Personal Details | |
Date of Birth | April 10, 1895 |
Place of Birth | Motherwell, Lanarkshire |
Country | Scotland |
Marital Status | Single |
Next of Kin | Mrs. Janet Jackson, Mother, 1464 Alexander Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba |
Trade / Calling | Locomotive Fireman |
Religion | Presbyterian |
Service Details | |
Regimental Number | 2125010 |
Service Record | Link to Service Record |
Battalion | No.1 Section, Skilled Railway Employees |
Force | Canadian Expeditionary Force |
Branch | Canadian Railway Troops |
Enlisted / Conscripted | Enlisted |
Address at Enlistment | Y.M.C.A., Kenora, Ontario |
Date of Enlistment | January 30, 1917 |
Age at Enlistment | 21 |
Theatre of Service | Europe |
Prisoner of War | No |
Survived War | Yes |
Death Details | |
Date of Death | February 18, 1956 |
Age at Death | 61 |
Buried At | Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario |
Plot | 27E-17-4 |
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.
Photographs courtesy of Heather Pembroke as found on ancestry.ca.