Personal Details | |
Date of Birth | April 11, 1888 |
Place of Birth | Peterborough, Ontario |
Country | Canada |
Marital Status | Single |
Next of Kin | Mr William Jackson, brother, Nestow, Alberta |
Trade / Calling | Bushman |
Religion | Church of England |
Service Details | |
Regimental Number | 4070502 |
Service Record | Link to Service Record |
Battalion | Canadian Railway Troops Depot |
Force | Canadian Expeditionary Force |
Branch | Canadian Railway Troops |
Enlisted / Conscripted | Conscripted |
Address at Enlistment | Nestow, Alberta |
Date of Enlistment | April 26, 1918 |
Age at Enlistment | 30 |
Theatre of Service | Canada |
Prisoner of War | No |
Survived War | Yes |
Death Details | |
Date of Death | January 23, 1955 |
Age at Death | 67 |
Buried At | Surrey Centre, Surrey, British Columbia |
Wellington Jackson was born on 11 April 1888 in North Monaghan, Peterborough, Ontario. His father William Henry Jackson, son of Irish immigrants, was from South Monaghan while his mother Christiana Annie Moncrief was from nearby Otonabee. The couple married on 3 June 1880 in Peterborough. Wellington had an older brother William Adair, and younger siblings Albertha, Wilbert, Foster, and Herbert. The 1901 census found the family living in Carman, Manitoba where William Sr was working as a contractor/carpenter. By the 1911 census most of the family had relocated to the Tawatinaw/Nestow area north of Edmonton in Alberta to farm. It appears that Wellington was living in Keewatin, a small town near Kenora in northwestern Ontario, and working as a stableman in Cuthbert’s Livery at the time.
With the onset of conscription during the latter part of the war, Wellington signed his recruitment papers with the 1st Depot Battalion Manitoba Regiment on 11 November 1917 in Winnipeg. He gave his occupation as bushman, present address as Nestow PO, and his brother William in Nestow as next of kin. Elsewhere in his record his mother Annie in Nestow was given as next of kin and his occupation as railway fireman. Later transferred to the Canadian Railway Troops Depot, at a medical examination in Hamilton that November Wellington was reclassified as C2. With the end of the war, Wellington was discharged from service on 28 November 1918 in Hamilton. His intended place of residence was given as Keewatin, Ontario.
In 1921, along with ten other men, Wellington was working as a bushman on a river drive on Denmark Lake, a remote lake about 110 kilometres southwest of Kenora. It appears that he later moved to British Columbia, a Wellington Jackson found working as a rigger out of north Vancouver on a 1949 Voters list. A 1953 Voters list placed him in New Westminster, retired and married. With the name given as Nicholas Wellington Jackson, he died on 23 January 1955 in Surrey. No family information was given on his British Columbia death record nor on the undertaker’s records, parents and wife unknown. The informant on the death record was Henry Holden, no relation, of Vancouver. Following a service at the Cloverdale Chapel, Nicholas Wellington Jackson was interred in the Surrey Centre Cemetery in Surrey.
Two of Wellington’s brothers also served during the war. William Adair was living in McBride, British Columbia and working as a labourer and teamster when he signed his recruitment papers with the 1st Depot Battalion British Columbia Regiment in Prince George on 13 October 1917. Serving overseas with the 46th Battalion, he suffered a gunshot wound to the neck in September 1918 and was invalided to England. During his recovery he was stricken with influenza and later myalgia. Adair was discharged from service on 25 April 1919 in Toronto. Returning to British Columbia, he died in 1976 in Prince George. Wellington’s brother Wilbert signed his recruitment papers in Calgary on 5 June 1918 with the 1st Depot Battalion Albert Regiment. While in training in England with the 21st Reserve Battalion, Wilbert died of influenza on 3 November 1918 at the No 12 Canadian General Hospital in Bramshott. He is interred in the St Mary the Virgin Churchyard Cemetery in Bramshott.
Wellington Jackson is commemorated for his service on the For King and Country Municipality of Keewatin Memorial.
By Judy Stockham
Obituary provided by Mike Melen.
Research notes: No other records of any kind could be found for a Nicholas (Wellington) Jackson born in 1888 in Ontario nor for one living in British Columbia as per the BC Death record. Although listed as married on the Voters list and on the death record, a marriage record for neither a Nicholas nor Wellington Jackson was found. Given the distinctive name of Wellington and that no other possibilities exist, in all likelihood the Nicholas Wellington Jackson that died in Surrey is the WW1 veteran Wellington Jackson as per above.