Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthMarch 5, 1893
Place of BirthKenora, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinDan McArthur, father, 27 Hargrave Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Trade / CallingMachinist
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental Number2378815
Service Record
Battalion8th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Address at Enlistment27 Hargrave Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba
Date of EnlistmentOctober 13, 1917
Age at Enlistment24
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathMarch 17, 1985
Age at Death92
Buried AtCremation via Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens, Winnipeg, Manitoba

MacArthur, John Angus

John Angus McArthur was born on 5 March 1893 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. Although his parents and siblings all used McArthur as the spelling of their surname, John consistently used MacArthur. His father Daniel McArthur was from Newcastle, Nova Scotia while his mother Florence/Flora McDougall was from Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The couple married on 26 April 1892 in Rat Portage where Dan worked as an engineer. Children born to the family in Rat Portage/Norman/Kenora were John, Lawrence James (1895), May Isabelle (1898-1898), Anna Elizabeth (1899), Gertrude (1901), and Florence (1906). At some point after the 1911 census the family moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba.

With the onset of conscription in the latter part of the war, John had his medical examination in mid October of 1917 in Winnipeg and was called up for service on 3 January 1918. At the time he was living at home and working as a machinist, giving his father Dan as next of kin. Assigned as a Private to the 1st Depot Battalion, Manitoba Regiment, with the 2nd Draft John embarked from Halifax aboard the Grampian on 5 February 1918.

Once in England John was taken on strength with the 18th Reserve Battalion and then drafted to the 8th Battalion in mid May for service overseas. The final period of the war, now called the Hundred Days Offensive, began in August with a four-day battle near Amiens in France. The 8th Battalion moved into the front line on the second day, 9 August, with John sustaining a gunshot wound to the right shoulder that day. He was admitted to the No 22 General Hospital in Camiers on the 11th and then to the No 6 Convalescent Depot in Г‰taples on the 17th. On 19 October he was admitted to the No 7 Canadian General Hospital, also in Г‰taples, with influenza. He was discharged to the No 3 Medical Board Depot on the 29th and rejoined the 8th Battalion on the 27th of December. In late March of 1919 John returned to England, embarking for Canada aboard the Empress of Britain on 26 April. He was discharged from service on demobilization on 8 May in Winnipeg, intended residence given as with his parents on Hargrave Street.

Although living in Winnipeg at the time, John’s brother Lawrence signed his recruitment papers under the Military Service Act in late May of 1918 in Toronto, serving overseas with the 19th Battalion from early November 1918 and returning to Canada in March of 1919.

On 1 July 1922, in Winnipeg, John married Winnifred (Winnie) Myers. Born on 6 October 1901 in the Township of Dereham, Oxford, Ontario, Winnie was the daughter of William Henry Myers and Helena Eliza Dennis. By the time of the 1911 census the family had been living in Winnipeg. Over the years John worked as a machinist for the Canadian National Railway in the Transcona area of Winnipeg, retiring in 1957. He and Winnie gave birth to one child, son Colin.

John died on 17 March 1985 at Victoria General Hospital in Winnipeg. At the time of his death he was survived by is wife Winnie and son Colin. He was predeceased by his parents Daniel (1939) and Florence (1955), both interred in St Mary’s Cemetery in Winnipeg, as well as siblings Lawrence (1954, Chicago), May Isabella in infancy, Anna Elizabeth (James) Gilchrist (1974, Toronto), Gertrude (Richard) Kerry (1971, Vancouver), Daniel (1979, Winnipeg), and according to  an online family tree Florence in 1972 in Grand Falls, Newfoundland. John’s son Colin died suddenly on 4 March 1990, followed by his wife Winnie on 8 December 1993, both in Winnipeg. Chapel Lawn Memorial Gardens in Winnipeg were in charge of the arrangements for John and Winnie, with disposition elsewhere.

By Judy Stockham

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