Personal Details | |
Date of Birth | November 17, 1869 |
Place of Birth | Birmingham, Warwickshire |
Country | England |
Marital Status | Married |
Next of Kin | Mrs. Emily Walters (wife), Kenora, Ontario |
Trade / Calling | Rivetter and plate worker |
Religion | Church of England |
Service Details | |
Regimental Number | 199271 |
Service Record | Link to Service Record |
Battalion | Canadian Ordnance Corps |
Force | Canadian Expeditionary Force |
Branch | Canadian Infantry |
Enlisted / Conscripted | Enlisted |
Place of Enlistment | Kenora, Ontario |
Address at Enlistment | Kenora, Ontario |
Date of Enlistment | March 2, 1916 |
Age at Enlistment | 46 |
Theatre of Service | Great Britain |
Prisoner of War | No |
Survived War | Yes |
Death Details | |
Date of Death | May 10, 1947 |
Age at Death | 77 |
Buried At | Rosedale Cemetery, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan |
Plot | 7-69-2 |
Private Frederick Walters was married and the father of eight children when he enlisted in March 1916. His two oldest sons also served during the war and all three of them returned home in 1919.
Fred and his wife Emily (née Golding) had immigrated to Canada in 1908 and settled in the town of Kenora, Ontario. They were originally from Birmingham in the county of Warwickshire, England. They were married in Birmingham in 1895 and their six oldest children were born in England: Owen, Lily, Henry, Frederick, Florence and Phyllis. They came to Canada in the spring of 1908, embarking from Liverpool on 11 March on the Lake Erie and arriving in St. John, New Brunswick twelve days later. Fred’s occupation was listed as mechanic and their destination was Kenora. At the time of the 1911 census Fred was employed as a woodworker in a box factory. Two more children were born in Kenora, Walter James in 1911 and Gwendoline in 1913.
Owen and Henry both enlisted in 1915. Fred signed up the following spring, joining the 94th Battalion in Kenora on 2 March 1916. He was about 46 years old and employed as a rivetter at the time. The 94th Battalion was based in Port Arthur and the Kenora recruits were sent there on 25 May to join the rest of the unit. Fred and his son Henry were both in the 94th and the battalion left for Quebec on 9 June, spending a short time at Valcartier Camp in Quebec before embarking from Halifax on the SS Olympic on 28 June. In England they were absorbed into reserve battalions to be used as reinforcements for other units.
Fred was transferred to the 17th Reserve Battalion on 13 July. In September he was sent to the Canadian Casualty Assembly Centre to be invalided to Canada but he ended up staying in England. His disability was a deformed right thumb, due to an old injury, which made it difficult for him to operate a rifle. From October 1916 to January 1917 he was back with the 17th Reserve Battalion then he was transferred to the Canadian Ordnance Corps. He served with the Ordnance Corps for the next two years. On 11 December 1918, a month after the Armistice, he was transferred to the General Depot and he left for Canada three weeks later. He arrived in St. John, New Brunswick on the SS Scotian on 15 January and he was given two weeks landing leave. He was discharged on demobilization on 11 February in Regina.
When Fred went overseas in 1916 his wife moved to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, where her widowed mother and a sister were living. Fred joined Emily there after the war and they made their home in Moose Jaw. When the 1921 census was taken he was working as a cooper for the railroad. He retired in the late 1930s and passed away on 10 May 1947, at age 77. Emily died three years later and they are both buried in Rosedale Cemetery in Moose Jaw. Their son Walter served in the Second World War and he’s also buried at Rosedale.
By Becky Johnson
Obituary for Emily and Card of Thanks courtesy of Moose Jaw Branch, Saskatchewan Genealogical Society.