Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJune 28, 1884
Place of BirthHackney, London
CountryEngland
Marital StatusMarried
Next of KinMaude Lucas, wife, 32 Gordon Street, Port Arthur, Ontario
Trade / CallingOperator & Lineman
ReligionBaptist
Service Details
Regimental Number198003
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion8th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentPort Arthur, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentDecember 21, 1915
Age at Enlistment31
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathAugust 13, 1960
Age at Death76
Buried AtRiverside Cemetery, Thunder Bay, Ontario

Lucas, Charles Joseph Anthony

Charles Joseph Anthony Lucas was born on 28 June 1884 in Hackney, London, England. His father Anthony Lucas was from Cologne, Germany while his mother Jessie Ann Hutchings was from Southampton, Hampshire. The couple had married on 1 July 1866 in St Mary Stratford Bow, Tower Hamlets, London. At the time of the marriage Anthony was working as a butcher but all later censuses gave his occupation as tallow melter. Children born in Bow were Anthony (1868), Gertrude (1870) and Florence (1874). Their next child, daughter Rose, was born in 1876 in Hackney, London, followed by son Alfred in 1879 in Walthamstow. By the time of the birth of son Walter in 1883 the family was back living in Hackney. Other children born in Hackney were Charles, Leopold (1886), and Ada May (1890).

With occupation given as boat finisher, Charles signed attestation papers on 11 March 1902 at the London borough of Barnet with the 7th Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps. Over the next twelve years he served with the battalion as well as with the Royal Fusiliers. His first year was spent in England, followed by close to a year in South Africa, five and half years in India, and then posted to Reserve in England from March of 1910 until discharge on 10 March 1914. On 11 March 1907 Charles was awarded two Good Conduct Badges and promoted to Corporal.  According to Charles’ obituary he served in Africa and India as a telegraphist.

Although still on reserve with the British Army, Charles immigrated to Canada, arriving in Montreal aboard the Megantic on 13 August 1910. His destination was given as Port Arthur, Ontario where his brother was living. By 1912 he was living in Kenora, Ontario where he married Maude Whittaker Halliwell (spelled Helliwell in England) on August the 12th. Born in 1894 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England Maude was the daughter of William and Ann (née Lawton) Halliwell. Her father had immigrated to Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) first, followed by Ann and children Maude and Blanche who arrived in late July of 1903 aboard the Dominion.

A Kenora Miner and News paper report of 12 August 1914 listed new volunteers that had mustered in to serve for King George V, and among the names of the 24 men was Charles. At some point Charles and Maude moved to Port Arthur where they were living when he signed his attestation papers on 21 October 1915. His occupation was given as military operator, lineman, and signaller, his wife Maude in Port Arthur listed as next of kin, and prior military service as with the Kings Royal Rifles and Royal Fusiliers. Within a fairly short period of time Charles was first with the 94th Battalion in Port Arthur, then transferred to the Signal Training Depot in early February of 1916, and then on to the 141st Battalion in June. Organized in December of 1915 under the command of lieutenant-Colonel DC McKenzie and mobilized at Fort Frances, recruitment had been throughout the Rainy River District. With rank of Corporal with the 141st Battalion, Charles embarked from Halifax aboard the Olympic on 29 April 1917.

Once in England Charles was transferred to the 18th Reserve Battalion, reverting to the rank of Private. By mid June he was in France with the 1st Entrenching Battalion and by the end of August he was posted to the 8th Battalion, joining the unit in the field on the 22nd. In January of 1918 Charles spent time at Field Ambulances suffering from bronchitis, rejoining the unit on the 31st. In early February he was granted a fourteen day leave to the UK. While on leave Charles was admitted to the Huddersfield War Hospital suffering from bronchitis and myalgia. In late March he was transferred to the Canadian Convalescent Hospital, Monks Horton in Kent, and then on to the Canadian Red Cross Special Hospital, Buxton in mid April, discharged on the 12th of June. His final diagnosis was articular rheumatism, bronchitis, and neurosthenia caused by infection, exposure in the trenches, and strain of service. He was reclassified as B3 and on 22 September 1918 Charles embarked from Liverpool for Canada. He was discharged from service as medically unfit on 23 November 1918 in Port Arthur.

The 1921 Canada census found Charles, Maude, and their two daughters Maudena and Florence, living in the township of McIntyre on the outskirts of present day Thunder Bay. Charles’ occupation was listed as telegraph operator. Other children born to the family were Charles (1916-1916), Jeanne, Faye, and Clyde (1922-1931).

Charles died in Port Arthur General Hospital on 13 August 1960. His Veteran Death Card listed his wife, Maude Lucas of Port Arthur as his next of kin. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Maude, daughters Ena Burns (Port Arthur), Florence Talarico (Marathon), Jeanne Bruley (Port Arthur), and Faye Hill (Moose Jaw), his sisters Rose Hayes of Cameron Falls and Ada Capon of Los Angeles, and brothers Walter back in England and Leo in Toronto. He was also survived by thirteen grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Maude died in 1982 in Port Arthur and in interred with Charles in the Riverside Cemetery, Thunder Bay.

by Judy Stockham

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Charles’ obituary provided by the Thunder Bay Public Library


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