Personal Details | |
Date of Birth | May 13, 1896 |
Place of Birth | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
Country | Canada |
Marital Status | Single |
Next of Kin | Dr JR Steep, father, 249 Bell Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba |
Trade / Calling | Bank clerk |
Religion | Presbyterian |
Service Details | |
Regimental Number | 1423 |
Service Record | |
Battalion | No 4 Canadian Field Ambulance |
Force | Canadian Expeditionary Force |
Branch | Canadian Army Medical Corps |
Enlisted / Conscripted | Enlisted |
Date of Enlistment | March 10, 1915 |
Age at Enlistment | 18 |
Theatre of Service | Europe |
Prisoner of War | No |
Survived War | Yes |
Death Details | |
Date of Death | March 31, 1946 |
Age at Death | 50 |
Buried At | Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario |
Plot | 46E-14-4 |
Wilfred Russell Steep was born on 13 May 1896 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, date confirmed by his Manitoba Birth Registration record. His father Doctor John Robert Steep was born about 1860 in Cincinnati, Ohio, graduating from the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine in 1886 and licensed to practice Allopath Medicine the next year. Wilfred’s mother Hester Andrews was born in 1874 in Clinton, Huron, Ontario. Although he was living in Winnipeg at the time, John and Hester married on 27 June 1894 in Clinton. The couple were to make Winnipeg their home, giving birth to two children, Wilfred and later Lillian in 1898.
Wilfred signed his attestation papers on 10 March 1915 in Winnipeg with the No 4 Canadian Field Ambulance, Canadian Army Medical Corps. He gave his date of birth as 9 April 1894, occupation as bank clerk, and his father in Winnipeg as next of kin. After his father’s death in 1916 in Winnipeg, next of kin was changed to his mother.
As a Private with the No 4 Canadian Field Ambulance, Wilfred arrived in England on the Northland on 29 April 1915. In early September he was transferred to the Canadian Army Service Corps Training Depot at Shorncliffe. For most of December and into early January of 1917 Wilfred was hospitalized (vdg) , proceeding overseas in early February to the 3rd Divisional Supply Column, attached to the 3rd Canadian Base Casualty Clearing Station. That July Wilfred was sentenced to seven days Field Punishment No 2 for being absent for roll call for 20 minutes. In September Wilfred was transferred to the CASC Base Pool and then on to the 2nd Army Troops Supply Column in late October. He was granted a leave in early November, then admitted to No Stationary Hospital in Rouen on the 29th (vdg), discharged to base details on 17 January 1918. In early February Wilfred was attached to the 1st Canadian Railway Troops with effect where he was to remain for the rest of the war. Returning to England in early February of 1919, Wilfred embarked for Canada aboard the Celtic on 7 May and was discharged from service on the 19th in Winnipeg.
After the war Wilfred stayed in Winnipeg for a while, living with his mother at the time of the 1921 census. Later that year they both married on 17 September, Wilfred to Sydney Agnes Bliss and his mother to Roland Wellington Robinson. Born in Ottawa on 8 June 1896, Sydney was the daughter of Lawrence Cameron Donald Forster Bliss and Bertha Francis Costigan. Following the marriage Wilfred and Sydney immigrated to the United States, moving to Santa Monica, California. At the time of the 1930 census Wilfred was working in Santa Monica as a radio salesman. The couple gave birth to two children, Dorothy Elizabeth (Bessie) in 1923 and Donald Robert in 1927. At some point the marriage failed with Wilfred returning to Canada and Sydney and the children moving to San Mateo by 1935. Sydney later married Laban Richey in 1944.
Around 1934 Wilfred moved to Kenora in northwestern Ontario where his sister Lillian Gunne was living. Lillian had married WW1 veteran Doctor Livingston Gilbert Gunne in 1920 in Winnipeg, making Kenora their home where Bert practiced medicine. According to his obituary Wilfred was associated with various enterprises before joining the Ontario-Minnesota Pulp and Paper Company as camp auditor in 1945.