Personal Details | |
Date of Birth | August 8, 1885 |
Place of Birth | Kenora, Ontario |
Country | Canada |
Marital Status | Single |
Next of Kin | Mrs. Margaret Mitchell, (mother) |
Trade / Calling | Printer |
Religion | Church of England |
Service Details | |
Regimental Number | 72127 |
Service Record | Link to Service Record |
Battalion | 27th Battalion |
Force | Canadian Expeditionary Force |
Branch | Canadian Infantry |
Enlisted / Conscripted | Enlisted |
Date of Enlistment | February 23, 1915 |
Age at Enlistment | 29 |
Theatre of Service | Europe |
Prisoner of War | No |
Survived War | Yes |
Death Details | |
Date of Death | July 24, 1973 |
Age at Death | 88 |
Buried At | Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario |
Plot | 35E-24-3 |
William Mitchell was born 08 August 1885 in Rat Portage (Kenora), Ontario. His parents were George Mitchell and Margaret Begg. He had four sisters – Jessie Catherine (b. 1873, m. John Duncan McKenzie), Florence (b. 1877, m. Wilkie James Brown), Minota (b. 1883, m. Edwin Stone) and Marian (b. 1887, m. George Carmichael Cooke).
William joined the staff of the Miner & News in 1901 and except for the war years, worked as a printer with the paper until his retirement. He served with the 98th Regiment for seven years before enlisting with the 27th Battalion on 23 February 1915 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. William embarked for England with the 27th Battalion aboard the SS Carpathian on 17 May 1915. A notation in his service record indicates that he was drawing ’50 cents cooks working pay’ from 29 June 1915 to 01 November 1915. William went to France in September 1915. In January of 1916 he reported to #6 Canadian Field Ambulance suffering from ‘myalgia’. Letters home indicated that William served with the scouts as a sniper. He left Vimy Ridge for a furlough on 12 December 1916. While on leave he was admitted to the Ontario Military Hospital in Orpington suffering from defective hearing (Otis media). He was discharged on 8 March 1917 but spent another month in the Canadian Military Hospital in Hastings being treated for venereal disease. In June of 1916 William was struck off strength to the Canadian Forestry Corps and sent to Stirling, Scotland. A note was made in his service file to the effect that from ’22 December 1917 to 15 July 1918 he was to draw technical pay as a sawfiler @$2.25 per day’. After that he was a ‘millwright’. He spent two weeks in hospital in Edinburgh in January 1918 receiving ear treatment. On 29 April 1918 William married 26 year old Margaret Meldrum Irvine in Aberdeen, Scotland. Their marriage certificate notes that he was a printer serving with the Canadian Forestry Corps and she was a shop assistant, daughter of John Irvine and Margaret Meldrum. William and Margaret’s daughter, Elizabeth was born in 1919 in Scotland. It was September of 1919 when William was struck off strength to Canada. He received his official discharge due to demobilization on 26 September 1919.
After the war William, Margaret and Elizabeth returned to Kenora, taking up residence at 424 Second St. South. William resumed his job at the Miner & News and son, William Jr. was born in 1920. Elizabeth worked as a bank teller and married Gordon Robertson. William Jr. served with the Canadian Army in WW2 and upon his return became Captain of the Grace Ann boat.
William Mitchell died on 24 July 1973 in Kenora. He is buried in Lake of the Woods Cemetery.