Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthFebruary 14, 1859
Place of BirthLeeds County, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusMarried
Next of KinRosey Bolton, 505 St Johns Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Trade / Callingfarmer
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number288164
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion221st Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at Enlistment505 St Johns Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Date of EnlistmentMarch 22, 1916
Age at Enlistment57
Theatre of ServiceGreat Britain
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathSeptember 17, 1935
Age at Death76
Buried AtPrairie Grove Cemetery, RM of Tache, Manitoba

Bolton, Philip Henry

Philip Henry Bolton was born on 14 February 1859* in the township of Bastard, Leeds County, Ontario. His father was Irish immigrant William Bolton and his mother, born in Upper Canada, was Sarah Ann Dowsett. Henry had an older brother Patrick and a younger sister Mary. With William working as a labourer, likely on Sarah’s father Philip’s farm, William, Sarah, Patrick and Philip Henry were found on the 1861 Canada census for Bastard, Leeds, Canada West. That May Mary was born but sadly in August Sarah died. She is interred in the Forfar Cemetery in the township of Bastard.

By the 1880’s Henry had moved to Winnipeg where he married Rose McQuade, a recent Irish immigrant, in 1888. Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Henry and Rosie married within weeks of her arrival in Winnipeg. The couple gave birth to their first child Maud May in 1889 in the RM of Tache, followed by son Samuel Bert in 1892 in the RM of Strathclair. By 1894 the family had moved to Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in northwestern Ontario where Henry found work as a teamster and brickmaker. Children born in Rat Portage were Constance (1894), Stanley Earl (1895), and Annabelle (1896). The 1911 Canada census found Henry, Rosie, and children Maud, Stanley, and Belle farming in the the RM of Provencher in the area of Prairie Grove.

Henry was living in Winnipeg when he signed his attestation papers on 22 March 1916, giving his birth year as 1871 to appear younger. He gave his wife Rosie as next of kin and his occupation as farmer although his service record indicated that he had been employed on recruitment in Canada. Organized in Winnipeg in February of 1916 with recruitment from the city, the 221st Battalion embarked from Halifax on 18 April 1917 aboard the Ausonia and Scandinavian. With the battalion was Private Philip Henry Bolton.

Once in England the battalion was absorbed by the 11th Reserve Battalion. That May Henry was examined by a medical review board at St Martins Plains and reclassified as medical category C3. By July, when his age of 58 was discovered and his condition described as very poorly undernourished, it was decided that Henry would be returned to Canada. He was discharged on the 11th of August in Quebec as medically unfit due to age.

Back in Canada Henry and Rosie returned to the farm in Prairie Grove. Predeceased by daughter Constance Ingram in 1918 in Winnipeg, Henry died on 17 September 1935 in the Winnipeg General Hospital. His wife Rosie died on 9 November 1937 in the St Boniface Hospital. At the time of his death Henry was survived by his wife Rosie, sons Stanley of Winnipeg and Bert of Prairie Grove, daughters Maud Anderson and Annabelle Lester of Winnipeg, and his sister Mary Kennedy of Selkirk. Son Stanley died in 1953 in Winnipeg, daughter Maud Anderson in 1962 in Montreal, son Samuel Bert in 1978 in Winnipeg, and daughter Annabelle Lester in 1988 in Winnipeg. Henry and Rosie are interred in the Prairie Grove Cemetery.

Henry’s son Stanley enlisted in Winnipeg in 1916 and went overseas with the 107th Battalion. Once in England he was transferred to the 1st Canadian Mounted Rifles, arriving in France in January of 1917. He was awarded a Good Conduct Badge during his service. Stanley returned to Winnipeg after the war.

by Judy Stockham

Bolton-Philip-Henry-2 Bolton-Philip-Henry-3

Grave marker photographs by Donald Schmidt, findagrave.com.
Research note:  *a birth record was not found; incorrect dates inscribed on large grave marker

 


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