Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthApril 14, 1899
Place of BirthEdinburgh
CountryScotland
Marital StatusSingle
Service Details
Regimental Number8474
Battalion1st Garrison Battalion, Scottish Rifles
BranchBritish Army
Place of EnlistmentEdinburgh, Scotland
Date of EnlistmentMarch 28, 1915
Age at Enlistment15
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathNovember 30, 1968
Age at Death69
Buried AtBeechwood Cemetery, Ottawa, Ontario
PlotSection 52 Range 14 Stone 6

Coghill, William

William Coghill was born on 14 April 1899 in Edinburgh, Scotland. His parents were James Coghill and Annie Elizabeth Ferguson Hosea, the couple marrying on 19 November 1897 in Edinburgh. At the time of the marriage James was working as a stereotyper and Annie as a bookfolder. For the 1901 census the family was living in the Newington area of Edinburgh. Children born to the couple in Edinburgh were Isabella Margaret (1898), William, George Philip (1901), James (1903), while Benjamin (1906) was born in Glasgow. Tragedy befell the family, with Isabella passing away in 1907 and James Sr in 1909. Unable to care for the children, they were placed in the Orphans Homes of Scotland (Quarriers) in Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire. The 1911 census listed William, James and George at the home, with Benjamin’s whereabouts unknown. For the census Annie was living with her brother George and family in the Kirknewton and East Calder district of Midlothian. Later that year she married Alexander Johnston. At the time of the 1921 census James and Benjamin were in the orphanage while an age appropriate William Coghill who was born in Edinburgh was boarding in the home of John Vella while attending Nelson’s College.

George was the first to immigrate to Canada, arriving in Halifax on 19 March 1915 aboard the Hesperian. He was travelling with a group of 30 boys from Quarriers, on their way to Brockville for dispersal to farms. Benjamin arrived in Halifax aboard the Cameronia on 7 March 1922, also with a group from Quarriers, they too on the way to Brockville. William immigrated the next year, arriving in Quebec aboard the Marloch on 22 August 1923. His passage had been paid by his uncle William James Miller, and he was on his way to Winnipeg to work as a harvester.

By that October, William was living in Kenora, Ontario, his brother George naming him as next of kin as he crossed into the United States on his way to Detroit on 27 October 1923. In 1926, in Kenora, William was best man for Scottish immigrant and WW1 veteran Andrew Morrison Kilgour for his marriage to Flora Morrison.

William joined the Canadian Legion in Kenora, Ontario on 18 October 1930. According to his Legion membership application he served with the British army from 28 March 1915 to January 1920 and attained the rank of Lance Corporal. His regimental number was 8474 and he enlisted or was conscripted in Edinburgh, Scotland. He initially served with the 3rd Battalion, Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders but at the time of his discharge, in January 1920, he was with the 1st Garrison Battalion, Scottish Rifles. Further details of his service are not known.

At the time of the Canada 1931 census William was working as a fireman on the logging steamboat Anoka in the Whitefish Bay area of Lake of the Woods. By the 1935 Voters List for Kenora he was living in town and working as a fireman at the Kenora General Hospital. As an entry for the 1940’s Voter List could not be found for William, it is possible that he served during WW2.

By 1945 William was living in Ottawa, Ontario where his brother Benjamin had settled. Voters lists over the years gave his occupation as orderly or as working at the Xray department at the Civic Hospital.

William died on 30 November 1968 in Ottawa. At the time of his death he was survived by his brother Benjamin and family in Ottawa and brother James back in Scotland. He was predeceased by his sister and father as well as his mother Annie in 1917 in Scotland. His brother George had died in an accident in Detroit in 1929. Benjamin later died in 1974.

Along with Benjamin and his wife Christina, William is interred in the Beechwood Cemetery in Ottawa.

By Judy Thorburn 

Wedding photo courtesy of Andrew Kilgour’s granddaughter. Grave marker photographs by Ann Blake, findagrave.com.


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