canadianinfantry

great

It’s Walcheren, not “Walcherau” :) Furthermore, the photo was taken near the village of Westkapelle, which is ON Walcheren, as the latter is a (former) island. The village is visible in the background, and the photo was taken on the landward side of the sand dunes that ring the island. Visible on the left in the photo are the remains of the sea dyke, after the RAF bombardments of October 1944 and twice-daily flooding by the sea.

Approximate location is 51.522° N, 3.441° E, looking northwest.

The Canadian National Library and Archive has only one likely match on their database for Canadian's who served in the Great War - a Lieutenant Charles Alvarez. Unfortunately no other details are recorded - not even a date of birth or place of enlistment. www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/001042-119.01-e... As far as I can tell the 32nd Battalion was a Reserve Unit and did not actually serve in a Theatre of War. There remains the possibility that he did actually serve with another unit but was nominally still on the establishment of the 32nd. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_infantry_battalions_in_the_... It would appear the division was based in the UK. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/195th_(City_of_Regina)_Battalion,_CEF en.wikipedia.org/wiki/152nd_(Weyburn-Estevan)_Battalion,_CEF cefresearch.ca/matrix/Army%20Corps/Divisions/Reorganized%...

Help piece together the Life Stories of more than 8 million men and women who made a contribution during the First World War at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/

The attestation paper for Private Archibald Clement Thornton has been digitised by the Library and Collections of Canada and is available to view online:



See details of his record here: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/001042-119.01-e...

In Memory of
Private A C THORNTON

57949, 20th Bn., Canadian Infantry (Central Ontario Regiment)
who died
on 21 November 1915

Remembered with honour
BAILLEUL COMMUNAL CEMETERY EXTENSION (NORD)
Source: CWGC website.

Below text taken from:

1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=146888

My great-uncle Archibald Clement Thornton died in the early part of the war in the Dickebusch trenches in Belgium. The irony is that Archie was born and bred - like his three brothers - in England while his father was born in Hamburg, Germany. Archie was bright (he quit Cambridge University after a term) but instead he started a new life in Haldimand County, Canada, as a miner and a miller. He joined up 'to do his bit for Canada'. He died on 21 Nov 1915, having been blown up - he had his leg amputated before he succumbed. It seems, because of his knowledge of German, he was posted right to the front of the Canadian lines, to listen in to what the Germans were saying. I am looking for any account whatsoever of his death (the war diaries don't mention him by name). I have uncovered a couple of letters in Haldimand newspapers from comrades, in which they talk of sharing out some tobacco and food that had been sent to Archie just before he died. Archie and his older brother died and their other brother (my grandfather) went on to win the MC after fighting in The Somme, Ypres and in Italy.

Also:

www.sachem.ca/arts_and_entertainment/article/160187

Archibald Clement Thornton, the youngest of four sons of Rev. and Harriet Thornton, at 24 years of age left London on February 22, 1910 for Canada.

He sailed on the SS Cairnrona carrying 232 passengers. His destination was Caledonia, Ontario and he intended to farm.

Once he arrived, he was one of five boarders of Sarah (nee Webb), daughter of John Webb and Mary Ann Nichol of Walpole.

Sarah had married John Thompson, son of Thomas Thompson and Harriet Elly. John and Sarah had four daughters and one son born between Nov. 1894 and April 1908.

John, a teamster, was killed on May 17, 1911 at age 44 in an accident.

Having boarders would have been a source of income for Sarah's family.

Sarah lived east of the Plank Road in Seneca Township, which would have been near the gypsum plant. Her five boarders were Joseph Holland, John Lemon, Archibald Thornton, Guilford Slingsby, all English and Michael McGarry, an Irishman. They were all labourers in the mines.

Although Sarah Thompson died in Bakersfield, California, she was buried in Caledonia cemetery where her husband was buried.

Guilford Slingsby and Archibald Thornton had been friends back in England. Guilford set sail for Canada July 16, 1910, five months after Archibald. Guilford, a popular name in the Slingsby family, was the son of a silk ribbon manufacturer in Nuneaton, England.

According to more information from Robin Thornton, Archibald claimed to have earned 100 Canadian dollars in the 32 weeks that he worked in 1910.

Two days before Guilford and Archibald left Montreal with their battalion bound for England, Guilford married Ethel May Hooley at Mimico, Toronto on May 12, 1915.

They trained in a camp in the Shorncliffe area in England near the channel and on Sept. 2, 1915, the King inspected the Canadian soldiers, some 40,000.

Two weeks later, Archie was on his way to France. By November 15, he was in the Dickebusch trenches. It was here where he was wounded on Nov. 17, 1915 suffering grenade wounds to his head and leg. He was taken to a field casualty station where his leg was amputated. Archie died Nov. 19, 1915.

Archie Thornton was described as a "good linguist serving as a Listener on the Western Front, monitoring enemy activity and gathering intelligence, a dangerous deployment."

On January 26, 1916, the Sachem published two letters. One was written from Belgium Dec. 23, 1915 to Roy Martindale of Hamilton from "Your sincere friend, A. W. Lyon". The other, also written to Roy Martindale was written from France Dec. 27, 1915 from "Your old friend Gilford A. Slingsby".

Roy had sent a parcel to Archie Thornton, which arrived after his death.

A. W. Lyon wrote that he was returning the letter but that he had opened the parcel and gave the tobacco to Tom Pettigrew, because he was a Caledonia boy.

Tom is listed on Caledonia's honour roll of WWI casualties too.

A. W. Lyon also wrote that he had given the "tobacco to Tim Johnston, a driver for A. E. Jones bake wagon -surely you remember him. Please give my best regards to Bob A., and the rest of the boys."

Guilford Slingsby's letter to Roy Martindale thanked him for a present.

Guilford was lying in the hospital after an appendicitis operation and was yellow with jaundice.

"I hope things are pretty good with you in the dear old land of the maple. I only wish I was back there with my dear wife, but I hope to be before long. Some of the poor fellows are torn about awful. It is terrible to see them. I cannot say that I want to see the firing line again, for it is just hell and nothing else. Remember me to all kind friends, again thanking you boys for the nice present."

In 1919, Canon Thornton presented a large oil painting of the Entombment by VanDyke to his church in memory of Mrs. Thornton, claimed to have died of a broken heart over the death of her two sons two weeks before the war ended. The painting was sold in 1960. Canon Thornton and his two surviving sons, Bernard and Gerard, also placed the present carved oak choir stalls in the chancel and decorated the walls and ceilings to her memory that same year.

A stained glass window in the church in memory of Frederick and Archibald was placed in the east end of the church by Canon Thornton and his two sons.

Robin Thornton's original question remains unanswered. "Does anyone have any letters etc. that might shed more light on Archie and what he did in his short time in Caledonia?" Information about Roy Martindale is unknown, too.

Help piece together the Life Stories of more than 8 million men and women who made a contribution during the First World War at www.livesofthefirstworldwar.org/

Thank you every one for the most informative,but also sad review s of the war and our brave soldiers.