Harvey Station, New Brunswick - Cenotaph

When a recruit signed up for the Canadian Expeditionary Force in WW I he filled in an attestation paper that indicated his willingness to serve in the military and provided such information as date of birth, next of kin, height, weight, complexion, occupation, etc. As such these papers are of genealogical importance. The links below are to a scanned copy of the attestion papers of Harry Guest completed on 17 June 1915, in Sussex, New Brunswick when hew was inducted into the 55th Batallion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Additional Information:
Private Harry Guest was the brother of Sidney O'Boyle of Evesbatch Court, Bishop's Frome, Worcester, England.

He was a British Home Child, sent from the Middlemore Homes in Birmingham, England on the SS Siberian in 1898 age 6 years. He was killed in battle on 10/06/1916 age 24. Information by Barbara McQuinn in Generations, The Journal of the New Brunswick Genealogical Society, Winter 2006, Volume 28, No. 4, page 15.

From the 1901 Census, Harry Guest was a lodger in the home of Andrew Robison and his wife Frances in Harvey Station, born 31 May 1895, England, and came to Canada in 1899. This census data is at odds with his army records and the information in McQuinn (2006; see above).

Cemetery:
No known grave.
Commemorated on the MENIN GATE (YPRES) MEMORIAL, Belgium .

Menin Gate Memorial

Medium sized pop-up image of Gate
691 X 499, 150 dpi, 115 k

Names Listed on Menin Gate Memorial

Medium sized pop-up image of Names
502 X 699, 150 dpi, 41 k

The Menin Gate Memorial is situated at the eastern side of the town of Ypres (now Ieper) in the Province of West Flanders, on the road to Menin and Courtrai. It bears the names of 55,000 men who were lost without trace during the defence of the Ypres Salient in the First World War.

Designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield and erected by the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission, it consists of a "Hall of Memory", 36.6 metres long by 20.1 metres wide. In the centre are broad staircases leading to the ramparts which overlook the moat, and to pillared loggias which run the whole length of the structure. On the inner walls of the Hall, on the side of the staircases and on the walls of the loggias, panels of Portland stone bear the names of the dead, inscribed by regiment and corps.

Carved in stone above the central arch are the words:

TO THE ARMIES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE WHO STOOD HERE FROM 1914 TO 1918 AND TO THOSE OF THEIR DEAD WHO HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE.

Over the two staircases leading from the main Hall is the inscription:

HERE ARE RECORDED NAMES OF OFFICERS AND MEN WHO FELL IN YPRES SALIENT BUT TO WHOM THE FORTUNE OF WAR DENIED THE KNOWN AND HONOURED BURIAL GIVEN TO THEIR COMRADES IN DEATH.

The dead are remembered to this day in a simple ceremony that takes place every evening at 8:00 p.m. All traffic through the gateway in either direction is halted, and two buglers (on special occasions four) move to the centre of the Hall and sound the Last Post. Two silver trumpets for use in the ceremony are a gift to the Ypres Last Post Committee by an officer of the Royal Canadian Artillery, who served with the 10th Battery, of St. Catharines, Ontario, in Ypres in April 1915.

Grave Reference:
Panel 26 - 30

Cecil Arleigh Swan

Cecil Arleigh Swan, b. 23 Sep 1893, d. 26 Sep 1919. Son of Matthew Swan and Alberta Mowatt. Enlisted 17 June 1915 in 55th Battalion. He was wounded in head and face--from undated newspaper item. Enlistment papers give his birth date as 23 Sep 1894 (most likely Sep 1893 though as his sister Ivy Swan Wilson was born in Jan 1895). He tragically died in a hunting accident. Cecil was engaged to Flossie Coburn--she stayed single the rest of her life.

Pte. C. Swan
Mr Mathias (sic) Swan, Harvey, received official word, today, that his son, Pte. C. Swan, was wounded in the head and face. Pte. Swan enlisted with the 55th Battalion, in January 1915. He has another brother in an engineering battalion, stationed at St. John's, Que. It is hoped that his wounds are not serious.

From newspaper obituary - 1919:
Obsequies of the Late Cecil Swan
Harvey Station, York Co., NB, Sept 29 -- The funeral of the late Cecil Swan, of Harvey, was held from Harvey Presbyterian Church Sunday afternoon and was one of the largest funerals ever seen in Harvey. As stated in The Gleaner of Saturday, the late Cecil Swan was accidently shot by his brother while hunting for big game near Harvey Lake. The sad affair has cast a gloom over the whole community, and much sympathy is felt for the bereaved parents, brothers and sisters of deceased, and especially to the brother who fired the fatal shot, who is heartbroken about it.

Cecil was the eldest son of Matthew and Bertha (sic) Swan, of Harvey, and was the first man to enlist in Harvey with the 55th Battalion in June, 1915, going to England in the fall of 1915, and then to France, where he was in many engagements, being wounded twice; coming through all the hardships which a true soldier had to endure on the battlefields of France, arriving home this summer after over four years of absence. He was a quiet, inoffensive young man and was highly respected by the whole community. He was in his 26th year.

The funeral service was conducted by the Rev. J. F. MacKay, interment being made in Harvey cemetery. The pallbearers were four returned men in uniform and were: Ernest L. Hunter, Charles W. Hunter, Hugh Wilson, and Willard Wilson. Twenty-five returned soldiers marched behind the remains from the church to the cemetery.

Ernest Hunter was wounded twice before being transferred to a non-combat assignment. Although the Hunter family was from adjacent Acton the Hunter family intermarried into several Harvey families and played an important role in the community. Ernest Leslie Hunter, s/o Samuel Black Hunter and Victoria Kitchen, b. Harvey 10 Jun 1890, died Nov 1956 McAdam. Ernest's father had a store in Harvey, which he sold to Richard Davis in 1915 or 1916.

Sgt. Major W. E. Hunter, Son of Ex-warden S. B. Hunter, is Worse. Shot at Close Of Fine Charge. Other New Brunswick Soldiers in the List of Casualties Today.

Ex-Warden Samuel B. Hunter, of Harvey Station, received a telegram last night stating that his son, Sergt. Maj. W. E. Hunter, who was wounded on October 21st, is now on the dangerously ill list.

Sergt. Major Hunter, who gave up a good position in the Marine and Fisheries Department to enlist with an infantry battalion at Ottawa, was shot through the shoulder just as his battalion gained their objective after a charge of 400 yards over open country on the Somme front. The following day he was able to write a letter to his father in which he deprecated the extent of his wounds and said he thought he would soon be ready to go back to the front again. The latest news has caused his family and friends much uneasiness.

His brother, Pte. Ernest Hunter, was also wounded some time ago but is now holding a clerical position on Lieut. Col. H. F. McLeod's staff in England, and will probably not return to France again for some time if at all.

McAdam -- A citizen well-known in both community and church circles, Ernest Leslie Hunter, passed away at his home on Saunders Road, McAdam, Tuesday morning after a brief illness.

Mr Hunter was born at Harvey Station, June 10, 1890, a son of Victoria (Kitchen) Hunter and the late Samuel B. Hunter. He moved to McAdam in 1919 where he entered the service of Canada Customs and retired in 1955. He will long be remembered by travelers on the Boston to Saint John train with whom he made many friends by his friendly and congenial manner.

A veteran of the First World War, he went overseas with the 55th Battalion in 1915. After suffering wounds twice, he was transferred to the 104th Battalion.

He was a staunch member of St. George's Anglican Church, and in the community he was a willing worker. He was a member of the McAdam Home and School Association, McAdam Branch of the Canadian Legion, No. 7, Curling Club, Ashlar Lodge No. 36, F and AM. Until shortly before his death, he held the office as general manager of the McAdam Credit Union since it was formed in 1937.

Surviving are his widow, Eunice Valeria (Williams); one son, James, McAdam; one daughter, Ann, on the staff of the Andover Regional School; his mother; one brother William, Ottawa, and one sister (Edna) Mrs Percy Pheeney, McAdam. Funeral will be held on Thursday, with prayers at the home at 2 p.m. and at St. George's Anglican Church at 2:30 p.m. Interment will be in Rockland Cemetery.

Entry last updated 20 March 2009
Please contact Tim Patterson (tim.patterson@carleton.ca)
to provide additional data, or to correct any errors.