Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJuly 26, 1888
Place of BirthRat Portage (Kenora), Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMrs Jean Douglas, mother, 476 St Mary's Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Trade / CallingAccountant
ReligionChurch of England
Service Details
Regimental Number288566
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion78th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentSuite 4 233 Longside Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Date of EnlistmentMay 6, 1916
Age at Enlistment27
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathMarch 18, 1935
Age at Death46
Buried AtNew London Cemetery, Queen's County, Prince Edward Island

Ferguson, Malcolm MacKenzie

Malcolm MacKenzie Ferguson was born on 26 July 1888 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. His father David Thompson Ferguson, watchmaker and jeweller, was from Collingwood, Ontario while his mother Jean Anderson Nisbet MacKenzie was from Doon, a village that is now a suburb in Kitchener, Ontario. Jean’s father was a minister and had moved the family to Rat Portage around 1884 to serve at the Knox Presbyterian Church, marrying David and Jean on 10 February 1886. Children born to the couple, all in Rat Portage, were John Binning (1887-1936), Malcolm, Dorothy Madeline (1890-1893), Jessie Nisbet (1892-1987), Morven Seaforth (1895-1966), Kenneth Gordon (1901-1980), and David Athol (1905-1985). Sadly, father David, on a trip to the west coast, ended his life by his own hand on a steamer between Vancouver and Victoria in September of 1911. Jean later married widower George Douglas, the family moving to Winnipeg.

With occupation given as accountant and his mother Jean Douglas in Winnipeg as next of kin, Malcolm signed his attestation papers on 6 May 1916 in Winnipeg. As a Sergeant with the 221st Battalion, Malcolm embarked from Halifax aboard the SS Ausonia on 18 April 1917. Reverting to rank of Private, Malcolm was posted to the 11th Reserve Battalion upon arrival, and then on to the 78th Battalion in June.

On 30 October 1917, at Passchendaele, Malcolm sustained a gunshot or shrapnel wound to the right buttock, fracturing the ischium (one of the hip bones). The next day he was taken to the No 8 Canadian Field Ambulance where surgery was performed to remove foreign material. On November 2nd he was transferred to the 3rd Australian General Hospital in Abbeville, and then invalided to the Kitchener Military Hospital in Brighton, England on December 12th. In February of 1918 a second surgery was performed as the wound reopened and in March Malcolm was transferred to the No 16 Canadian General Hospital in Orpington. That fall it was decided that Malcolm, unable to put any weight on his right foot, should be invalided to Canada, embarking from London aboard the HMT Khyber on September 24th.

Once in Canada Malcolm was admitted to the Manitoba Military Hospital Tuxedo Park in Winnipeg, discharged from the hospital on November 28th. On 6 December 1918 he was discharged from service as medically unfit. Malcolm remained in Winnipeg after discharge, found living with his siblings on Langside Street and working as an accountant for the 1921 census.

By the late 1920’s Malcolm was living in Moncton, New Brunswick and working as an office manager for the Swift Company Canada. On 6 December 1930, in Moncton, he married Beulah Christine Campbell. Born in 1906 in Graham’s Road, Prince Edward Island, Beulah was the daughter of Garnet Bertram Campbell and Matilda Warren. Malcolm and Beulah gave birth to three children, son Malcolm and twins Morven and Sheila (b 1934).

Predeceased by his sister Dorothy in 1893, his father David in 1911, his mother Jean in 1933, all interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora, Malcolm died suddenly on 18 March 1935 in Moncton. His Veteran’s Death Card listed his wife Beulah Ferguson of 117 Givan Drive in Moncton as next of kin. Sadly, daughter Sheila died two months later on 28 May, and along with Malcolm is interred in the New London Cemetery in Queen’s County, Prince Edward Island.

In 1938 Beulah married David Clay Johnstone in Moncton. Born in New London, Prince Edward Island, David had been living in Calgary at the time of the marriage. After the marriage David, Beulah, and the children were to make Bowness, Alberta their home, the couple giving birth to son Wayne. Upon retirement David and Beulah moved to Kelowna, British Columbia where David died in 1975 followed by Beulah on 24 May 1995. Beulah and David are interred in the Mountain View Memorial Gardens in Kelowna.

Malcolm’s brother Morven went overseas with the 44th Battalion in the fall of 1915, later serving with the Canadian Army Pay Corps. He returned to Canada in late June of 1919. Morven died in Toronto in 1966.

by Judy Stockham

Malcolm’s obituary provided by Bruce Estabrooks, Moncton, New Brunswick
Beulah’s obituary provided by Jean MacKay, Summerside, Prince Edward Island
Malcolm’s grave marker photographed by peiancestry.com

« Back To Soldier Biographies