Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthOctober 11, 1886
Place of BirthWinnipeg, Manitoba
CountryCanada
Marital StatusMarried
Next of KinIda Margurite Bunn, Stonewall, Manitoba
Trade / CallingSurgeon
ReligionChurch of England
Service Details
Regimental NumberNA
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion10th Training Depot
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Army Medical Corps
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentAshern, Manitoba
Date of EnlistmentAugust 1, 1916
Age at Enlistment29
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathSeptember 27, 1964
Age at Death78
Buried AtRed Deer Cemetery, Red Deer, Alberta
PlotSection V, Lot 148 S 1/2

Bunn, Charles Robert Randolph

Charles Robert Randolph Bunn was the eldest son of John Robert Bunn and Vashti Elizabeth Gunne.  He was born 11 October 1886 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  His siblings included Victor (born 1890), Thomas (born 1892), Marguerite (born 1893) and John (born 1895).

Charles’ father, John, had been an employee of the Hudson Bay Company serving as a clerk at North West Angle, Fort Frances and Rat Portage, Ontario.  In 1885 he left the HBC and went into general mercantile business in Manitoba. He married Vashti Gunne in Portage la Praire and the next year son, Charles Robert Randolph was born. In 1889 John rejoined the Hudson Bay Company and by 1891 the family had moved back to Rat Portage.  He was in charge of the sales shop of the HBC there until 1901 when he once again went into business for himself.  By 1906 the family was living in Selkirk, Manitoba.

Following the path of his great-grandfather, John Bunn (a doctor in the Red River Settlement) Charles went to medical school at the University of Manitoba. He worked summers on the railroad in some supervisory purveyor capacity and got to explore some of north western Ontario. Charles  graduated in 1912 and married Ida Marguerite Jackson on 16 September 1914 in Stonewall, Manitoba.  After a honeymoon to the west coast the couple settled in North Transcona and Charles became the CPR surgeon. He then opened a practice in two rooms of the St. George Hotel in Ashern, Manitoba.

On 01 August 1916 Charles enlisted with the Canadian Army Medical Corps at Camp Hughes, Manitoba.   He embarked from Canada on 31 October 1916 and served in England and France  until May of 1919. During his time with the Canadian Army Medical Corp he started  at the Canadian Army Medical Corps Training Centre in Shorncliffe and was then attached to the Deputy Assistant Director of Medical Services in Hastings, the 1st Canadian General Hospital in Etaples, the 16th Canadian General Hospital in Orpington, the 12th Canadian General Hospital in Bramshott, the 15th Canadian General Hospital in Taplow, the Assistant Director of Medical Services in London, the Granville Canadian Special Hospital in Buxton, and he was Deputy Director No. 10 for duty under the Assistant Director of Medical Services. Charles returned to Canada aboard the S.S. Melita on 03  May 1919.

When he arrived back in    Canada, Charles practised in Saskatchewan until moving to Red Deer, Albert in 1927. He and Ida (known as ‘Greta’) had one daughter, Barbara, who married R.E. Hampson. During WW2 Charles commanded the Red Deer Military Hospital and was largely occupied with the care of soldiers at A-20 Army Camp in Red Deer.

After WW2 he formed and headed the Associate Clinic in Red Deer. He served as an alderman for ten years and then mayor of Red Deer from 1947 to 1949. Much respected in his profession, Charles served as the president of the Canadian Section of the International College of Surgeons and also president of the Alberta division of the Canadian Medical Society.

Shortly after his 50th Wedding Anniversary, Charles died on 27 September 1964 in Red Deer, Alberta. He and his wife are buried in the Red Deer Cemetery.

Two of Charles’ brothers,  Victor and Thomas, also served in WW1.

Bunn-Charles-Robert-Randolph-2 Bunn-Charles-Robert-Randolph-3 Bunn-Charles-Robert-Randolph-4 Bunn-Charles-Robert-Randolph-5 Bunn-Charles-Robert-Randolph-6

photos of Charles and Greta: courtesy of their daughter Barbara Hampson
grave marker photo: Deb on findagrave.com

 

 

 


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