Shoeing Smith (Farrier) Raymond Gilbert Matthew
Sgt Raymond Gilbert Matthew a farmer born 11 April 1888 in Sawyerville, Quebec. Canadian son of John Alexander Matthew and Mary Jane (née Moffat) Matthew, of Sawyerville, Province of Quebec.
Raymond Gilbert Matthew enlisted in Regina on 20 March 1916 with the C.F.A., 60th Battery (15th Brigade).
England
The 60th Battery arrived on 9 September 1916 at Liverpool.
Raymond Gilbert Matthew at Witley transferred to C.A.V.C. on 3 January 1917. For the next 18 months, Matthews alternates assignments between Witley, Seaford, Sunnydale and Shorncliffe camps.
Raymond Gilbert Matthew attached from C.A.V.C. to 6th Divisional Artillery Signal Coy, 31 October 1917.
Sgt Raymond Gilbert Matthew in France from 27 June 1918 with the 8th Army Brigade. On 20 September 1918, Raymond confirmed in the rank of Sergeant.
Battle of Cambrai
C.A.V.C. Battlefield Casualty 328875
On the evening of 30th September during the Battle of Cambrai, the 60th Field Battery had advanced from a position in front of Bourlon Wood, to a point just outside Raillencourt.
The Battery dug in on the north side of a high brick wall, as most of the shelling was coming from the south-east. During the night however, the enemy started shelling from the north-east, and on of those shells secured a direct hit above the trench where the officers were sleeping. The full force of the explosion struck Lts Stairs and Jones, killing them instantly.
Sgt Raymond Gilbert Matthew killed in action, 30 September 1918 along with Lt Mervyn Campbell Allen Jones (Son of Col. George Edwin Allen Jones and Grace Agnes Jones, of Montreal) and Lt Kennet Stairs (Son of Edward and Isabella Stairs, of Halifax, Nova Scotia) of the 60th Battery. These men buried the same day at Ontario Cemetery, near Inchy, Battery crosses being erected over their graves.
ONTARIO CEMETERY, SAINS-LES-MARQUION
The cemetery made at the end of September and the beginning of October 1918, after the capture of Sains-les-Marquion (on the 27th) by the Canadian Division.
Ontario Cemetery contained, in its original form, the graves of 144 soldiers from Canada and ten soldiers (or sailors of the Royal Naval Division) from the United Kingdom; the majority of the Canadian graves belonged to the 2nd, 3rd and 4th Battalions, all of which were raised in Ontario.
