CEFRG – Canadian Expeditionary Force Research Group 1914-1919
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No.3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) in the Great War
No.3 Canadian General Hospital (McGill) in the Great War describes the origins of the unit beginning in August 1914 with Herbert Stanley Birkett, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine of McGill University. The Call to Arms (4 August 1914 – 5 May 1915) Origins of No.3 Canadian General Hospital When war declared in August, 1914,…
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Canadian War Memorials Exhibition in the Great War
Original cover. In January 1919, the Canadian War Memorials Exhibition opened at the Royal Academy of Arts in London, England. The war had ended only eight weeks earlier, and some artists, such as Richard Jack (1866–1952), were still finishing their paintings at the academy in the days before the exhibition opened. The show travelled to the United States in…
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Private Thomas Lionel Moles in the Great War
Shot at Dawn Private Thomas Lionel Moles the son of Louisa Mudford (formerly Moles), of West Chinnock, Crewkerne, Somerset, England, and the late John Moles. Native of Brompton Ralph (a village and civil parish in the Somerset West and Taunton district of Somerset, England, about 11 miles west of Taunton). Thomas had four years of…
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Nursing Sister Annie Ethel Stinson in the Great War
Born 2 April 1890 in Nepean, Ontario, Annie Ethel Stinson graduated from the Lady Stanley Institute (later known as the Ottawa Civic Hospital Nursing School) in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1913. She trained at the Quebec Military Hospital. Note much of this post available in the Anne E. Ross fonds at Library and Archives Canada. Lt…
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Shoeing Smith Bertram H Hornsby in the Great War
Shoeing Smith Bertram Harry Hornsby son of the widow Mrs Ada L Hornsby of Hamilton, Ontario. Born in Leicester, Leicestershire, England on 31 May 1894. A single farmhand. The 40th Battery known as the Sportsmen’s Battery due to the commanding officer’s preference for men active in clean sport. Enlistment of Driver Bertram Harry Hornsby Driver…
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Private Joseph Henry Quinn in the Great War
One of the smallest soldiers in the CEF, the true identity of Private Joseph Henry Quinn now known. “The smallest man in the Canadians (10th Battalion?), age 15, enlisted in November 1914 at Vancouver. His name was Pte J. Quinn, 57 inches in height, wounded by shrapnel in the right hand at Lens in January…
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Sergeant William Merrifield VC MM in the Great War
Sergeant William Merrifield VC MM born in Brentwood, Essex, England on 9 October 1890. Merrifield came to Canada at the age of 12 with his father. They moved to Sudbury, onto Ottawa and eventually settled in Sault Ste. Marie. In 1914, Merrifield enlisted with the 2nd Battalion to fight in the Great War. He served…
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Pipe Major James Groat in the Great War
Pipe Major James Groat DCM, MM & Bar one of several pipers of the 16th Battalion, CEF, awarded medals of gallantry in the Great War. Groat’s Distinguished Conduct Medal, Military Medal and Bar, represent three awards for gallantry in the face of the enemy. In 1915 the 16th Battalion, Canadian Scottish, had 17 pipers, but…
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Captain Mary Plummer in the Great War
Captain Mary Plummer the daughter of James Henry Plummer and Annie (McConkey) Plummer, Sylvan Tower, Toronto. The Canadian Field Comforts Commission Headquarters – Moore Barracks, Shorncliffe. 1914 In early August of 1914, Plummer organized a fund raising group in Toronto to raise funds for war hospitals. This quickly expanded into fund raising for soldiers’ field…
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Corporal Joe Keeper in the Great War
Corporal Joe Keeper MM, a member of the Norway House Cree Nation born at Walker Lake, Manitoba on 17 January 1886. A long-distance runner, Joseph Benjamin Keeper a member of the 1912 Canadian Olympic team. 1912 Olympics Joseph Benjamin Keeper won seven-mile road races (11,265 m) in 1910 and 1911. In 1911, he set a…
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Lt Wallace Lloyd Algie VC in the Great War
Alton’s Finest Lt Wallace Lloyd Algie born in Alton, 10 June 1891, now part of the Town of Caledon, Ontario. He graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada and in April 1916, he enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Son of Dr. James Algie, and Rachel Algie, of Toronto, Ontario. Brother of Ada E.,…