Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthSeptember 4, 1890
Place of BirthKenora, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusMarried
Next of KinJennie Wright (wife), 145 James Street East, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Trade / CallingLabourer
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number3207095
Service RecordLink to Service Record
Battalion1st Depot Battalion, Alberta Regiment
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Place of EnlistmentEdmonton, Alberta
Address at EnlistmentSt. Regis Apartment, Edmonton, Alberta
Date of EnlistmentMay 10, 1918
Age at Enlistment27
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathSeptember 9, 1958
Age at Death68
Buried AtAssumption Roman Catholic Cemetery, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Wright, Jack George

Private Jack George Wright enlisted in Edmonton, Alberta in May 1918, at age 27. Records indicate that he was using an alias and he was actually Patrick Stafford Savage.

Patrick Stafford, usually known as Stafford, was the son Patrick Richard Savage and Mary Adeline Casey of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Patrick and Mary were born in New Brunswick and married there in 1881. Their first child, Lenna May, was born in New Brunswick in 1883. Not long after that they moved west and two children were born in Winnipeg, Manitoba: William Joseph (1884) and Maude (1886). From there the family moved to Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), in northwestern Ontario. They lived in Rat Portage for about 15 years and had at least seven more children: Marie Ethel (1888), Patrick Stafford (1890), Irene, Mary Susan Adeline, Gertrude, Bertram Richard (11 August 1899) and Ester (1901). Stafford was baptized at the Notre Dame du Portage Roman Catholic Church in Rat Portage on 20 September 1890, with his birth date recorded as 4 September.

Patrick was a railroad conductor for the Canadian Pacific Railway and around 1902 he and his family moved back to Winnipeg. He continued to work on the Rat Portage to Fort William route. Sadly, he was killed at work on 21 December 1904 when the engine he was driving collided with a stalled freight train. The accident happened west of Fort William near the small community of Tamarac. Patrick’s funeral was held in Winnipeg on 24 December and he’s buried in St. Mary’s Cemetery. Mary stayed in Winnipeg and when the 1911 census was taken eight children were still at home including Stafford, who was working as a carpenter for the railroad.

Stafford was married in Winnipeg on 22 January 1915 to Mary Ann Jamieson. The war had started the previous summer and his brother Bertram enlisted underage in August 1916. It was a week before his 17th birthday but he passed himself off as a year older. Conscription started in the summer of 1917 but because Stafford was married he was not called up. He enlisted voluntarily on 10 May 1918 in Edmonton, Alberta, using the name Jack George Wright. His address was Edmonton and he gave his birth date as 4 September 1890 in Rat Portage, Ontario. He said he was married but he didn’t know the address of his wife “Jennie Wright.” In his service file her address is recorded as 145 James Street, Winnipeg. There is also a note on the Last Pay Certificate that his correct name is Savage, not Wright. The same document lists his wife as Marie Savage at 146 Rupert Street, Winnipeg.

Stafford was assigned to the 1st Depot Battalion, Alberta Regiment and he trained at Sarcee Camp near Calgary. On 1 June 1918 he was admitted to the military hospital in Calgary for treatment of vd. He was discharged to duty on 12 October but back in the hospital for a week in early November and again from 22 November to 28 December. By then hostilities had ended in Europe and he was discharged on demobilization on 4 January 1919 in Calgary. His intended residence was Winnipeg. His brother Bertram Savage served in France and suffered gas poisoning but he survived the war. He returned to Canada in May 1919.

When the 1921 census was taken Stafford was living in Winnipeg with his mother and two youngest sisters, working as a switchman for the CNR. Some of his family moved to Los Angeles, California and Stafford joined them there in 1924. When the 1930 U.S. census was taken he was living in Los Angeles with his mother and sister Gertrude. He was recorded as single, born in Canada and a carpenter by trade. He moved back to Winnipeg around 1933 and his mother died in Los Angeles in 1936. Stafford likely remarried and in the federal voters lists for 1940 he was listed as a caretaker living with his wife, Mrs. Stafford Savage, at 377 Balmoral Street in Winnipeg. In 1945 he was employed in munitions and living on St. Vital Road, still with his wife.

Stafford passed away in the Winnipeg General Hospital on 9 September 1958, at age 68. His funeral was held four days later and he’s buried in Assumption Roman Catholic Cemetery. His brother Bertram died in Los Angeles in 1972 and he’s interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale. Their brother William (1884-1942) is buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Winnipeg.

By Becky Johnson


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