Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJuly 13, 1893
Place of BirthWinnipeg, Manitoba
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinFather William Greenwood, Mother -Eleanor Greenwood
Trade / CallingStudent
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number142096
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion20th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Date of EnlistmentAugust 4, 1915
Age at Enlistment22
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarNo
Death Details
Date of DeathJuly 18, 1916
Age at Death23
Buried AtSte. Marie Cemetery, Le Havre, France
PlotDiv. 3. A. 10.

Greenwood, Henry

Although he gave Whitemouth, Manitoba as the place of his birth on his attestation papers, Henry Greenwood, along with his twin sister Elizabeth, was born July 13, 1893 in Winnipeg. His father and mother had immigrated from England in 1892, first homesteading in Whitemouth, Manitoba for about two years before moving to Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora). In the 1901 census, his father was a constable in Rat Portage. Henry’s siblings listed in the census were: Alfred Lewis (1880), Arthur (1881), Eleanor (1883), Anne (1885), Jessie (1886), Gertrude (1888), Harold (1890), Ralph (1891), Elizabeth (1893), Edith (1895), and Frank (1897). Frank’s twin Grace had died shortly after birth along with a brother John born in 1898 that died in 1899 and Gertrude in 1904 of a heart condition.

Henry was in the College for Dental Surgeons 1914-1915, when he  enlisted on July 9, 1915 at Niagara Camp where he was vaccinated. He went overseas from Halifax on April 23, 1916 on the Empress of Britain and arrived in Liverpool, England on May 5, 1916.

Henry was in the 76th Battalion but then transferred to the 20th Battalion in June 1916. He was taken on strength to France June 29th, 1916 but was taken ill and hospitalized July 13, 1916. He died shortly after of lobar pneumonia on July 18, 1916. He was buried on July 22nd. His grave is found in Ste Marie Cemetery, Le Havre, France.

In his  service records it notes that he was not eligible for the military star but that his decorations were to be forwarded to his father (serial number 786695). Private Henry Greenwood is memorialized on the Kenora Cenotaph, on the Kenora Legion War Memorial, and on the Kenora/Keewatin High School plaque. He is commemorated on page 95 of the First World War Book of Remembrance.

Henry’s father William died in 1925 and his mother Eleanor Ann in 1929. The family had lived in West Ward (Norman) for many years and then had a dairy business on the outskirts of  Kenora, selling the property to the  Golf Club  three years before William’s death. William was president of the Kenora Agricultural Society for 10 years. It is unlikely that many, if any, of Henry’s siblings remained in Kenora. Henry’s brother William was living in Sudbury at the time of his mother’s death in 1929. Alfred married Frances Power in 1914 in Port Moody and died in 1917 in Vancouver. Arthur married Elizabeth Peirce and died in 1959 in Vancouver. Eleanor (Nellie) married John Bigelow in 1911 in Souris, Manitoba. Anne married William Bond. Jessie married Maurice Lyall in 1923 in Kenora and was living in Winnipeg in 1929. Harold died in 1965 in Kelowna, survived by his wife Isabel. Ralph was living in California at the time of his mother’s death. Elizabeth married John McDonald in Kenora in 1915 and was living in Winnipeg at the time of her mother’s death. Edith married John Bennet in 1928 and died in Kelowna in 1969. Frank died in San Francisco, California in 1978.

By Penny Beal

Note: Photograph of Henry Greenwood from The Varsity Magazine Supplement published by The Students Administrative Council, University of Toronto 1916. Submitted for the Soldiers’ Tower Committee, University of Toronto, by Operation Picture Me, taken from CVWM.
Henry’s grave marker photograph provided by Franck Benoist.

Greenwood-Henry-1 Greenwood-Henry-2 Greenwood-Henry-3 Greenwood-Henry-4 Greenwood-Henry-5 Greenwood-Henry-6 Greenwood-Henry-7 Greenwood-Henry-8


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