Personal Details | |
Date of Birth | May 9, 1890 |
Place of Birth | Rat Portage, Ontario |
Country | Canada |
Marital Status | Single |
Next of Kin | W. Kendall, father, Kenora, Ontario |
Trade / Calling | Bookkeeper |
Religion | Church of England |
Service Details | |
Regimental Number | 198990 |
Service Record | Link to Service Record |
Battalion | 94th Battalion |
Force | Canadian Expeditionary Force |
Branch | Canadian Infantry |
Enlisted / Conscripted | Enlisted |
Address at Enlistment | Kenora, Ontario |
Date of Enlistment | February 22, 1916 |
Age at Enlistment | 25 |
Theatre of Service | Europe |
Prisoner of War | No |
Survived War | Yes |
Death Details | |
Date of Death | October 15, 1966 |
Age at Death | 76 |
Buried At | Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario |
Plot | 12E-32-3 |
Ivan Lucas Kendall was born on 9 May 1890 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), in northwestern Ontario. His father William Glanfield Kendall was from Rettendon, Essex, England. At age twenty-three William had immigrated to Canada, first living in Stratford, Ontario where he worked for the Grand Trunk Railway before moving to Winnipeg in 1882 to work for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The following year, 1883, William transferred with the company to Rat Portage. Starting out as a brakeman, William worked his way up to engineer, retiring in 1921. Badly injured in a railway accident at Pine, he was hospitalized for nine months in 1886. Ivan’s mother Mary Frances Lucas was born in Bristol, Gloucestershire. After the death of her father in 1884, Mary Francis, along with her mother Hannah and sisters Adelaide and Agnes, immigrated to Canada in late September of 1886, arriving in Quebec aboard the Ontario on the 28th. Although their destination was given as Winnipeg, the family ended up living in Rat Portage where William and Mary Frances married on 31 August 1888. Ivan was their first born child, followed by Mervyn (1891), Juanita (1892), Beatrice (1894), and Reuben (1895).
Along with his brother Reuben, Ivan signed his attestation papers on 22 February 1916 in Kenora. His occupation was given as bookkeeper and his next of kin his father William. Both boys were blue-eyed with fair hair and tall for the day with Ivan measuring in at 6 feet 1 inch. Organized in November of 1915 under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel HAC Machin and mobilized at Port Arthur, Ontario, the 94h Battalion had recruited in Port Arthur, Fort William, Kenora, Rainy River, Fort Frances, and Dryden. In May of 1916 C and D Companies from Kenora and Fort Frances were moved to Port Arthur and in early June the battalion left for Valcartier, Quebec before embarking from Halifax aboard the Olympic on the 29th. On board were Privates Ivan and Reuben Kendall.
Once in England both boys were transferred to the 17th Reserve Battalion at East Sandburg and then on to the Canadian Siege Artillery in mid September. By the end of April of 1917 Ivan had arrived in France as reinforcement, taken on strength with the 7th Canadian Siege Battery on the 26th in the field. In March of 1918, when the 7th Canadian Siege Battery was absorbed by the 1st Brigade Canadian Garrison Artillery, Ivan was posted to the Canadian Artillery Pool, having recently returned from a fourteen day leave. By mid June of 1918 Ivan was posted to the 2nd Brigade Canadian Garrison Artillery. Organized in January of 1918 and formerly the 2nd Canadian Heavy Artillery Group, it was composed of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Canadian Siege Batteries. In late December of 1918 he was granted another leave, fourteen days to the UK, followed by a seven day leave to Paris in March of 1919. Along with his brother Reuben, Ivan arrived back in Canada aboard the Mauretania in May of 1919, disembarking in Halifax on the 9th.
After the war Ivan returned to Kenora, residing with his brother Reuben and sisters Juanita and Beatrice in the family home his father had built in 1895 on 5th Avenue on property he had purchase from the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Ivan’s aunt Adelaide (his mother’s sister) had married Jacob Hose who owned and operated the Hose Hardware Company in Rat Portage/Kenora. With Jacob’s untimely death in 1907, followed by Adelaide in 1928, Ivan, along with his brother Mervyn, managed the store until his retirement due to ill health in 1952. Ivan was a member of St Alban’s Pro Cathedral and a past member of the Pequonga Lodge No 414, Kenora.
Predeceased by his mother Mary Frances in 1920 and his father William in 1932, Ivan died on 15 October 1966 in the Kenora General Hospital. He is interred in the family plot in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora. The Kendall House still stands today, having been restored in 1998. It received the Heritage Foundation Award for the efforts made to maintain the character and charm of the Queen Anne architecture from the Victorian era. The house is currently operated as a bed and breakfast and also hosts some community events.
Ivan is commemorated on the St. Alban’s Pro-Cathedral First World War Roll of Honour.
by Judy Stockham
Kendall photographs: Lake of the Woods Museum Archives