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WW1 Canadian Military Death records

ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

Janine

Janine Report 4 Jun 2008 12:25

Hi everyone,

I am interested to see if anyone can help me to locate some information. One of my local cemetries contains 7 Commonwealth War Graves and I have looked the names up on www.cwgc.org but can find no metion of why they died or where. The info page mentions that they may have died at the Bethnal Green Military Hospital but how can I check this out?

Does anyone know if there is a site that I can look at that might tell me why the men were here and why they died?

One of the names is:

Number 161060
Private C.H. Hicks
31st Btn Canadian Infantry
Died aged 19 on 24/12/1916

I hope that someone will be able to assist me. Thank you

MargaretM

MargaretM Report 4 Jun 2008 12:36

I would imagine they were wounded in the war, brought back to England and died of their injuries at Bethnal Green Military Hospital.
In those days bodies weren't brought back to their country of birth.

Ann

Ann Report 4 Jun 2008 13:35

Hi Janine.
If you send for the death certificate it will give you some info.

Have a look at this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/31st_Battalion,_CEF

MargaretM

MargaretM Report 4 Jun 2008 13:57

Just had a look at his attestation papers. He was Charles Hamilton Hicks, enlisted Nov.1915, died Dec.1916. So sad isn't it?

Janine

Janine Report 4 Jun 2008 15:05

Hi everyone,

Thank you so much for the replies. I always find it sad then a service man or woman is killed so young, as Private Hicks was.

I shall request a few death certificates so maybe that will help me understand how they ended up in east London.

Thank you all so much

Janine

Cheshiremaid

Cheshiremaid Report 4 Jun 2008 19:09


Hi Janine,

My 2x gt uncle served with the CEF 31st bn in France..thankfully he survived.

I found his attestation papers on collectionscanada.gc.ca .... thanks to a kind member on here....and I was able to order my uncle's service records...all 90 pages!!

He was taken ill whilst in France and was transferred to Bramshott, Hampshire and spent nearly 3 months in the hospital there before being sent back to France.

When I googled Bramshott I found there was a Canadian War Cemetery there.

I have found Charles Hamilton Hicks is also remembered on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

http://www.acc-vac.gc.ca/general

He is not forgotten...

Linda

MargaretM

MargaretM Report 4 Jun 2008 19:59

There are many, many Canadian soldiers buried in England after succumbing to their war wounds and dying in British hospitals.
I have a case in my family of a family who had emigrated to Canada, their son joined the Canadian Navy, was wounded on the trip across the Atlantic, died in Ireland and his body was taken to his place of birth in Durham and buried there. I thought how sad that must have been for his mother in Canada knowing that her son was buried in the hometown that they had left so many years before.

mgnv

mgnv Report 5 Jun 2008 01:48

You can get the guy's sevice record - unlike UK records, ours weren't burnt. It's more expensive than a death cert, but much better value for the money. I would expect it to contain medical records, as well as the usual unit movements. Go to:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/index-e.html
the "Search Help" link tells you how to order it, amongst other info, and the "Search" link lets you find his attestation papers - these are viewable, and give his dob, address, nok, etc. The back has his medical exam - height, weight, eye colour, scars, apparent age, etc.

There is just one member of the CEF still alive. I saw him interviewed on TV earlier this year. He was 107, and enlisted not long before conscription was enacted and Canada was desperate for soldiers. His dob on the form was accurate, and showed he was 15, but he was accepted as his medical said his "Apparent age" was 18. He got as far as England, but by then there was an outcry about underage deaths, so he got pulled out of his unit and sent to a sort of underage camp in the UK, where he spent the rest of the war which ended before he was old enough.

Marilyn

Marilyn Report 13 Feb 2013 04:52

Charles Hamilton Hicks was my fathers uncle. He was the first volunteer to enlist from the town of High River, Alberta. I contacted the government of Canada Archives and received his entire military history. He died at Bethnal Green Hospital from sepsis he developed from wounds. By searching CollectionsCanada.gc,ca, or even just Canada War memorial, you are connected to various links that would answer your questions.

I was VERY SURPRISED to see your post and to see you referenced Charles!
The "Hicks" family is the one I am researching from Canada back to England. I need sources for this family:
Andrew Hicks(1794-1868) x Elizabeth Baker(1794-1831) - 1st marriage.
I have all the children as being born Jacobstow, Cornwall, England.
Children : John B. Hicks (1821 -1906, Ontario, Canada)
Andrew Baker Hicks (1824-1865 Knox Co, USA)
William Reed Hicks (1826- 1876 Knox Co, USA)

Andrew Hicks x Maria Congdon(1794-1857) -2nd marriage
Children: George Congdon Hicks (1832-1915 Knox Co., USA)
Elizabeth Hicks (1834-1899 Knox Co., USA)
Dr. Thomas Reed Hicks(1838-1881,Pennsylvania, USA.)
References came from the IGI, and from a private tree that was sent to me. Also the 1840, and the 1850 US Federal Census. They are listed with the last name of HIX. My questions are: Why did John stay in Canada at age 14? One Canadian census says he arrived in 1835. I cannot find any records with him being listed with his family either in Canada or the US. Are there census records or ships records available prior to 1835? I do not know where they sailed from in England.What would be the port of departure if they resided at Jacobstow, England? I need some sort of source record connecting John to the Andrew Hicks family. I have one source form the Cornwall OPC site that lists John Hics as being the son of Andrew and Elizabeth. Residence Marhamchurch. Baptised on Sept 02, 1821. It says Andrew was a farmer. Record # is 1227297.
Any help appreciated and I will look at any and all information reguarding anyone in Andrews family, but especially need information on John. Thanks!!!

MarieCeleste

MarieCeleste Report 13 Feb 2013 08:23

Marilyn, it's nearly 5 years since Janine posted so may not be checking for replies. Click on her name to send a direct message which she'll be notified of if still an active member. Certainly sounds like you have a common link.

mgnv

mgnv Report 14 Feb 2013 04:22

Knox Co OH is abt 75 km NE of Columbus.
Sarnia, at the S end of L Huron is in Lambton Co ON.
There're concession maps for Lambton, showing townships at:
http://digital.library.mcgill.ca/Countyatlas/SearchMapframes.php
Yarmouth Twp is now in Elgin Co, abt 80 km E of Lambton

I think 1835 (ish) is not when John immigrated, but when he emigrated, then he spent some time in the US - 1840 shows a 0-4 yo son (John?) and a 5-9 yo son (George?).

1840 https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XHRN-PS1
Magnify 4 clicks, then save images:
http://archive.org/stream/populationsc18400406unit#page/n294/mode/1up [and next page]
[Course, as it's pre-1850, only the head of h/h is named]

1850 https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MXQN-97Y
[click on view image in left column]

For more US stuff:
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list#page=1®ion=UNITED_STATES

For Lambton Co, most of 1851/2 is lost, and the only earlier census is 1842 for Upper Canada - I don't see any Hicks, but there is a Matthew Peer, poss John's f-in-l:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KDRN-C5S

http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1851_pdf/e094/e002347448.pdf
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1851_pdf/e094/e002347449.pdf
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1851_pdf/e094/e002347450.pdf
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1851_pdf/e094/e002347451.pdf
http://data2.collectionscanada.ca/1851_pdf/e094/e002347452.pdf [blank]


http://ontariocensus.rootsweb.ancestry.com/
Click on "Check out our progress" for a list of early censuses.


You can search Canadian stuff at:
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list#page=1®ion=CANADA
but a better link for later censuses is:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/genealogy/022-911.009-e.html

Here's John's censuses:
1901S1 http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1901/z/z002/z000074786.pdf
1901S2 http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1901/z/z002/z000074782.pdf
[P2L1 addy=Con 6 Lot 23 W 1/4]
1891 http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1891/pdf/30953_148149-00855.pdf
1881 http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e329/e008206955.pdf
1871 http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1871/pdf/4396287_00063.pdf
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1871/pdf/4396287_00064.pdf
1861 http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1861/pdf/4391546_00575.pdf
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1861/pdf/4391546_00576.pdf [blank]
1861 Ag
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1861/pdf/4391546_00611.pdf
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1861/pdf/4391546_00612.pdf

Chas 1911 http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/1911/pdf/e001997177.pdf
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FM86-GVC

h/o Nancy Jane Peer https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JKW5-54G
1909 https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JDX1-1XB
1906 https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/JDY3-SZG


I don't see a 14 yo wondering around 500km from home
My guess is he was staying with rellies, maybe an uncle?