Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthMarch 14, 1881
Place of BirthSouris East, Prince Edward Island
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinArchibald Currie (father), Souris East, Prince Edward Island
Trade / CallingLocomotive engineer
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number1013258
Service Record Link to Service Record
BattalionNo.. 55 Company, Canadian Forestry Corps
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Forestry Corps
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentJanuary 9, 1917
Age at Enlistment35
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathOctober 30, 1930
Age at Death49
Buried AtEdmonton Municipal Cemetery, Edmonton, Alberta
PlotSection OF Block 42 Plot 6

Currie, Sidney Wright

Private Sidney Wright Currie enlisted in a forestry unit in January 1917, at age 35, and served overseas for two years.

Sidney was the son of Archibald and Annie Currie of Souris East, King’s County, Prince Edward Island. He was born in Souris East (now the Town of Souris) on 14 March 1881. He had an older brother William Duncan and two younger sisters, Edith Alice and Patty Jean. His father worked as a clerk, merchant and customs official.

Sidney spent a few years living in the U.S., from about 1905 to 1916. In April 1916 he returned to Canada via Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. By the time he enlisted he was living in Kenora and working as a locomotive engineer. He signed up in Kenora on 9 January 1917, joining the 230th Battalion. He was 5’5″ tall, 167 lb with brown hair and blue eyes and he said his father was living in Souris East but his mother was deceased. Sidney was almost 36 years old but he passed himself off as only 29.

The 230th was a forestry battalion raised in Ontario and the western provinces and drafts of men were sent to England as needed. Sidney was assigned to the 1st draft and he embarked with them from Halifax on the SS Grampian on 25 January 1917, arriving in Liverpool on 6 February. On 3 March he was transferred to No. 27 Company, Canadian Forestry Corps, which had just been organized at Sunningdale. He was sent to France with his new unit and he served there for the next two years.

Forestry work included cutting timber, running sawmills, preparing railway ties and clearing terrain. In March 1918 Sidney had two weeks leave in Paris and in September he was transferred to No. 55 Company, Canadian Forestry Corps. The Armistice ended hostilities in November and within a few months forestry operations were winding down. In February 1919 Sidney was back in England where he was posted to the Canadian Forestry Corps Base Depot. He embarked for Canada on 29 March on the SS Caronia, landing at Halifax eight days later. He was discharged on 13 April in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

Just a few weeks after his discharge Sidney was in Edmonton, Alberta filing a soldier’s homestead claim. His occupation at the time was railroad fireman and his address was c/o the Great War Veterans’ Club in Edmonton. He took up farming and he was married a few years later. He and his wife Clara lived in Green Court, northwest of Edmonton. They had a son, John Archibald, and two daughters, Nancy Margaret born in October 1928 and Bessie in January 1930. Sidney passed away in an Edmonton hospital on 30 October 1930, at age 49. His second son, named Sidney Wright Currie, was born on 23 June 1931. Clara married again and her second husband, Alfred Reynolds, was also a farmer. They raised six children including Nancy, Bessie, Sidney, Archie, Walter and Alfred Jr.

Sidney is buried in Edmonton Municipal Cemetery. His daughter Bessie (Mrs. Otto Hagman) died in 2015 and she’s buried in Anselmo, Alberta. His daughter Nancy (Mrs. Charlie Hill) died six days after Bessie in Salmon Arm, British Columbia. They were predeceased by their brother Sidney in 2009.

By Becky Johnson

1917-01-13-boost Currie-Sidney-91

Obituary and grave marker photo courtesy of Alison Glass.


« Back To Soldier Biographies