William Pearce Jones was born in North Wales in September 1896. Prior to the war he immigrated with his family to Comox, Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and enlisted in Victoria, British Columbia, in September 1915 with the 67th Battalion. Jones served overseas with the 102nd and 29th Battalions until he was killed in action April 15, 1918. The collection currently consists of more than twenty letters and several photographs. He was the son of John Jones, who also served.

Captain Alex James Kaine, MC, was born in Gorrie, Huron County, Ontario, on March 30, 1870, the seventh of ten children of parents John and Mary (née Pentland) Kaine. Prior to his enlistment in World War I, he worked as an immigration inspector, and had been a member of the Canadian Militia for almost twenty years.

Commissioned as a Lieutenant into the Army’s 8th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, (C.E.F.), he served as the First Contingent recruiting officer in Fort Frances, Ontario, and then as a training officer in Valcartier, Québec. Proceeding to England with the 8th Bn. on October 3, 1914, he remained in England with the C.E.F. until March of 1916 when he was discharged to serve in the British Army as a Lt. with the 2nd Battalion, Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment).

While serving with the Sherwood Foresters, Kaine was awarded the Military Cross on November 16, 1916. From The London Gazette (link below): “His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to confer the Military Cross on the undermentioned Officers and Warrant Officers in recognition of their gallantry and devotion to duty in the Field:— . . . Temp. Lt. Alex James Kaine, Notts. & Derby. R. For conspicuous gallantry in action. He gallantly led his company in attack. Later, with great skill and determination he consolidated the position won. He set a fine example.”

Health issues resulting from multiple wounds suffered while in action at the front led to his eventual discharge from the British Army in June of 1918. Kaine returned to Canada and settled in Fort Frances, Ontario.

The majority of the letters in the collection were written by Alex Kaine to his sister Robina (“Bina” or “Bi”) Kaine, who was working at the time as a schoolteacher in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. Several of the letters were written to Robina Kaine by Ada (last name unknown), a relative living in Knock, Dublin, Ireland. Alex stayed with Ada for several weeks while recovering from a gunshot wound in 1916. Also included is a biographical document written by Alex’s sister Robina describing some of his wartime experiences; this has been posted below under the “Memoir” content section.

External links:
Capt. Kaine’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned*) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
The awarding of the  Military Cross to Kaine was published in The London Gazette on November 16, 1916 (#13012, p.2081). He was granted the honorary rank of Captain upon leaving the British Army, as published on June 25, 1918 (#30769, p.7602).

*WWI officers were not routinely assigned Service/Regimental #s

[Editor’s Note: There are conflicting records regarding Kaine’s date of birth. The date given above is taken from his service record with Library and Archives Canada.]

Sergeant Edward Harold Kemp was born in Maldon, Essex, England, on June 20, 1883. Kemp spent several years with the Northwest Mounted Police before becoming a police constable in Ladysmith, British Columbia, prior to the war. In February of 1915 he left for Victoria, B.C., to join the militia infantry’s 88th Regiment Victoria Fusiliers, shortly followed there by his enlistment with the 48th Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force on March 23, 1915.

Kemp arrived in England in July of 1915 and was transferred to the 2nd Brigade Canadian Mounted Rifles (C.M.R.) in October that same year, and proceeded with them to France on October 24, 1915.He was with the 4th Battalion C.M.R. when he was reported missing after action in June of 1916. His body was reported found three months later by an officer of the 4th German Army. His date of death was declared as June 2, 1916, and he was posthumously promoted to the rank of Sergeant. Kemp is commemorated at the Menin Gate Memorial in Ypres, Belgium.

Kemp’s name is listed on the Ladysmith Cenotaph along with forty other soldiers who were born, lived, or worked in Ladysmith, British Columbia, and who died during the First World War. Seven of these soldiers, including Kemp, had wartime letters published by The Ladysmith Chronicle newspaper (see links below). 

The complete list of soldiers in the can be found in the Ladysmith and District Historical Society collection.

External links:
Sgt. Kemp’s service record (Serv/Reg# 430787) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Kemp can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
His name is inscribed on the Ladysmith Cenotaph, Rotary Peace Garden, Ladysmith, British Columbia.
A collection of WWI soldiers' letters published in The Ladysmith Chronicle was undertaken by the Ladysmith & District Historical Society through their work with the Ladysmith Archives.

Private David Wesley Kerr was born in Elmvale, Ontario, on March 23, 1888, to parents John and Janet Kerr.

Kerr enlisted in Elmvale, Ontario, with the 177th Overseas Battalion on June 9, 1916, and shipped for England aboard the SS Metagama in May of 1917. While on board he took ill and died on May 11, 1917, and was buried at sea.

Content notes:
The collection’s only letter was written shortly after Pte. Kerr’s death by Captain W.G. Clarke, Chaplain with the 235th Battalion, in condolence to Pte. Kerr’s mother Mrs. Janet Kerr of Elmvale, Ontario.

External links:
Pte. David Kerr’s service record (Serv/Reg# 853573) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Kerr can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.

Percy Killingbeck was born in Norwood, Ontario in January, 1895 and enlisted in Peterborough, Ontario in November, 1915.  Killingbeck served overseas with the 52nd and 93rd Battalions until his return to Canada at the end of the war.  The collection currently consists of one letter and one newspaper clipping.

Corporal Alfred John Arthur Killough ("Arthur") was born in Regina, Saskatchewan on January 12th, 1896. After training with the 2nd Contingent in Victoria, he enlisted in November 1914 in Quebec with the 23rd Battalion, Canadian Infantry. Killough was serving in France with the 3rd Battalion at the time of his death on September 4, 1916, when a shell explosion caused a trench cave-in. He is buried in the Sunken Road Cemetery, Contalmaison, Somme, France.

The oldest of 8 siblings, most of the letters in the collection were written to and from Arthur's family from their home on the Merryfield Fruit Ranch in Castlegar, British Columbia:
Capt. Joseph Arthur Killough - father
Lillian Emma Killough - mother
May, Annie, Gwen, Myrtle & "Baby" - sisters
Joe & Harry - brothers
"Auntie" F.A. Clark 

The collection currently consists of nineteen letters, a diary of his voyage overseas, photographs, and other misc. items. Many of the early letters in the Killough collection are unusual in that the majority of CLIP's war letters (and especially those in most WWI collections) were written by service members and then sent home to family & friends.  In the Killough letters we get an uncommon glimpse at the other side of the story – letters written to a soldier by his family and then sent to Arthur while he was still in training here in Canada. How and when these letters were returned to his family in Castlegar is unknown.

Corporal Killough is also remembered online through the Touchstones Nelson Museum of Art and History "First World War Kootenay Soldiers" online photo album.

Lakefield College School (or LCS or "The Grove") was originally a boy's preparatory school founded in 1879 near Lakefield, Ontario. During the war former students of the school corresponded with the headmaster, Rev. Alexander Mackenzie and his family. The collection consist of letters from student written during the war period, as well as numerous photographs.

James Eldon Lane was born in Bruce County, Ontario in February, 1887. He later moved to New Westminster, British Columbia where he worked as a barrister. Lane enlisted in November, 1915 in Kingston, Ontario with the 50th Field Battery, Canadian Field Artillery. He was wounded in July, 1918 and invalided back to Canada in 1919.  The collection currently consists of one letter, three photographs, and a newspaper clipping.

Walter Ross Lane was born in Belmore, Ontario in April, 1893. Lane was a medical student at his time of enlistment in Toronto, Ontario in March, 1915. He served overseas in France but was discharged on medical grounds in August, 1916. Three of his brothers also served - James Eldon Lane, Robert Wallace Lane, and William Stanley Lane.  The collection currently consists of two photographs and one newspaper article.