Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJanuary 11, 1888
Place of BirthWest Flamborough Township, Wentworth County, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMary Carey (mother), 38 Hess Street North, Hamilton, Ontario
Trade / CallingMunition worker
ReligionMethodist
Service Details
Regimental Number3106306
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion116th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Place of EnlistmentHamilton, Ontario
Address at Enlistment38 Hess Street North, Hamilton, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentJanuary 5, 1918
Age at Enlistment29
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathJune 23, 1948
Age at Death60
Buried AtMillgrove Municipal Cemetery, Hamilton, Ontario

Carey, Cecil

Private Cecil Carey was born on 11 January 1888 in West Flamborough Township, Wentworth County, Ontario. His birth was registered as Irwin Cecil Carey but he was usually known as Cecil or Cecil Irwin. His parents, William Gray Carey and Mary Ann Langton, were both born in Millgrove, West Flamborough. They were married in 1877 in the nearby town of Dundas and they had at least five children: Dalton, Lydia Laura, Delmer Gray, Percy Theodore and Cecil. Cecil spent his early years in West Flamborough where his father farmed. By 1901 the family had moved to Hamilton and William was employed as a linesman.

Cecil’s brother Dalton died of illness in Michigan in 1907, at age 27. Their father passed away in 1913, at age 54, and he’s buried in Millgrove Municipal Cemetery. Conscription was introduced in Canada in the summer of 1917, as the war entered its fourth year, and single men age 20 to 34 were required to register by the fall. Cecil reported as required and had his medical in Hamilton on 31 October 1917. He was found fit for overseas service and he was called up on 5 January 1918. His occupation was munition worker and he was living at home in Hamilton with his widowed mother. He was assigned to the 1st Section, 1st Depot Battalion, 2nd Central Ontario Regiment.

Cecil embarked from Halifax on 3 February 1918 on the SS Scandinavian and arrived in England about two weeks later. He was transferred to the 8th Reserve Battalion and he trained with them for the next eight months. On 28 October he was drafted to a front line unit, the 116th Battalion, and sent to France. He joined his new battalion in the field in early November and about a week later the Armistice ended hostilities on the Western Front. Cecil spent another three months in France and Belgium. He returned to England in February 1919 and sailed for Canada on 17 March on the SS Olympic. He was discharged on demobilization on 28 March in Hamilton.

When the 1921 census was taken Cecil was back home living with his widowed mother. He was married in Hamilton on 11 May 1922. His wife, Gertrude Amy Booton, was one of ten children of William Booton and Sarah Eliza Birlingham. She was born in 1891 in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England and immigrated to Canada around the time the war started. Cecil and his wife may have lived in Hamilton briefly before moving to Keewatin, Ontario, where he was employed by the Lake of the Woods Milling Company. They had five children: Dalton (1923), John Earl (1925), Sheila (1926, died as an infant), Brian and Sheila (1929). Their infant daughter is buried in Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora.

Sometime in the 1940s Cecil and Gertrude returned to Hamilton to live. Their son Dalton served with the 48th Highlanders during the Second World War. Cecil passed away on 23 June 1948 and he’s buried in Millgrove Municipal Cemetery. After being widowed Gertrude lived with Dalton in Dundas. She died in Dundas in March 1961 and she’s buried in Millgrove Cemetery with her husband. Also buried there are their sons Dalton (1923-1988) and John Earl (1925-2004), Cecil’s parents and other family members.

By Becky Johnson

Carey-Cecil-90 Carey-Cecil-91 Carey-Cecil-92

Grave marker photograph provided by John OConnorĀ ID #48356921, findagrave.com.

 

 


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