Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthDecember 23, 1888
Place of BirthLondon
CountryEngland
Marital StatusMarried
Next of KinMinnie Louisa Markes, wife, 174 Furby Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Trade / CallingStenographer and Correspondence Clerk
ReligionChurch of England
Service Details
Regimental Number292420
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion222nd
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at Enlistment174 Furby Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Date of EnlistmentMay 1, 1916
Age at Enlistment27
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathOctober 9, 1975
Age at Death87
Buried AtSt James Cemetery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
PlotBlock 161 Lot 5

Markes, Albert Edmund

Albert Edmund Markes was born on 23 December 1888 in the registration district of Holborn in London, England. His father Albert Ernest Markes, from the Bloomsbury area of London, was a marine watercolour artist as was his grandfather Richmond Markes. His mother Annie Louisa English was from the Islington area of London, with the couple marrying on 10 June 1888 in Southwark, London. Albert had a younger sister, Lilly Nellie Matilda who was born in 1890. Over the years the family lived in Fulham and St Pancras, Albert Sr successful enough that the family employed at least one servant. Sadly his father died in 1901 and it appears that his mother died the following year. By the time of the 1911 census Albert was boarding in Shoreditch where he was working as a junior salesman for a furniture wholesaler.

Albert immigrated to Canada in 1912, arriving in Quebec aboard the Ascania on 12 May. His occupation was given as clerk on the passenger list and his destination as Edmonton. On 5 January 1914, in Edmonton, Albert married Minnie Louisa Cutmore. Born in 1888 in St Pancras, London, Minnie was the daughter of Samuel and Elizabeth (née Mensley) Cutmore who had married in 1872 in Marylebone, London. By the time of the 1911 census Minnie Louisa was boarding with the Frank Hooper family in Islington, London and working as a waitress. It appears that Albert and Minnie Louisa gave birth to Theresa Elma (Cherie) that year and at some point after her birth the young family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Albert signed his attestation papers with the 222nd Battalion on 1 May 1916 in Winnipeg. His occupation was given as stenographer and correspondence clerk and his wife Minnie Louisa on Furby Street in Winnipeg as next kin. On 31 October at Camp St Charles, Albert was transferred to the Canadian Army Dental Corps MD #10 and on 20 May 1917 he was promoted to Orderly Room Sergeant. However Albert had been diagnosed with tuberculosis dating back to 1908, apparently immigrating to Canada for his health and thinking he was cured by 1915. During his service he also contracted pneumonia in October of 1916 and then pleurisy in November of 1917, spending a total of 4 months hospitalized. In May of 1918 a medical board decided that Albert should be discharged from service as medically unfit, final discharge on 20 June.

Albert and Minnie Louisa continued to make Winnipeg their home, found on the 1921 census living in Winnipeg South with Albert’s occupation listed as labourer. At some point it appears that they gave birth to another child, son Albert, as well as a stillborn baby. Sadly Minnie Louisa died on 18 March 1934, with Albert later marrying Edith Merle. Born in 1905 in Dominion City, Manitoba, Edith was the daughter of Russian/Ukrainian immigrants John Merle and Elizabeth Heuchert. By the time of the 1921 census Edith, her widowed mother, and a couple of siblings were living in Winnipeg. Albert and Edith gave birth to one known child, daughter Merle. While in Winnipeg Albert worked for Eaton’s of Canada as an executive in sales. He was a member of the St Vital Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. After Edith died on 8 October 1965 in the Winnipeg General Hospital, in 1966 Albert moved to Kenora where his daughter Cherie Bishop and husband Jack and family were living. In Kenora he was a member of the Kenora Branch of the Canadian Legion as well as Knox United Church.

Albert died on 9 October 1975 in the Lake of the Woods District Hospital in Kenora. At the time of his death he was survived by his daughters Cherie (Jack) Bishop of Kenora and Merle Wood of Penticton, British Columbia and his sister Lillian Cook of Mill Valley, California. He was also survived by eight grandchildren, eight great grandchildren, and three great great grandchildren. Lillian died in 1984 in California and Cherie in 1992 in Ladner, British Columbia. Albert, Minnie Louisa, and Edith are interred in St James Cemetery in Winnipeg.

Over a hundred years later, today some of Albert’s father’s and grandfather’s paintings can be found periodically up for auction through Christie’s and other auction houses in England.

By Judy Stockham

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