Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJuly 1, 1892
Place of BirthAlmonte, Lanark County, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinRobert Craig (father), Arnprior, Ontario
Trade / CallingTrainman
ReligionChurch of England
Service Details
Regimental Number2381391
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion76th Depot Battery
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Field Artillery
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Address at EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentMarch 21, 1918
Age at Enlistment25
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of Death19561007
Age at Death64
Buried AtMountain View Cemetery, Thunder Bay, Ontario
PlotBlock 146, Row 4, Lot 173

Craig, William Henry

Gunner William Henry Craig was the son of Robert Craig Jr. and Julia McCormick of Arnprior, Renfrew County, Ontario. Robert was born in Ontario and Julia was from Ireland. They were married on 2 July 1891 and William, their oldest child, was born on 1 July 1892 in Almonte, a small village near Arnprior. William had three brothers, Robert Harvey, Herbert Nelson and Albert Lionel, and two sisters, Annie Maria May and Margaret Jane. When the 1911 census was taken the family was living on MacDonald Street in Arnprior. Robert and the three oldest boys were all working as labourers at a local mill. Julia passed away in November 1913 and Robert remarried in 1918. His second wife, Sarah Jane Lowry (née Davis) was a widow with two daughters.

Conscription started in Canada in 1917 and single men age 20 to 34 were required to register that fall. By then William was living in the town of Kenora in northwestern Ontario where he was working for the Canadian Pacific Railway. He reported as required and his medical exam on 24 November found him fit for overseas service. He was called up in the spring and he signed his recruitment papers on 21 March 1918 in Winnipeg. William was assigned to the 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment but a week later he was transferred to the 76th Depot Battery, Canadian Field Artillery, with the rank of Gunner. The 76th Battery trained in Manitoba and at Camp Petawawa in Ontario. William served in Canada for eight months, getting his discharge on demobilization on 2 December 1918 in Winnipeg. His brother Robert served overseas with the 1st Divisional Ammunition Column and returned to Canada in May 1919.

After the war William went back to Kenora and to his job with the CPR. He was married in Kakabeka Falls on 14 March 1923. His wife, Catherine Ingram, was born in Glasgow, Scotland and came to Canada with her mother in 1907, at age 11. Her father had arrived a year earlier and they made their home in Kakabeka Falls.

After their marriage William and his wife moved to Fort William and he had a long career with the CPR, becoming a conductor. He was a member of the Shriners, the Lake of the Woods Lodge AM and FM and the Fort William Legion. William and Catherine had two children, John and Mona Catherine. Around 1954 they moved to Winnipeg where William continued to work as a conductor for the CPR. He passed away in Winnipeg on 7 October 1956, at age 64. His funeral was held in Fort William and he’s buried there in Mountain View Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Catherine, his son John and his daughter Mona (Mrs. Jack Mountstephen). Catherine died in April 1959 and she’s interred beside her husband.

William is commemorated in the Veterans Book for the Town of Arnprior.

By Becky Johnson

Grave marker photo courtesy of Lynda Piilo.

1917-10-17-register Craig-William-Henry-90


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