Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJanuary 31, 1889
Place of BirthStuartburn, Manitoba
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinAmie Guernsey, sister, Kenora, Ontario
Trade / CallingLabourer
ReligionProtestant
Service Details
Regimental Number4070234
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion10th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Garrison Regiment
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Address at EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentNovember 23, 1917
Age at Enlistment28
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details

Guernsey, William

William Guernsey was born on 31 January 1889 in Stuartburn, Manitoba. His parents were William Robert Guernsey and Frances Fuller who had come to Manitoba from England in 1882. William was one of thirteen children born to this couple. By 1901 the Guernsey family was living in Rat Portage (Kenora), Ontario. In the 1911 Census they were still in Kenora and William’s occupation was listed as ‘plumber’.

Conscription started in Canada in 1917. William failed to register as required and he was called up as a defaulter on 11 November 1917 in Winnipeg. He was assigned to the 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment. He reported and had his medical on 23 November in Winnipeg. He was single and working as a labourer at the time. In February of 1918 he was transferred to #10 Special Service Company and he proceeded to Port Arthur on guard duty with the Canadian Garrison Regiment. William’s discharge came on 10 December 1918 due to ‘being in a category lower than B’.

Little is known about William’s life after the war. The 1921 Canadian Census shows him living in Kenora with his sister Amy Johnston and her family. According to his brother Hamilton’s obituary in April of 1955, he was living in Fort William at the time. It appears that he died at some point before his brother Stanley’s death in March of 1966 as only sisters are listed as sibling survivors in his obituary.

William’s brothers George and Frederick also served in WW1.


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