Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthOctober 23, 1888
Place of BirthKenora, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMorison Kyle (father), Port Angeles, Washington, U.S.A.
Trade / CallingClerk/railroad stenographer
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number696608 and 160971
Service RecordLink to Service Record
Battalion21st Reserve Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentCalgary, Alberta
Date of EnlistmentOctober 21, 1915
Age at Enlistment27
Theatre of ServiceGreat Britain
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathJuly 3, 1977
Age at Death88
Buried AtDistrict of Terrace Municipal Cemetery, Terrace, British Columbia

Kyle, Louis Alexander

Acting Corporal Louis Alexander Kyle was one of three brothers who served during the First World War. He went overseas in October 1916 and returned to Canada in June 1919.

Louis (sometimes known as Lewis) was born on 23 October 1888 in Rat Portage, Ontario, the second of five sons. His father, Morison Kyle, was born in Glasgow, Scotland and his mother, Jessie Bell Stuart, in Middleton, Norfolk County, Ontario. They were married in Aylmer, Elgin County, Ontario in May 1885. Jessie was living in Aylmer at the time and Morison was working as a merchant in Guysborough, Norfolk County. Their first son, Charles Morison, was born in Guysborough in 1886.

Sometime after Charles was born Morison and Jessie moved to the town of Rat Portage (later called Kenora) in northwestern Ontario. Louis was born there on 23 October 1888. He was followed by sons Roy Stuart (1891), James Arthur Gladstone (1892) and Stuart Robertson (1896). Morison was listed as a general merchant in the 1891 census and a miner in 1901. By 1903 the family was living in Vancouver where Morison was the provincial manager of an insurance company. From there they moved to Winnipeg for a short time before settling in Calgary.

Morison became the owner and manager of Calgary’s Empire Theatre, which was built in 1908. Although he had other careers he was involved in the theatrical business for more than thirty years. Louis found work with the Canadian Pacific Railway in Calgary as a clerk and stenographer.  His older brother Charles Morison enlisted in Calgary in August 1915, just as the war entered its second year. Louis signed up two months later, on 21 October 1915, two days before his 27th birthday. He joined the 82nd Overseas Battalion but he was with them for only three weeks. He was discharged on 9 November as ‘not being likely to become an efficient soldier.’

When Louis enlisted again the following spring he was living in Medicine Hat with his occupation listed as railroad stenographer. He signed up on 29 March 1916, this time joining the 175th (Medicine Hat) Battalion, Next of kin was his father Morison in Port Angeles, Washington (address later changed to Vancouver, British Columbia then Glasgow, Scotland). After training over the summer the 175th Battalion embarked for England on 4 October, sailing from Halifax and landing at Liverpool about nine days later.

In January 1917 Louis’ unit was absorbed by the 21st Reserve Battalion and Louis served with his new battalion for more than two years, most of that time as a clerk in the orderly room. On 29 March 1918 he was awarded a good conduct badge for two years service and in October he was ill with influenza. On 20 December 1918 he was appointed acting corporal with pay and he served in England for another seven months. He returned to Canada in the summer of 1919, sailing from Southampton on the SS Aquitania on 14 June and arriving in Hailfax about a week later. He was discharged on demobilization on 25 June in Calgary. His brother Roy Stuart had been called up in the spring of 1918 and he served in Canada for seven months.

When the 1921 census was taken Louis was living in Kimberley, British Columbia and working as stenographer for a mining company. His parents and brothers also moved to British Columbia, most of them settling in Vancouver. Louis passed away in Skeenaview Hospital in Terrace, BC on 3 July 1977, at age 88. He is buried in the Terrace Municipal Cemetery (he has no grave marker). He was predeceased by his parents and all four brothers.

By Becky Johnson


« Back To Soldier Biographies