Harry Morris was born in Montreal in 1882 and enlisted 87th Battalion in Montreal in November 1915. He served in France with a trench mortar battery and was wounded early in 1917. Morris was discharged in February 1918 as a result of his wounds and returned home to Montreal. The collection consists of numerous photographs, telegrams, four letters, one poem, and miscellaneous documents. One of the letters is an extended account of the being wounded and the process of medical treatment.
Title
WWI
These collections contains any material relating to Canada from 1914 to 1918 from either the home front or the battlefront. External links in collection descriptions are either to online attestation papers at Library and Archives Canada or casualty and burial information at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Gordon J. Morrisette was born in the Eastern Townships of Quebec near Minton in 1895. He attended elementary school in North Hatley where he first met Marjorie Reed, whom he married after WWI, and who was the recipient of these letters. While attending McGill University he enlisted May 1, 1916, with the siege battery raised by the principal of McGill, Sir William Peterson, which eventually became the 7th Canadian Siege Battery overseas. At the end of the war he returned to Canada, completed his engineering degree at McGill, and married Marjorie in 1924. The collection consists of more than forty letters sent by Gordon to Marjorie from 1916 to 1919.
Private Fredrick James Duncan Morrison was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, on December 19, 1892, to parents Murdock and Mary Morrison. Fred was still quite young when his family, which included five older sisters, moved to Ladysmith, B.C.
With prior military experience in the 101st Edmonton Regiment, he enlisted in Valcartier, Quebec, on September 24, 1914, and shipped overseas that October. He served in France with the 5th Battalion, 2nd Infantry Brigade. He was killed in action near Courcelette, France, on September 27, 1916, and is commemorated in France on the Vimy Memorial.
Morrison’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 Morrison, 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:
Pte. Morrison’s service record (Serv/Reg# 13016) 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 Morrison can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Pte. Morrison is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial, France, and on the Ladysmith Cenotaph, Rotary Memorial 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 Archive
[Note: There are some name-related discrepancies within Duncan’s Service Record, with his first middle name variously appearing as James, John, and Jason.]
Laura Margaret Morton was born in Kingston, Ontario, in March 1891. She trained as a nurse in Ontario and in 1917 she enlisted with the CAMC. Morton served overseas in France and Britain during the war. The collection consists of her photograph album from her time at the Winwick Hospital in Britain, which during the war was known as the Lord Derby War Hospital. We have scans of the complete album pages as they appeared, as well as the individual photographs on those pages.
Lieutenant Grant Davidson Mowat was born in Meaford, Ontario, on June 10, 1894, to parents Alexander and Annie Elizabeth Mowat. The family later moved to Peterborough, Ont. Following his graduation from Peterborough Normal School, Mowat worked for several years as a schoolteacher. Shortly before his enlistment he had been accepted as a law student at Osgoode Hall in Toronto, Ont.
He was commissioned as an officer with the rank of Captain in February of 1916, and shipped overseas aboard the SS Empress of Britain the following July to join the 93rd Battalion in England. Mowat’s military records show that while stationed in England in April of 1917 he requested to revert to the rank of Lieutenant in order to be posted to France; Lt. Mowat joined the 21st Bn. in France on May 1, 1917.
Mowat was killed in action on August 15, 1917, during the Battle for Hill 70 near Lens. Mowat’s remains were not identified at the time of his death and as such his name was inscribed on the Vimy Memorial. In the 1990s Mowat’s gravesite was identified; he had been buried as an unknown soldier in the Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Pas de Calais, France. A new headstone identifying Mowat’s gravesite was made at that time.
Content notes:
Most of the collection’s letters were written by Mowat to his parents while he was stationed overseas in England and France. Often mentioned is his cousin “Mina” whose letters of the same time period can be found in the Nursing Sister Wilhelmina Mowat Collection.
On rank discrepancies: Mowat’s final rank appears in many records and sources as Captain, however his service record indicates his final rank as Lieutenant; this rank is used for his records with Library and Archives Canada and as such it is what has been used in his collection here.
External links:
Lt. Grant Mowat’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
WWI Circumstances of Death Registers record card (page # 91), Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Mowat can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Mowat is also commemorated on the World War I Memorial Honour Roll in the Great Library at Osgoode Hall, Toronto, Ontario.
Nursing Sister Wilhelmina (“Mina”) Mowat, ARRC, was born January 1, 1888, in Hepworth, Gray County, Ontario.
A graduate of Brandon General Hospital’s Training School for Nurses, Mowat enlisted with the Canadian Army Medical Corps on June 3, 1915, in Montreal, Québec. She spent several months working in England at No. 11 Canadian General Hospital, Moore Barracks, Shorncliffe, before her deployment to France in February of 1916, where she served with the No. 3 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, C.A.M.C. After returning to England in April of 1917 to recover from a severely broken leg, she resumed work at No. 11 Can. Gen. Hosp., Moore Barracks. In June of 1918 Mowat received the Royal Red Cross 2nd Class (also known as Associate of the Royal Red Cross), given in recognition of exceptional services in military nursing.
Mowat returned to Canada in June of 1919 and continued to work as a military nurse until her demobilization discharge on September 30, 1920. That same year she married Richard Douglas Waugh, a WWI army veteran who had served in the Canadian Expeditionary Force with Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians).
Content notes:
The Wilhelmina Mowat materials were donated together with those of her cousin, Lt. Grant Davidson Mowat. Wilhelmina is mentioned in many of Grant’s letters, e.g. January 29, 1917, in which he writes about the leave they spent together in London and East Sandling. Both photographs were sourced from Library and Archives Canda (see links below).
External links:
N.S. Mina Mowat’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada; and photographs here and here.
Pte. Richard Douglas Waugh’s service record (Serv/Reg# 14451 and/or 14551) at Library and Archives Canada.
The award to Mowat of the Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class, was published in The London Gazette on June 21, 1918 (#30758, p. 7313).
A biography and photos, as well as a telegram and letter related to Mowat’s ARRC award, have been posted on the provincial Archives of Manitoba website, part of a scrapbook made by her husband Richard Douglas Waugh, Waugh family fonds.
Jay Batiste Moyer was born in Toronto, Ontario, in January 1897. Moyer enlisted in Toronto in October 1915 with the 95th Overseas Battalion and served overseas with the Western Ontario Regiment. He was killed at Vimy Ridge, April 9, 1917. The collection consists of more than seventy letters written between 1915 and 1917 and one photograph.
Louis Wilfred Mullen was born in Cove Head, Prince Edward Island, in April 1896. Mullen previously was a member of the militia before he enlisted in February 1916 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with the No. 11 Overseas Field Artillery Brigade Ammunition Column. He served overseas with the 43rd Battery until his return to Canada at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of his photograph album containing over one hundred photographs, a letter, postcards, and other miscellaneous personal items.
Lance Corporal Richard Gardiner Munroe was born in Sundridge, Ontario to parents Andrew Percy and Agnes Munroe. He enlisted at Parry Sound with the 162nd Overseas Battalion on January 27, 1916.
Shipping for England on board the SS Caronia in November of 1916, he was called-up to action in France in March 1917 with the 123rd Battalion. He was serving with the 8th Battalion Canadian Engineers at the conclusion of the war and was demobilized on February 2, 1919.
External links:
L.Cpl. Munroe’s service record (Reg/Ser# 657440) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.
The collection for Lance Corporal Richard Gardiner Munroe was created from the donation of the Gladys Hornibrook materials. Living in the small village of Sundridge near North Bay, Ontario, Gladys was only thirteen years old when World War One began. While the majority of her correspondence was with her uncles in overseas service, the letters, photos, and other memorabilia that she saved from the war years included keepsakes relating to other local solders. Among them was the Munroe letter posted here.
Michael Francis Murphy was born February 27, 1894, in St. John's, Newfoundland. Murphy enlisted on December 15, 1914, with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment (sevice #754), part of the original "C" coy. Murphy served in Gallipoli, Egypt, and France, and returned to Newfoundland at the end of the war. The collection currently consists of two photographs of Murphy and one letter to his daughter. Murphy's service file is available online through the Provincial Archives of Newfoundland and Labrador (The Rooms).
This collection contains over 30 letters from World War One published in The Nanaimo Daily News, a local newspaper published in Nanaimo, British Columbia. Newspapers across Canada regularly printed letters home from overseas, either letters written directly to the newspaper by the soldiers, or first written to the family and then contributed to the paper by the family. Collections such as those from The Nanaimo Daily Free Press provide a fascinating look at the relationship of community and war as played out in the pages of the local newspaper. The dates for which the letters are listed represent the dates on which they were published, as the original dates of the letters are not always indicated. Where the original date of writing is known it will be part of the letter text. Introductions to the letters and editorial comments as they appeared in the newspaper have been left as published. All transcriptions have been taken from copies on microfilm and as such there are no scans for this collection.
Andrew John "Jack" Napier was born in Scotland in 1884. He later immigrated to Canada and enlisted in Winnipeg on September 1, 1915. He was discharged in 1919. The collection consists of one letter, his discharge certificate, and several photographs.
Edward Beverly Nash was born in Gorrie, Ontario, in April 1887. He enlisted in December 1915 with the 161st Battalion in Wroexeter, Ontario. Nash served overseas with the 47th Battalion and the Canadian Machine Gun Corps until he was demobilized and returned to Canada in 1919. The collection currently consists of sixteen letters.
Private Norman Cecil Nayler was born in Marmora, Hastings County, Ontario, on October 26, 1898, to parents John W. and Annie Nayler. Prior to enlistment he worked as a lumberman.
Nayler enlisted with the 230th Forestry Battalion, Canadian Forestry Corps, on March 20, 1917, at Marmora, Ont. He shipped to England aboard the SS Olympic in June of 1917, departing the following month for France with No. 55 Company, C.F.C. He returned to Canada and was discharged April 3, 1919.
Content notes:
The letters were written by Norman Nayler to his brother Walter Nayler between October 1917 and January 1918.
External links:
Pte. Norman Nayler’s service record (Serv/Reg# 1013495) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
[Editor’s note: Collection reviewed June 2023. The Collection Description, letter transcriptions, and content descriptions have been reproofed and revised as needed. Jpg file added of envelope for letter of October 28, 1917; one duplicate jpg file removed.]
Shorey Johnson Neville was born in Cottonwood, Saskatchewan, in September 1888. Neville enlisted at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in May 1916 and then served overseas in France until he was injured and sent to England. Due to his injuries he remained in England with the Khaki University until demobilization, at which time he returned to Canada. The collection consists of ten letters written from 1916 to 1917.
This collection includes letters from area soldiers published in The Speaker, as well as other articles from that paper pertaining to local soldiers and activities in the town. Overall the collection provides an excellent sense of the connection that a small town in Ontario had to World War One through the pages of its local paper. Whenever possible we have linked the names of individuals appearing in the paper with their attestation papers and/or their commemoration through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The Canadian Letters and Images Project is indebted to Dion Loach for graciously sharing his research.
Peter Newman was born in Leyton, England, in 1895 and immigrated to Toronto, Canada, in 1913. He enlisted in September 1914 and served overseas in France and Belgium. Lance Corporal Newman was killed on June 6, 1916. As he has no known grave his name is listed on the Menin Gate, a memorial listing more than 58,000 individuals who died on the Ypres Salient and whose bodies were never found. The collection consists of five letters home from Newman, seveal letters of condolence following his death, photographs, postcards, a songbook, and other miscellaneous items.
John Newton, MC, was born in Limehouse, Ontario, in 1887. He attended The University of Toronto where he was the captain of the University of Toronto football team that won the first Grey Cup in 1909 and then coached the Toronto Argonauts for three years prior to the war. Newton enlisted in May 1916 and served overseas with the Canadian Field Artillery until the end of the war. He was awarded the Military Cross for actions on September 30, 1918. The collection consists of two letters to his wife, several photographs, and his diary from 1916 to 1918.
Ewen Nicholson was born in Grimsay, Scotland, in May 1892, and immigrated to Saskatchewan in 1912. Nicholson enlisted in September 1914, and served overseas in Belgium and France in 1915 and 1916. He was killed June 3, 1916. The collection currently consists of more than forty letters.
Fred Nickle studied medicine at The University of Toronto and joined the British Navy to serve as a Surgeon Probationer. He served in England and at the end of the war returned to Madoc, Ontario where he practised medicine. The collection consists of eight letters written between 1918 and 1919 to his cousin Helen Davis. Other correspondents to Davis include the Daniel Austin Lane collection, the Gordon Shrum collection, and the William Grassie collection.
