Walter Earnest Peter Flett, DSC, was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1887. Flett played with the Toronto Argonauts in the 1907 season and was the league leading scorer with 29 points. During the war Flett served in the RNAS with the No.3 Naval Wing. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and the Cross de Guerre in 1917. The collection consists of more than twenty letters from 1916 through to 1917.
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.
Harry Henry Foote was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1892 and enlisted in September 1914. The collection consists of one letter written enroute to England in October 1914 and one photograph taken at Valcartier, Quebec in 1914.
Kenneth Walter Foster was born in London, England, in 1897 and immigrated to Canada sometime prior to World War I. He enlisted in Vernon, British Columbia, in July 1915 and served overseas until the end of the war. The collection consists of four photographs and one extended memoir written sometime after the war detailing his service. Foster died in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1947.
Captain Jordan Mott Fowler was born in Redbank, New Jersey, U.S.A. on April 16, 1884, to parents Jordan M. and May Pricilla (née Harvey) Fowler. He was a student at the University of Toronto, graduating as a medical doctor in 1908. After spending two years interning in Michigan and New York, Fowler moved to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, eventually going into practice in 1914 with Dr. R.L. Fraser in Victoria, B.C.
He received his commission as Captain in the Canadian Army Medical Corps (C.A.M.C.) on April 13, 1916. Arriving in England in September of 1916 he served as a Medical Officer with the 15th Brigade, Canadian Field Ambulance (C.F.A.). In early 1917 Fowler was posted to the 14th Brigade, C.F.A., and was sent over to France later that August. With the conclusion of the war Fowler returned to Canada and was demobilized on June 24, 1919.
The Fowler Collection contains the diary he kept from December of 1917 to December of 1918. Also included are the letter and certificate that he received in recognition of his being Mentioned in Dispatches by Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, in Haig’s letter of March 16th, 1919, “for gallant and distinguished services in the Field.”
External links:
Capt. Fowler’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Fowler’s Mentioned in Dispatches was published in The London Gazette on July 8, 1919 (#31448, p.8824).
William Fradley was born in Bristol, England in July, 1891. He enlisted in Toronto in July, 1915 with the 35th Battalion and sailed to England in October, 1915. Fradley was transferred to the 23rd Reserve Battalion and then later to the 3rd Battalion, in which he was serving at the time of his death on September 23, 1916. The collection currently consists of a photograph of Fradley and a copy of his will.
John William Fraser was born in Riviere-du-Loup, Quebec in April, 1896. Fraser enlisted in Montreal in September, 1915 and served overseas first with the 73rd Battalion and then later with the 85th Battalion. The collection consists of one letter written to his father from Fraser's commanding officer about his son as a soldier.
Private Edward James Fright was born in Birchington-on-Sea, England on December 12th, 1896, to parents Edward James & Christiana Fright. Both died while Edward was quite young leaving himself and his younger brother Alfred orphaned at the ages of five and two. They were taken in at Dr. Barnardo's Home for Orphans in London, England.
Both Edward and Alfred were sent to Canada as "Home Children" in March of 1910, aboard the ship Dominion. Both were eventually placed into domestic work with a family in South Dorchester, Elgin County, Ontario.
On January 1st, 1916, in Saint Thomas, Ontario, Edward enlisted with the 91st Overseas Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He arrived in England abord the troop ship S.S. Olympic on July 5th, 1916, and was sent to France in October of that same year.
Pte. Fright was killed in action in an attack at Bellevue Spur at Passchendaele, Belgium, on October 26th, 1917. He is commemorated on the Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial in Belgium.
External links:
Pte. Fright's service record (Reg/Ser# 189881) is available online through Library and Archives Canada.
Library and Archives Canada also has immigration information for Fright as part of their database on Home Children.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Pte. Fright can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
The Memorial Honour Roll Plaque to the Home Children of WWI, designed by Dawn Heuston, was sponsored by veteran Len Brown in memory of his mother Miriam Ann Morris who came to Canada as British Home Child. A high resolution jpg of the Plaque can be downloaded from the website of the British Home Child Advocacy and Research Association.
Harry Vincent Fuller was born in St. Paul, Minnesota in January, 1894. His family later moved to Calgary where he enlisted in May, 1916 with the 137th Battalion. Fulller served overseas in France until his return at the end of the war in 1919. The collection currently consists of several photographs and a portion of a notebook he kept in 1917.
Captain John Roberts Gale was born in Youngs Cove, New Brunswick, on June 28th, 1890, to parents George Hamilton & Alma Kate Gale. Prior to enlistment John Gale worked as a school teacher.
He enlisted in Sussex, N.B. with the 64th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, on September 27th, 1915. Shipping for England in March of 1916, he soon proceeded to France where in July he transferred to the 25th Canadian Infantry Battalion, seconded to the 5th Trench Mortar Battery, with whom he served with for the majority of his time overseas.
He was injured or taken ill on several occasions, including gas poisoning from a shell early in 1917, trench fever in June of 1917, and a gunshot wound to his leg in 1918. Capt. Gale was demobilized on June 30 of 1920.
The letters and photo in the John Gale Collection were donated as part of his brother's, the Private Ralph Clement Gale Collection. Ralph Gale served with the 6th Canadian Mounted Rifles and was captured in battle on June 2nd, 1916, and was held as a German Prisoner of War (P.O.W.) until his death on July 29th, 1918. Most of the John Gale letters relate to his brother’s P.O.W. status; many are from Evelyn Rivers Bulkeley, Head of the Prisoner of War Branch of the Canadian Red Cross. Also included are letters from a German acquaintance of Ralph who writes to John after the war describing conditions under Occupation in the Rhineland.
External links:
Capt. John Roberts Gale’s service record (Serv/Reg# not assigned) can be viewed/downloaded in pdf format through Library and Archives Canada.
Private Ralph Clement Gale was born in Youngs Cove, New Brunswick, on June 19, 1895, to parents George Hamilton and Alma Kate Gale. Prior to enlistment Ralph Gale worked as a school teacher.
Having previously served in the 28th Dragoons Militia, Gale enlisted for overseas service at Amherst, Nova Scotia, with the 6th Canadian Mounted Rifles on April 21, 1915. He sailed from Canada in July of 1915 and after training in England arrived in France in October of 1915, where he transferred to the 4th Battalion Canadian Mounted Rifles in early January of 1916.
He was captured during the Battle of Mount Sorrel near Ypres, Belgium, on June 2, 1916, and was held as a Prisoner of War in Germany at the Friedrichsfeld Camp in 1916/1917, and the Munster II (Rennbahn) Camp in 1918. Just a few months prior to the Armistice he died in a P.O.W. hospital (most likely of influenza), in Dortmund, Germany, on July 29, 1918. He was buried in the Cologne Southern Cemetery, Germany.
The earliest letters in the Gale Collection were written by Ralph Gale to his mother and his sisters prior to his capture in 1916. Once he became a P.O.W. he continued to write from the prison camps in Germany. Also included is correspondence between various family members and from organizations such as the Canadian Red Cross Society, and two photos of Ralph taken while held at Friedrichsfeld. There are several letters written by Canadian soldiers who were interred with Ralph at the Friedrichsfeld and/or Munster II (Rennbahn) Camps, and who wrote to his family following his death. Links to their Service Records have been included below. (Among them is George Williams who is also connected to the collection of fellow Rennbahn P.O.W. William McLeish through their work together in camp theatrical productions.)
Ralph’s brother Captain John Roberts Gale was also in service overseas in World War One, including serving with 5th Canadian Trench Mortar Battery, 2nd Canadian. Division, France. As most of the correspondence to or from John Gale relates directly to his brother’s internment as a P.O.W., all of his letters have been included as part of the Ralph Gale Collection, although they can also be viewed separately in the Capt. John Roberts Gale Collection.
The letters from the Canadian Red Cross to the Gale family were through the work of Evelyn Rivers Bulkeley who as Head of the Prisoner of War Branch managed all requests for aid regarding Canadian P.O.W.’s throughout the period of Robert Gale’s internment.
External links:
Pte. Ralph Gale’s service record (Serv/Reg# 111184) 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 Pte. Ralph Gale can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Service Records of the other P.O.W.'s with letters in the Ralph Gale collection, at Library and Archives Canada:
Gunner George Henry Flewelling, 1st Canadian Divisional Ammunition Column, service record, (Serv/Reg# 43719)
Private Arnold Garfield Griffin, 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles, service record (Serv/Reg# 111209)
Private John Paine Aitchison Hayes, 9th Canadian Mounted Rifles, service record (Serv/Reg# 114326)
Private George Buford Williams, 7th Battalion, service record (Serv/Reg# 16487)
Robert John Galloway was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba in March 1898. He later moved to Cabri, Saskatchewan and enlisted in Swift Current, Saskatchewan in April, 1916. Galloway served with the 102nd Bn until his death at Vimy Ridge, April 9, 1917.
Ernest George Gardner was born in Nova Scotia, Canada in 1894 and enlisted at Liverpool, Nova Scotia on March 1, 1916. The collection consists of one letter written in 1917.
John Gardner was born in Belfast, Ireland, in October 1890. He immigrated to Ottawa, Ontario, where he enlisted in November 1915 with the 77th Overseas Battalion. Gardner served overseas with D Coy., 47th Battalion, and was killed January 3, 1917. The collection consists of two postcards and a newspaper article regarding his death.
Frederik Batts Garlick was born in Oxford, England, in July 1883. Prior to the war he immigrated to Canada and enlisted in June 1916 in Peterborough, Ontario. He went overseas and was with the 93rd Battalion until he was injured during training and sent back to Canada in 1917. The collection currently consists of three letters and three clippings.
Wesley Garrod, MM, was born in Ispswich, England, in November 1891, and sometime prior to the war he immigrated to Brownlee, Saskatchewan. Garrod enlisted in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, in January 1916. He served overseas as a corporal with the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles Battalion and was awarded the Military Medal for bravery. Garrod was killed in September 1918. The collection consists of one letter from Garrod to his brother.
Private Thomas Garton was born in Huron, Ontario, on August 16, 1887, to parents George and Mary Garton.
Garton enlisted in Clinton, Ont., with the 33rd Battalion on January 14, 1915. He shipped overseas on the S.S. Scandinavian in June of 1915. Following several weeks training in England, he was posted to France to join the 1st Battalion on August 8. Wounded in action September 24, 1916, he died later the same day at No. 3 Casualty Clearing Station. Garton was buried at Puchevillers British Cemetery, Somme, France.
Content notes:
The majority of the collection’s letters were written by Garton to his friend Maudelean (“Maudie”) Carter of Clinton, Ont., between June 1915 and December 1916. Among the other materials are several French souvenir-type silk postcards, and a keepsake pamphlet from the S.S. Scandinavian summarizing voyage information.
Note on rank: Garton was ranked as a Private at the time of his death but had also previously been a Lance Corporal; as such both ranks are variously used within in the collection materials.
External links:
Pte. Thomas Garton’s service record (Serv/Reg# 400146) can be viewed/downloaded through Library and Archives Canada.
WWI Circumstances of Death Registers record card (page #769), Library and Archives Canada.
Burial information is available at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
A memorial page honouring Garton can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
External links for other identified soldiers appearing in Garton’s letters (most were from or enlisted at Clinton, Ontario):
Pte. James Spearpoint, service record (Serv/Reg# 53737); killed in action August 29, 1918.
Pte. Delbert Huller, service record (Serv/Reg# A335 and 654344).
Pte. Thomas Israel Britton, service record (Serv/Reg# 1400686 and 880614).
Pte. Harold Vernon Mennel, service record (Serv/Reg# 02889 and 400135); died February 21, 1919.
Pte. George Bezzo (aka William Chester Bezzo), service record (Serv/Reg# 7119).
Pte. Milton Rintoul (aka Milton James Garton, James Milton Garton) service record (Serv/Reg# 158171).
Robert Andrew Garvie was born in Owen Sound, Ontario in November 1887. Prior to the war the family moved west, and Garvie was recruited at The Pas, Manitoba in October, 1917. He served overseas with the 9th Battalion Canadian Engineeers, was wounded in September, 1918 and returned to Canada in 1919. The collection currently consist of an undated memoir and two photographs.
Clarence Reginald Gass was born in Bayfield, Nova Scotia in April, 1894. He enlisted in Halifax in November, 1915 and served overseas until the end of the war. The collection consists of more than forty letters, as well as photographs, telegrams and miscellaneous items related to the 85th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Nova Scotia Highlanders) with whom he served.
William Vincent Gauthier was born in North Rustico, Prince Edward Island in October, 1897 and enlisted in Charlottetown in 1915. Gauthier served oveseas Enland, France, and Belgium until his return to Canada at the end of the war. The collection consists of a memoir written by Gauthier sometime after the war.
Lance Corporal Ralph Milton Gibson was born in Petrolia, Ontario, September 16, 1893 to parents John and Helena Gibson. He enlisted on December 20, 1915 in Montreal, Quebec with the 5th Overseas Universities Company (McGill Co.). Gibson sailed to France on April 1, 1916 aboard the S.S Olympic, arriving in England on April 11, 1916. On June 7, 1916 he was sent to France, where he joined the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (Eastern Ontario Regiment). While serving with the PPCLI Gibson was killed at Vimy Ridge on April 9, 1917.
External links:
Lance Corporal Ralph Milton's service record (Serv/Reg# 487442) 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 Gibson can be visited online at the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Lance Corporal Ralph Milton's Circumstances of Death Register card can be viewed/downloaded through Library and Archives Canada.
