Personal Details | |
Date of Birth | October 23, 1889 |
Place of Birth | Kenora, Ontario |
Country | Canada |
Marital Status | Single |
Next of Kin | James Bunting (father), Kenora P.O., Ontario |
Trade / Calling | Farmer |
Religion | Church of England |
Service Details | |
Regimental Number | 4070582 |
Service Record | Link to Service Record |
Battalion | 11th Reserve Battalion |
Force | Canadian Expeditionary Force |
Branch | Canadian Infantry |
Enlisted / Conscripted | Conscripted |
Place of Enlistment | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
Address at Enlistment | Kenora P.O., Ontario |
Date of Enlistment | November 11, 1917 |
Age at Enlistment | 28 |
Theatre of Service | Great Britain |
Prisoner of War | No |
Survived War | Yes |
Death Details | |
Date of Death | December 12, 1968 |
Age at Death | 79 |
Buried At | Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario |
Plot | 23E-5-1 |
Private Stanley Bunting was the oldest son of Robert James Bunting and Alice Agar Fitzgerald. James and Alice were both early residents of Rat Portage, Ontario, arriving there with their families around 1880. They were married in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in 1882 and they had at least three children: Violetta (1887), Stanley (1889) and Robert (1896). Stanley’s birth was registered as 3 November 1889, his name listed as Gilbert Stanley Bunting. Other records, including the 1901 census, his obituary and his military service file, record his birth date as 23 October 1889. His name in his obituary is James Agar Stanley Bunting. His father James was a farmer and market gardener and he had a farm on Falcon Island at French Portage, Lake of the Woods. James also operated a sawmill there with his older brother William.
Conscription started in Canada in 1917 and single men age 20 to 34 were required to register by 10 November. Stanley and his brother Robert Bunting failed to register on time and they were both called up as defaulters on 11 November. Stanley had his medical exam in Winnipeg on 16 May 1918 and he was assigned to the 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment. He was classed as A2, physically fit for combatant service overseas, even though an old injury had left him with a slightly deformed ankle. He was sent overseas in August, embarking on 4 August on HMT Nellore and arriving in England about eleven days later. He served in the UK for ten months with the 11th and 18th Reserve Battalions. He returned to Canada in June 1919, sailing from Southampton to Halifax on the SS Aquitania. He was discharged on demobilization on 23 June in Port Arthur and awarded the British War Medal. His brother Robert served in Canada with the Canadian Garrison Regiment.
After the war Stanley returned to the family farm at Falcon Island on Lake of the Woods and later lived at Shoal Lake. He worked as a farmer, marine engineer and commercial fisherman and he never married. His father James died in 1940 and his mother Alice in 1951. They are both buried in Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora. His brother Robert passed away in Winnipeg in 1962 and he’s buried in Brookside Cemetery. His sister Violetta (Mrs. Julius Giroux) moved to Winnipeg around 1952. She died in June 1964, survived by five sons and four daughters. She’s interred in Green Acres Memorial Gardens.
Stanley moved into Pinecrest Home for the Aged in Kenora in 1963 and passed away there on 12 December 1968, at age 79. His funeral was held four days later and he’s buried in Lake of the Woods Cemetery. He was in an unmarked grave for fifty years but a veteran grave marker was provided by the Last Post Fund in October 2018.
By Becky Johnson