CEFRG – Canadian Expeditionary Force Research Group 1914-1919
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Sapper Roy Abraham Shapcott in the Great War
Sapper Roy Abraham Shapcott suffered the misfortune of being the final casualty of the 123rd Battalion in the Great War, falling 14 September 1918. Roy, along with 1,000 men of his battalion, had formed the 9th Battalion, Canadian Engineers earlier in May 1918. Enlistment of Private Roy Abraham Shapcott The son of Thomas and Sarah…
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Private Edwin Pye in the Great War
Private Edwin Pye 21651 served with the 5th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) during the Great War. Born 7 April 1893 in Westerham, Kent, England, he trained as an accountant and working in western Canada when he enlisted in Moosejaw, Saskatchewan. Pye taken on strength as a Private in the 11th Battalion, E Company, at…
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Lieutenant Leonard Aynge Edens in the Great War
Lieutenant Leonard Aynge Edens 2547 the son of Thomas J and Margaret Mary Edens, of 39 Queen’s Rd., St. John’s, Newfoundland. The couple married on 13 February 1889, and had four children. Thomas Edens the proprietor of two grocery and provisions outlets in the city. This property at 39 Queen’s Road the site of the…
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LCol William George Barker VC in the Great War
British Empire’s Most Decorated Serviceman The deadliest air fighter who ever lived LCol William George Barker, VC, DSO & Bar, MC & Two Bars, Silver Medal, Croix du Guerre, 1914-15 Star, Victory Medal, British War Medal, the most decorated serviceman in the history of Canada, and the British Commonwealth. LCol William ‘Billy’ George Barker, the less famous of the two ‘Billies’, eclipsed…
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Colonel Redford Henry Mulock in the Great War
Colonel Redford Henry Mulock of Winnipeg, the first Canadian Ace, later the highest ranking Canadian airman of the Great War. Mulock and Sir George Perley nearly convinced the Minister of Militia that an independent Canadian air force should be formed in 1917. In the later stages of the war, Colonel Redford Henry Mulock helped develop…
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HCol John Macpherson Almond in the Great War
During the Great War, HCol John Macpherson Almond CMG CBG DSO would become Assistant Director and later Director of the Canadian Chaplain Service with the rank of Honorary Colonel. Several tours at the front, and with Canadian Military Forces in England and Canada. Almond sought to improve the reputation of Canadian Military Chaplains and would…
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Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial in the Great War
The history of the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial, and the battle of the many women (and a few men remaining), responsible for it’s creation. Enthusiasm for the memorial “washed out” by the end of 1920 with financial concerns and a plan to erect a more “appropriate” memorial in St. John’s. 1920 Women’s Mass Meeting 8 April…
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Lance Corporal John J Ryan in the Great War
Royal Newfoundland Regiment Lance Corporal John Joseph Ryan. Hero of Egypt, Gallipoli, France and Flanders. Fought at Flers, Gueudecourt, Ypres, Beaumont Hamel and Ginchy. One of the first to join up on 1 October 1914, his regimental number 38. Enlisted when 17 years of age, and honorably discharged in 1919, having been wounded four times.…
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Corporal George Turner MM in the Great War
The battlefield experiences of Corporal George Turner MM, 44th Battalion, CEF, in the Great War. Turner wrote of his life in the trenches to Colonial Commerce (vol. 28, no. 2 (28 February 1919)), providing a quintessential account of the 44th Battalion (New Brunswick). Private William George Turner 219854 born in St. John’s, Newfoundland on 25 June 1894.…
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Captain William W Rogers MC in the Great War
Captain William W Rogers MC the first Allied pilot to shoot down one of Germany’s feared Gotha bombers. William Wendell Rogers William Wendell Rogers born 10 November 1896 in Alberton, Prince Edward Island. His grandfather, Benjamin Rogers, a prominent political figure in Charlottetown since he had joined the Provincial Legislative Council in 1872. Benjamin Rogers…