Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJune 4, 1885
Place of BirthLincoln, Lincolnshire
CountryEngland
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinWilliam Harwood (father), 50 Market Place, Boston, Lincolnshire, England
Trade / CallingMachinist
ReligionChurch of England
Service Details
Regimental Number4649
Service RecordLink to Service Record
Battalion3rd Divisional Ammunition Sub-Park
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Army Service Corps
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentFebruary 21, 1916
Age at Enlistment30
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of Death19580707
Age at Death73
Buried AtRoyal Oak Crematorium, Victoria, British Columbia

Harwood, Frederick

Sergeant Frederick Harwood enlisted with the Canadian Army Service Corps in February 1916 and served in France and Belgium for three years. He returned to Canada in July 1919.

Fred was the only son of William Harwood and Sarah Harlow of Boston, Lincolnshire, England. William was a butcher and he and his wife were both born in Lincolnshire. They were married in 1880 in the city of Lincoln and Fred was born there on 4 June 1885. He had six sisters: Florence, Nellie, Maud, Ada, Constance and Susie. Three other children died young. Fred immigrated to the U.S. in October 1907, at age 22, sailing from Southampton on the SS St. Paul. He was travelling with 30-year-old Frederick Harlow, who was probably a relative, and they were going to a friend in New York.

By the time the 1911 census was taken Fred Harwood had moved to Canada and he was living in the Prince Albert area in Saskatchewan. Five years later, when he enlisted, he was living in Kenora, Ontario and working as a mechanic for the Canadian Pacific Railway. He signed up in Winnipeg on 21 February 1916, joining the Canadian Army Service Corps No. 1 Training Depot. He had passed his medical a few days earlier. He said he served for three years with the Lincolnshire Imperial Yeomanry and next of kin was his father William Harwood in Boston, Lincolnshire. The training depot sent drafts of recruits overseas as needed and Fred was sent with the 4th draft, which arrived in the UK on 29 April 1916 on the SS Scandinavian.

Fred spent two months training in England. In June he was sent to France and transferred to the 3rd Canadian Divisional Ammunition Sub-Park, joining them in the field at the end of the month. A short time later he became ill with bronchitis and he spent almost two weeks recovering at No. 5 Canadian Field Ambulance. When he rejoined his unit on 24 July they were in Boeschepe, France. Two days later they moved into Belgium and they were based between Abele and Poperinghe. Sub-parks were part of the Canadian Army Service Corps, which was responsible for the supply and transport of food, forage, ammunition, equipment, clothing and other supplies. In general, sub-parks transported ammunition by motor lorry from railheads to forward ammunition dumps. Fred served with his unit for two years and his skill as a mechanic was probably put to use.

In April 1918 supply columns and sub-parks were reorganized and Fred’s unit became part of the new 3rd Canadian Divisional Mechanical Transport Company. He was transferred to the new company on 14 April, promoted to Corporal on 1 July and to Sergeant on 15 September. The Canadians were heavily involved in the last three months of the war and the fighting moved into a more mobile phase. When the Armistice ended hostilities Fred’s unit was based just north of Valenciennes and they moved to Mons at the end of November. On 26 February 1919 Fred was transferred to the Canadian Army Service Corps depot at Beaurainville, France. He returned to England on 3 May and sailed for Canada two months later, arriving in Halifax on 8 July. He was discharged on demobilization on 11 July in Toronto, with his intended residence listed as Vancouver.

Frederick Harlow had settled in New Westminster, British Columbia where he worked as a carpenter. When the 1921 census was taken Fred Harwood was living there too, lodging at the Russell Hotel and working as a mechanic for the Reo Motor Car Company. Within a few years he was the service superintendent. He was married in Duncan, British Columbia on 15 October 1938 to Louise Virginia Pellegrinelli. Fred and Louise made their home in Duncan, where he was the foreman at Duncan Garage. He retired in the early 1940s and around 1957 they moved to Victoria. Fred passed away in the Veterans Hospital in Victoria on 7 July 1958, at age 73, and Louise died in the Royal Jubilee Hospital in 1980, at age 77.

By Becky Johnson

1916-02-19-enlist 1916-03-04-enlisted


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