899, at age 28, Moodie enlisted in Kaslo, British Columbia, with the 2nd Bn. R.C.R. He served overseas in South Africa until his discharge in October 1900. The collection currently consists of a series of letters that he wrote during that time back to the Kaslo newspaper the Kootenaian.

Robinson, Robert S.

South African (Boer) War Collection
Robert Robinson enlisted in Toronto, Ontario, in January 1900 at the age of twenty-five, and served with the Canadian Mounted Rifles during the South African War. The collection consists of three letters written back to Canada from April 1900 to September 1900.

Rooke, (Robert, Charles, and George)

South African (Boer) War Collection
Robert, Charles, and George Rooke were born in England and moved with their parents William and Hannah Rooke to Saskatchewan to homestead. Robert Percy Rooke, age twenty-two, enlisted in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on February 9 1900 with the Lord Strathcona's Horse. His brother Charles Winn, age twenty-four, also enlisted on January 9, 1900, with the Lord Stathcona's Horse. Both served in South Africa and returned to Canada early in 1901. They both re-enlisted with the Canadian Mounted Rifles, along with their brother George Cyril, age twenty, who enlisted in December 1901, and served in South Africa until the end of the war. The original letters have been donated by the family to the National Archives in Ottawa. The collection consists of more than 40 letters written by the brothers to their family back in Canada.

Stewart, David Morrison

South African (Boer) War Collection
David Morrison Stewart was born in Manitoba in 1881, the youngest of eight children. In 1900 Stewart joined The Lord Strathcona Horse in Winnipeg with whom he served in South Africa. Stewart returned to Manitoba and went to war again in 1915 with the 107th Battalion where he saw service in France. David Stewart Morrison died in 1929. The collection consists of his diary entries from April 1900 to October 1900.

Stewart, Walter F.

North-West Resistance Collection
Walter Stewart was a part of the military force that participated in the Riel Rebellion of 1885. The collection consists of his diary from his enlistment to his return. This diary account was first published in the Weyburn Review, Weyburn Saskatchewan, beginning in April 1966. It was published by the Review with the kind permission of Bob Hamilton, a great-grandson of Stewart. This online version has been made possible with the assistance of Ernest Neufeld of the Weyburn Review. The original introduction to the Review is available here. A copy of this journal is also available at the Toronto Public Library.

Tresham, Alfred Chapman

South African (Boer) War Collection
Alfred Chapman Tresham was born on March 25, 1866, in Leamington, Warwickshire. He was trained in military music at Kneller Hall, Twickenham, and served in two English regiments, the 91st Warwickshire and the 62nd Wiltshire. In 1885 he immigrated to Canada where he served as a bandsman in the Royal Grenadiers Active Militia, the Infantry School Corp at New Fort Barracks, Toronto, and the 2nd Battalion of the Queen's Own Rifles until 1889. In 1895 Tresham resumed his military career as band leader of the 7th Fusiliers in London, Ontario. Two years later he joined the Dufferin Rifles Active Militia (38th Regiment) in Brantford as band leader.Tresham was invited to join the 2nd Canadian Contingent, Special Services, R.C.R. in the South African War. He was deployed as the Sergeant Bugler in October 1899, and invalided due to rheumatism exactly a year later.

The eight letters in this collection originally appeared in the Brantford Courier. Five were written to commissioned officers of the Dufferin Rifles, and three to the Editor of the Brantford Courier. They span, rather unevenly, the period from November 1899 to June 1900. Upon his return to Canada, Tresham remained with the Dufferin Rifles Band & Orchestra until his resignation from military life in 1911. He died in Hamilton of natural causes on August 19, 1943, and was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Brantford.

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