Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthSeptember 1, 1897
Place of BirthRat Portage (Kenora), Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinPhilip Austin, father, Vancouver, British Columbia
Trade / CallingChemist
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number3109749
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion54th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Place of EnlistmentHamilton, Ontario
Address at EnlistmentNobel, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentMay 11, 1918
Age at Enlistment20
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathMarch 29, 1969
Age at Death71
Buried AtMount Royal Cemetery, Montreal, Quebec

Austin, Alfred Philip

Alfred Philip Austin was born on 1 September 1897 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His parents Philip Austin and Marie Cecelia Helena Rochon were both from Ontario, marrying in Fort William, Ontario on 7 November 1894. At the time of the marriage Philip was living in Rat Portage and Cecelia in Fort William. The couple made Rat Portage/Kenora their home where Alfred first worked as an accountant for the Hudson’s Bay Company and later as an insurance agent. Children born to the family were George Lyall (1895-1914), Alfred, a daughter that was stillborn or died shortly after birth (1900), Joseph Lewis (1905-1983), and Marie Cecelia Phyllis (1907-1982). By the time of son Lyall’s death in Toronto in 1914 the family had relocated to Port Arthur, Ontario and then on to Vancouver by the time of Alfred’s signing of his recruitment papers.

With the onset of conscription in the latter part of the war, Alfred had his medical examination in October of 1917 in Parry Sound, Ontario. He was working as a chemist in nearby Nobel and gave his father Philip of Canadian Explosives in Vancouver as next of kin. Called up in Hamilton in May of 1918, with the 44th draft of the 1st Depot Battalion 2nd Central Ontario Regiment Alfred arrived in England aboard the Cassandra on 21 June. Taken on strength with the 8th Reserve Battalion upon arrival, Alfred was transferred to the 54th (Kootenay) Battalion in October, arriving in France on the 28th. The 54th Battalion was authorized on 7 November 1914, recruited in Southern British Columbia, and was mobilized at Nelson, British Columbia. The battalion embarked for Britain on 22 November 1915 and disembarked in France on 14 August 1916. It fought as part of the 11th Infantry Brigade, 4th Canadian Division in France and Flanders until the end of the war. Alfred returned to England in late April of 1919, embarking for Canada aboard the Maurentania on 31 May. Alfred was discharged from service in Hamilton on June 8th, rank of Private.

After the war Alfred was found living with his parents in Vancouver and attending university for the 1921 census. Although living in Regina at the time, he married Isabel Owens on 17 May 1930 in Montreal. Born in 1904, Isabel was the daughter of Ernest Owens and Minnie Derick. Although Minnie was born in Quebec, Isabel’s parents had married in 1899 in San Dimas, California. At the time of the 1910 US census, the family was living in Pasadena, Isabel’s birth place given as California. After Ernest died in 1911, Minnie and the children (Keith, Isabel and Ernest) moved to Quebec.

Making Montreal their home, over the years Voters lists gave Alfred’s occupation as a chemical engineer. The couple had at least one child, son Robert who was born on 11 September 1931 in Toronto. Alfred died on 29 March 1969 in the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal. He was predeceased by his father Philip in 1944 and his mother Cecelia in 1949, both in Toronto. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Isabel, son Robert and wife Marie Marguerite (née Marcil) and their four sons of Framingham, Massachusetts. Robert later died on 1 August 1997 in Shrewbury, Massachusetts, followed by Isabel on 16 September 1997 in Montreal. Alfred is interred alone in an unmarked grave in the Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal.

By Judy Stockham


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