Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthNovember 9, 1889
Place of BirthMinnedosa, Manitoba
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinJohn Charles Burlington, father, Melville, Saskatchewan
Trade / CallingBarber
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental NumberCan 151341
Service Recordsee images below
BattalionRoyal Air Force (Canada)
ForceAir Force
BranchRoyal Air Force
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentOctober 22, 1917
Age at Enlistment28
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathJuly 21, 1962
Age at Death72
Buried AtMount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto, Ontario
PlotSection 54 Lot 740

Burlington, George Franklin (Frank)

Although a birth record was not found, according to a family tree on ancestry.ca, George Franklin Thomas (Frank) Burlington was born on 9 November 1889 in Minnedosa, Manitoba. His father John Charles Burlington, a carpenter, was from Chicago, Illinois while his mother Anne Mary Powell was from Ontario. The couple gave birth to their first child, son Charles, in 1883 in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The family then moved to Manitoba, settling in the RM of Lansdowne in the District of Marquette. Communities in the area were/are Minnedosa, Neepawa, and Arden to name a few that came up in various records for the family. Daughter Sadie was born in 1885 but sadly died the next year. She is interred in the Arden Cemetery along with sister Ruby (1899-1900). Other children born to the family were Annie Estella (abt 1888), Bruce Bertram (Bert) (1892), and Percy Wilmot (1894). By the 1911 Canada census Frank was living in Neepawa and working as a teamster.

Frank and Bert found their way to Kenora, Ontario at some point after the 1911 census, with Frank working in the town as a barber and Bert as a moving picture operator. Bert had married Florence George in 1911 in Winnipeg and the couple had given birth to three children by the time of his death due to influenza in 1918 in Kenora. Along with a couple of other fellows from Kenora, Frank signed his attestation papers in Winnipeg with the Royal Flying Corps on 22 October 1917, giving his father in Melville, Saskatchewan as next of kin. By the 26th he was in Toronto ready for training as a 3rd Air Mechanic. A local Kenora newspaper speculated that the fellows would be sent to the new training camp being prepared in Texas. On 9 March 1918 he was appointed 2nd Air Mechanic. On 1 April 1918 the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service were amalgamated to form the Royal Air Force and he was transferred to the RAF. It appears that he was appointed as Acting Corporal, without pay, that September. Having served in Canada, he was discharged in consequences of being surplus to RAF requirements on 13 January 1919.

After the war Frank settled in Toronto, Ontario. On 17 April 1919, in St Stephen’s Church in Toronto, he married Dorothy Lillian Gervin. Frank, birth place given as Minnedosa, was working as a clerk. Dorothy, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (née Smith) Gervin was born in 1898 in Ottawa and was working at a newspaper at the time of the marriage. The 1921 Canada census found the family living on Gladstone Avenue, with Frank’s occupation given as chauffeur. They had given birth to their first child, son Lorne Glen. Other children born to the family were Dorothy Jean, Elizabeth Anne, Beryl, Walter, and George Franklin. A 1958 Voters List found Frank, Dorothy, and Jean living on Cranbrooke Avenue in Toronto with Frank working as a salesman and Jean as a secretary.

Frank died on 21 July 1962 in the Wellesley Hospital in Toronto. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Dorothy, and children Jean, Elizabeth (Howard) Mawson, and Beryl (Jack) Farr, all of Toronto, Lorne of North Bay, Walter of Hornepayne, and George of Huntsville. Dorothy died in 1986 and is interred with Frank in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto.

Frank is commemorated in Kenora on the St. Alban’s Pro-Cathedral First World War Roll of Honour.

by Judy Stockham

service record: National Archives, London, England
grave marker: Kellylm on findagrave.com

Burlington-Frank-2 Burlington-Frank-3 Burlington-Frank-4 Burlington-Frank-5


« Back To Soldier Biographies