Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthApril 24, 1890
Place of BirthMaybole, Ayrshire
CountryScotland
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMaggie Kennedy, mother, 16 Greenside, Maybole, Scotland
Trade / CallingPacker
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number466317
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion10th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Place of EnlistmentMedicine Hat, Alberta
Date of EnlistmentJuly 6, 1915
Age at Enlistment25
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathSeptember 2, 1955
Age at Death65
Buried AtMountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, British Columbia
PlotABRAY-*-04-020-0008

Kennedy, Quintin Caldwell

Quintin Caldwell Kennedy was born on 24 April 1890 in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland. Both of his parents, Alexander Kennedy and Margaret (Maggie) Brown, were from Maybole where they married on 1 March 1878. Alexander was a shoemaker by trade. Quintin’s older siblings were Annie, Thomas, Elizabeth (Lizzie), George, and Alexander, while his younger siblings were Margaret (Maggie), and Isabella.

Quintin immigrated to Canada in May of 1909, arriving in Quebec aboard the Hesperian on the 23rd. With occupation given as shoemaker on the passenger list, his final destination was given as Keewatin in northwestern Ontario where his brother George was living. At the time the small town was a huge drawing card for immigrants due to its large flour mill, the Lake of the Woods Milling Company. Quintin journeyed back to Scotland in February of 1913, returning to Canada aboard the Grampian on 6 May. The passenger list indicated that he had lived in Keewatin from 1909-1913 (although he was not found on the 1911 census for Keewatin) and that he was on his way to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

Quintin signed his attestation papers in Medicine Hat, Alberta on 6 July 1915 with the 63rd Battalion. He had been working as a packer at the Medicine Hat branch of the Lake of the Woods Milling Company at the time. He gave his mother Maggie back in Maybole as next of kin. Recruited in Medicine Hat, Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, the 63rd Battalion was mobilized at Edmonton. The battalion arrived in England aboard the Metagama on 5 May 1915. Once there Quintin was transferred to the 11th Reserve Battalion for a few days before being struck off strength on 6 June to the 10th Battalion that had arrived in France in early February.

Quintin was admitted to the No 8 Stationary Hospital in Wimereux on 8 June 1916 with a gunshot wound to the scalp. He was discharged to the base depot on 12 August, rejoining the unit in September. In November Quintin was sentenced to 7 days Field Punishment No 1 for refusing to pay for food he had obtained from an establishment. That December he was sentenced to 14 days Field Punishment No 1 and forfeited 2 days pay for being absent from roll call and absent from billets without permission. On 1 January 1917 Quintin was admitted to the No 4 General Hospital in Wimereux with PUO, fever of unknown origin, and then on to the No 6 Canadian Depot in Etaples for a couple of days in early February, discharged to Details camp on the 4th and rejoining the 10th Battalion on 1 March.

On 8 April at Vimy, Quintin sustained a shrapnel wound to the lower third of his right leg and a severe gunshot wound to his left hand. He was admitted to the No 7 Canadian General Hospital in Etaples on the 10th. He was invalided to England to the Red Cross Castle Hospital in Sherborne on the 13th, transferring to the Military Convalescent Hospital Woodcote Park in Epsom in early June with discharge on 21 July. He spent further time at two other hospitals before it was decided that Quintin should be returned to Canada, embarking from Liverpool aboard the Delta 15 on 18 October. Quintin was discharged from service as medically unfit on 31 December 1917.

Quinton’s brother George enlisted with the 238th Battalion in August of 1916 and served in Scotland with the Canadian Forestry Corps and France with the 4th Battalion.

Quintin returned to Medicine Hat, found working as a foreman for a clay works on the 1921 census. He had married Janet Susan Rennie who was born on 20 October 1885 in Poplar, London, England. She was the daughter of Thomas Walter and Maria (née Pegler) Rennie and had arrived in Canada aboard the Vancouver  in June of 1907 to work as a domestic. By the time of the census they had an eleven month old daughter, Margaret, and would later give birth to son Quintin Jr. It is not known if they had any other children.

According to his British Columbia death record, the family moved to Vancouver in 1925. However it is likely that they did not move until 1938, year confirmed by Janet’s death record and the Vancouver directories. From 1938-1940 Quintin worked as a salesman, 1941-1945 his occupation was listed as acting servant in the directories, and by 1947 Quintin was working as a janitor in a customs building, retiring in 1955. Quintin died at their home on East 24th Avenue on 2 September 1955, followed by Janet on 31 January 1969. Quintin is interred in the Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver. He is commemorated for his service on the Lake of the Woods Milling Company Roll of Honour plaque.

by Judy Stockham

Grave marker photo provided by Islandergirl on findagrave.com.


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