Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthDecember 5, 1898
Place of BirthWinnipeg, Manitoba
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinJohn Patrick Raleigh (uncle), 317 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Trade / CallingStudent
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number787
Service Record Link to Service Record
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Army Dental Corps
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Place of EnlistmentToronto, Ontario
Address at Enlistment40 Wells Street, Toronto, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentJune 22, 1917
Age at Enlistment18
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details

Raleigh, Frederick Patrick

Private Frederick Patrick Raleigh was the son of Edmund Raleigh and Annie Franks of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Edmund was born in Ireland around 1851 and came to Canada with his family as a child. They lived in Quebec for several years before settling in Almonte, North Lanark County, Ontario. Edmund’s youngest brother, John Patrick, was born in Almonte in 1870.

Edmund moved west and he was married in Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1889. He and his wife Annie Franks had at least three children: John, Margaret and Frederick. Fred was born in Winnipeg in December 1898. His birth was registered as Edward Frederick Raleigh although he later used the name Frederick Patrick Raleigh. His family was living in Winnipeg at the time of the 1901 census, with his mother listed as 36 years old and born in Ontario. She apparently passed away a few years later, although no record of her death has been found.

Edmund’s brother John Patrick Raleigh graduated from the Toronto School of Dentistry in 1895. He married Josephine Gertrude Nagle in 1899 in Almonte and a short time later they moved to Winnipeg, where John established his dental practice. He and his wife had no children of their own but they took in and raised John and Fred. Edmund spent some time in the U.S. then settled in Stony Mountain, Manitoba where he worked for many years at the stone quarries there. He never remarried.

Fred was a student living in Toronto, Ontario when he enlisted on 22 June 1917. He was 18 years old, his birth date was recorded as 5 December 1898 and he said he was born in Humboldt, Minnesota (where he may have lived briefly as a baby). For next of kin he listed his ‘father’ John Patrick Raleigh in Winnipeg. Fred joined the Canadian Army Dental Corps and when he had his medical he was found fit for overseas service. However he was discharged in Toronto four months later, on 22 October 1917, his ‘services no longer required.’

Fred probably returned to Winnipeg after his schooling but by the early 1920s he was living in the town of Kenora in northwestern Ontario. He was married in East Kildonan (now part of Winnipeg) on 22 May 1923. His wife, Lucille Elizabeth Gelley, was a school teacher, the daughter of Thomas Gelley and Elizabeth Gallee of East Kildonan. She was one of at least ten children and three of her brothers were veterans of the war: Thomas Fraser, George Maurice and Charles.

Fred and Lucille lived in Kenora for several years and their two sons were born there, John Edward (Jack) in 1924 and James Donald (Don) in 1926. By the mid-1930s they had returned to East Kildonan where the boys grew up. Lucille taught school in East Kildonan for many years and Fred was a salesman. Both of their sons excelled at sports. Jack had a career in baseball and played in local and provincial leagues for about ten years. During the Second World War he served with the Royal Canadian Navy. Don had a career in professional hockey and played with the New York Rangers from 1947 to 1956.

Fred’s uncle John died in Winnipeg in 1931 and his father Edmund in 1936. They are both buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery. Around 1956 Fred and Lucille moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where they lived for 25 years. They returned to Winnipeg in 1981 and Lucille passed away in July 1982. She was survived by Fred, their two sons, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Fred was living at Lions Manor at the time and he likely died in Winnipeg but his date of death and place of burial are not known.

Don lived in Winnipeg for most of his life but he died in Kingston, Ontario in 2012. He was inducted into both the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and the Manitoba Hockey Hall of Fame. Jack was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame and he passed away at his home in Portland, Oregon in 2013.

By Becky Johnson

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