Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthMarch 7, 1895
Place of BirthPembroke, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinJohn Matthew Hamilton (father), Copper Cliff, Ontario
Trade / CallingSteamshovel engineer
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number3031157
Service RecordLink to Service Record
Battalion15th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Address at EnlistmentCopper Cliff, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentNovember 17, 1917
Age at Enlistment22
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of Death19590607
Age at Death64
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
Plot39E-36-1

Hamilton, Hubert Weldon

Private Hubert Weldon Hamilton was the oldest son of John Matthew Hamilton and Margaret Carmichael of Copper Cliff, Ontario. He was born on 7 March 1895 in Pembroke, Renfrew County, Ontario and his family moved to Copper Cliff when he was a child. His father was a butcher and both of his parents were born in Ontario. He had three sisters (Anna, Lila and Marjory) and three brothers (James Nelson, Leonard and John). Another brother Clifford, a twin to Leonard, died as an infant. Hubert was working as a painter when the 1911 census was taken and by the time he was called up he was a steam shovel engineer.

Conscription started in Canada in 1917 and single men age 20 to 34 were required to register by October. Hubert had his medical exam in Sudbury on 3 November and he was found fit for overseas service. He was called up two weeks later and assigned to the 1st Depot Battalion, 1st Central Ontario Regiment, which was headquartered in Toronto. The depot unit sent drafts of men overseas as needed. Hubert went with the 4th draft, embarking from Montreal on the SS Pannonia on 5 June 1918 and landing at Liverpool three weeks later. Shortly after arriving he was transferred to the 12th Reserve Battalion.

After about four months of training Hubert was drafted to a front line unit, the 15th Battalion, and sent to France. The 15th Battalion (48th Highlanders of Canada) was in the 3rd Brigade, 1st Canadian Division. Before joining his unit Hubert served with the 1st Division Wing at the Canadian Corps Reinforcement Camp from 1 November until 27 December. The 15th Battalion returned from Germany in early January 1919, staying in Belgium for the next two months, and Hubert probably joined them there. He sailed with the battalion from Le Havre, France on 23 March on the SS Lorena, disembarking in Portland Harbour the following morning. He was ill on arrival (vdg) and he spent the next three months recovering. He embarked for Canada on 25 July on the SS Saturnia, landing at Montreal ten days later. He was discharged on demobilization on 7 August in Toronto.

Hubert moved to Kenora, Ontario around 1927. He married Mary Prince and they raised four daughters and two sons. Hubert worked for the Department of Lands and Forests for more than twenty years. He was also employed by the Grand Trunk Railway, the provincial jail in Kenora and the Department of Highways. He was a member of the Kenora branch of the Canadian Legion. Hubert retired in 1957 and passed away in the Kenora General Hospital on 7 June 1959, at age 64. He is buried in the veterans section at Lake of the Woods Cemetery.

By Becky Johnson

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