Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJanuary 20, 1887
Place of BirthManitoulin Island, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinD.G.Sinclair (Father), Kenora, Ontario
Trade / CallingGas Engineer
ReligionMethodist
Service Details
Regimental Number461416
Service Record Link to Service Record
BattalionMotor Transport
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Army Service Corps
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentFebruary 16, 1916
Age at Enlistment29
Theatre of ServiceGreat Britain
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathOctober 15, 1967
Age at Death80
Buried AtBrookside Cemetery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
PlotMil 6361

Sinclair, Leslie Foster John

Kenora’s David George Sinclair and his wife Eliza Ann Bock had four sons that served in WW1 – Leslie Foster John (born 1887), Levi Wilmot (born 1893), Roy Frederick (born 1895) and Benjamin Elton (born 1899). The family arrived in Rat Portage (Kenora) in 1903 and settled north of town in the rural area of Jaffray Melick. Three daughters – Cyrella (born 1885), May (born 1889) and Maude (born 1891) completed the make-up of the family. They had come from the Manitoulin area of Ontario where they were listed as Mennonites in the 1901 Canadian Census.

Oldest son, Leslie Foster John Sinclair, was born on 20 January 1887 in Manitoulin. He came to Kenora with his family in 1903 but by the 1911 Canadian Census he was living in Winnipeg, Manitoba working as a teamster. Leslie enlisted with the 61st Battalion for overseas service on 18 February 1916 in Winnipeg giving his occupation as ‘gas engineer’.  He sailed from Halifax on 23 April 1916 aboard the S.S. Olympic. Upon his arrival in England he was transferred to the Canadian Army Service Corps Training Depot in Shorncliffe. He served with the transport section of the CASC in England until 1919. On 13 December 1917 Leslie was granted permission to marry. Two weeks later he married Kitty Boddy in Bromley, Kent. Leslie was hospitalized for a month in February of 1919 with influenza and then tonsillitis. In September of 1919 he was struck off strength and returned to Canada with his wife and new son.

The 1921 census shows Leslie living with his parents back in Kenora with the occupation of machinist. At some point he also lived in Sioux Lookout, Ontario.

Leslie died on 15 October 1967 at Deer Lodge Hospital in Winnipeg. His obituary says he served in WW2 with the Forestry Corp. and was survived by wife Kate and sons Frank of Winnipeg and George Leslie of Los Angeles California. Leslie is buried in a military plot at Brookside Cemetery, Winnipeg.

Sinclair-Leslie-Foster-John-10 Sinclair-Leslie-Foster-John-11


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