Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthMay 16, 1893
Place of BirthWeston, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinThomas E Ellliott, father, Morrisburgh, Ontario
Trade / CallingConstable
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number6038
Service RecordLink to Service Record
BattalionLord Strathcona's Horse (Royal Canadians)
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Cavalry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Place of EnlistmentSewell, Manitoba
Date of EnlistmentJune 23, 1915
Age at Enlistment22
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathMay 20, 1942
Age at Death49
Buried AtRocky Mountain House, Alberta

Elliott, George Bruce Sloan

George Bruce Sloan Elliott was born on 16 May 1893 in Weston, York, Ontario. He was the son of Thomas Edward Elliott, a high school teacher, and Mary Agnes Sloan. The couple married on 11 July 1889 in Weston. George had one sibling, sister Edith Lorraine who was born in 1891. At the time of the 1891 and 1901 Canada census the family was living in Weston but by the 1911 census they had moved to Kenora in northwestern Ontario.

George enlisted at Camp Sewell in Manitoba on 23 June 1915. His occupation was given as constable and his father Thomas who was now living in Morrisburg, Ontario as next of kin. On 10 July 1915 he was taken on strength with the Canadian Cavalry Depot in Canterbury in England. That August he was promoted to Corporal and by mid December had joined Lord Strathcona’s Horse (Royal Canadians) in the field in France.

At the outbreak of World War One, the Regiment was mobilized and began its training in England. In 1915, Lord Strathcona’s Horse served as infantry in the trenches in France. On 16 February 1916, the Strathcona’s were reconstituted as a mounted force. In March 1917, the Regiment again saw action as cavalry during the defence of the Somme front. It was during this fighting that Lieutenant Frederick Harvey won the Victoria Cross for rushing a German machine gun post and capturing the gun position. During the last great German offensive when the British and French armies were on the verge of being split, Lieutenant Gordon Flowerdew won the Regiment’s third Victoria Cross. On 31 March 1918 at Moreuil Wood, Lieutenant Flowerdew lead his 100 man squadron on a charge that defeated a superior German force of 300 strong who were supported by machine gun fire. (www.strathconas.ca)

Shortly after his arrival at the unit, George reverted to ranks at his own request. However by June of 1916 he was appointed Acting Lance Corporal, Lance Corporal in August 1918, and Acting Corporal in January of 1919. Over the course of his service he was granted three leaves, ten days in February 1917, fourteen days to the UK in March of 1918, and fourteen days to the UK in December 1918. George was hospitalized in the 3rd General Hospital in Le Tréport with varicose veins in March of 1917 and then having returned to England in March of 1919, he was hospitalized at Bramshott that May with the same as well as varicocele. George embarked for Canada on 21 May aboard the Carmania, arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia on the 29th. He was discharged from service on demobilization on 5 June 1919 at Halifax, rank of Corporal.

On 7 January 1923, in Morrisburg, Ontario, George married Catharine Elizabeth McArthur. Born in 1896 in Littleton, Colorado, USA, Catharine was the daughter of Archibald Donald McArthur, a medical doctor, and Mary Anne Elizabeth LaFlame, her parents marrying in 1895 in Littleton. Sadly, Catharine’s father passed away in 1899 and is interred in the Fairmount Cemetery in Denver, Colorado. By the time of the 1911 Canada census Mary and Catharine were living with Mary’s mother Elizabeth LaFlamme in Morrisburg. When they married George was working as a forester for the Dominion Forest Service in Rocky Mountain House in Alberta while Catharine was living in Morrisburg.

George and Catharine were to make Rocky Mountain House their home, giving birth to daughter Mary Elizabeth in October of 1923. That fall Catharine’s mother also moved to Rocky Mountain House. George was a secretary of the Confluence School District and was active in the local Legion. Both George and his mother-in-law were great gardeners.

George died on 20 May 1942 of septicemia at the Colonel Belcher Hospital in Calgary, Alberta. According to his Veteran Death card, Alberta death record, as well as his obituary, he is interred in a cemetery in Rocky Mountain House. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Catharine and daughter Mary Elizabeth as well as his sister Edith. He was predeceased by his mother Mary Agnes in 1922 and father Thomas in 1932, and along with Edith who later died in 1964 in Ottawa, are interred in the Riverside Cemetery in Etobicoke, Ontario.

After George’s death Catharine and Mary Elizabeth remained in Rocky Mountain House where Catharine worked for a number of years as a secretary, taking over for George when he became ill. She was also secretary for the Rocky Mountain House Hospital for a few years and then for many years for the town of Rocky Mountain House, retiring in 1970. She was a founder of the MacDonald of Garth Chapter IODE Library. Catharine died in February of 1975 while visiting her daughter Mary Elizabeth (James) Duggan in Calgary. Predeceased by her husband Jim in 1994, Mary Elizabeth later died on 8 December 2004. She is interred in Eden Brook Memorial Gardens in Calgary.

By Judy Stockham

Photographs of George and Edith as well as young George on the horse provided by William Gard.
Photograph of George on forestry duty as well as information about the family in Rocky Mountain House as found in “The days before yesterday History of Rocky Mountain House District” and provided by Alison Glass.


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