Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthApril 10, 1895
Place of BirthMotherwell, Lanarkshire
CountryScotland
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs. Janet Jackson, Mother, 1464 Alexander Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Trade / CallingLocomotive Fireman
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number2125010
Service Record Link to Service Record
BattalionNo.1 Section, Skilled Railway Employees
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Railway Troops
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentY.M.C.A., Kenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentJanuary 30, 1917
Age at Enlistment21
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathFebruary 18, 1956
Age at Death61
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
Plot27E-17-4

Hawkins, Irving Scott Ferguson

Irving Scott Ferguson Hawkins was born on 10 April 1895 in Motherwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland. His parents were Benjamin Hawkins and Janet Corrie. Siblings included: William (1892-1914), John (1897-1986), Benjamin (1899-1975) and Gordon Cochrane Jackson (1920-1977). Irving’s father died in 1901. In May of 1912, his older brother, William, immigrated to Canada and settled in Winnipeg. His mother and her three remaining sons followed him to Winnipeg in June of 1912. On the day she arrived in Winnipeg, Irving’s mother, Janet, married John Jackson who was also from Motherwell, Scotland.

Irving made his way to Kenora, Ontario where he got employment with the Canadian Pacific Railway as a wiper. In 1913 he was promoted to fireman. His brother, William, died in Winnipeg in 1914.

With WW1 raging in Europe, Irving enlisted with the #1 Section Skilled Railway Employees on 30 January 1917 in Winnipeg. On his attestation papers he gave the YMCA in Kenora as his residence and listed ‘locomotive fireman’ as his occupation. By March, Irving had arrived in England and on 19 April 1917 he was sent to France to serve with the 58th Broad Gauge Railway Company. He earned 80 cents a day until January of 1919 when his working pay was raised to $1 a day on promotion to engineer. In April of 1919 he was struck off strength to the Canadian Railway Troops Depot in preparation for his return to Canada in May. Irving received his official discharge due to demobilization on 27 May 1919 in Montreal.

After the war, Irving returned to Winnipeg and his job with the CPR. On 30 June 1920 he married Agnes Rose McBride and they had one daughter, Agnes, who married J.W. Cooke.  In 1939 Irving wrote his engineer papers. The 1940 Canadian Voters List shows Irving and his wife living in the Lincoln Block in Kenora and he is working as a fireman with the CPR. By 1945 they moved to Park Street in Kenora and Irving is an engineer.

Irving Hawkins passed away on 18 February 1956 in Kenora and is buried in Lake of the Woods Cemetery.  His wife Agnes died on 6 February 1976 in Burnaby, British Columbia and is interred in the Ocean View Burial Park in Burnaby.

Janet (Corrie) Hawkins and her sons shortly after being widowed in 1902

Janet (Corrie) Hawkins and her sons shortly after being widowed in 1902

From Kenora Miner & News (31 Jan 1917)

From Kenora Miner & News (31 Jan 1917)

From Kenora Miner & News (07 Feb 1917)

From Kenora Miner & News (07 Feb 1917)

Family home that John Jackson built in Winnipeg

Family home that John Jackson built in Winnipeg

Irving's grave marker in Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora

Irving’s grave marker in Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora

Irving's obituary from Kenora Miner & News

Irving’s obituary from Kenora Miner & News

Photographs courtesy of Heather Pembroke as found on ancestry.ca.


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