Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthFebruary 14, 1897
Place of BirthKenora, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number17335
BattalionSeaforth Highlanders
ForceBritish Army
BranchInfantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathApril 20, 1941
Age at Death44
Buried AtMountain View Cemetery, Thunder Bay, Ontario
PlotIODE Military Section (new)

McLeod, Duncan (1897-1941)

Private Duncan McLeod (Jr.) was born in Canada and living in Scotland when the war started. He served in the British army and moved back to Canada after the war.

Duncan was the son of Duncan McLeod Sr. and Mary Munro of Keewatin, Ontario. His parents were both born in Scotland and they immigrated to Canada in the 1880s. They settled in Keewatin where Duncan Sr. worked as a carpenter and lumberman. They had seven children: John Murdo (1888), Margaret/Maggie Christa (1890), Alexander Stewart (1892), Annie Munro/Eunice (1893), William George (1895), Duncan (14 February 1897) and Mary Christina (1899). Sadly Duncan’s mother died the day the last child was born. Duncan was only two years old at the time and along with his brothers John and William and sister Maggie he was sent to Scotland to live with his grandparents, John and Eunice McLeod. When the 1901 Scotland census was taken they were living in the parish of Stornoway, where their father grew up. Their grandfather worked as a crofter and mason.

Maggie returned to Canada in 1905 and John Murdo followed in 1907 but the other two boys stayed in Scotland. Duncan was 17 years old when the war started. Conscription began in the UK in January 1916 and he joined the British army sometime after that. He was assigned to the Training Reserve at first and later transferred to the Seaforth Highlanders. According to his obituary he was also with the Cameron Highlanders and he served on the Salonika Front and in Egypt. He was awarded the British War and Victory Medals. His brother William George (MacLeod) also served with the Seaforth Highlanders and he died of wounds in June 1917. Their father and brothers John Murdo and Alexander all served overseas with the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Alexander was killed in August 1917 at the Battle of Hill 70 but Duncan Sr. and John Murdo survived the war.

Duncan returned to Canada in 1921, sailing from Stornoway on 22 July on the SS Cassandra and arriving in Quebec about ten days later. He was listed as 24 years old, single and going to Keewatin to join his father. He said he had been in Scotland with relatives since 1900. His father passed away in December 1925 after a long period of ill health and he’s buried in Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora.

Duncan continued living and working in northwestern Ontario, in the Port Arthur and Fort William area. Around 1939 he was hired as a cook at a wood-cutting camp near Fort William. He passed away there on 20 April 1941, at age 44. He was survived by his brother John Murdo in Fort William and his sisters Maggie (Mrs. James Murphy) and Eunice (Mrs. Don McLean), both of Keewatin.

Duncan is buried in the military section at Mountain View Cemetery in Thunder Bay. He is commemorated on the Loyal Lewis Roll of Honour, which honours residents of the Isle of Lewis who served in the Great War.

By Becky Johnson

McLeod-Duncan-Jr-2 McLeod-Duncan-Jr-99

Photo at the top is the Victory Medal.


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