Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthApril 2, 1902
Place of BirthRat Portage (Kenora), Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinMay McGuire-Clark(e), mother, 257 Russell Street, Brandon, Manitoba
Trade / CallingSchool boy
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number865036
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion181st Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at Enlistment257 Russell Street, Brandon, Manitoba
Date of EnlistmentFebruary 14, 1916
Age at Enlistment13
Theatre of ServiceCanada
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathOctober 4, 1966
Age at Death64
Buried AtRosedale Cemetery, Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan

McGuire, Edwin Ernest

Edwin Ernest McGuire was born on 2 April 1902 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora), Ontario. Both of his parents, Edwin Ernest McGuire and Mary Jessie (May) Parsons, were from Quebec. The couple married in late 1885 in Richmond, Quebec although Edwin was listed as working in Montreal as a fireman, presumably with a railway, at the time of the marriage. The 1891 Canada census found the couple, along with two year old son Henry and domestic Katie Parsons, living in Hochelaga in Quebec where Edwin was working as a railroad engineer.

By the time of the 1901 Canada census the family had moved to Rat Portage where Edwin continued to work as an engineer for the Canadian Pacific Railway. Other children born to the family were Georgianna (abt 1895), Edwin (stillborn, 1896), Genevieve (Jennie) (abt 1897), Russell (1900), and Edwin Ernest. Tragedy was to strike the family in 1903 when father Edwin was killed in a railroad accident that August.

In August of 1905, May married David Patrick Clark in Rat Portage. David, born in Montreal, was also a locomotive engineer. While in Rat Portage/Kenora the couple gave birth to two children, Marguerite May (1906) and Preston David (1910). The 1911 Canada census found David and May and children Genevieve, Russell, Edwin, Marguerite, and Preston living on 5th Avenue South in Kenora.

For the 1916 census for Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, David and May were living on Russell Street in Brandon. Other household members were Preston and Marguerite, and stepchildren Russell and Edwin. Russell was listed as serving with the 101st Battalion.

With occupation given as school boy and his mother May McGuire-Clark as next of kin, Edwin signed his attestation papers with the 181st Battalion in Brandon on 14 February 1916. As he was only 13 years old, he gave his date of birth as 5 March 1901 to appear older. He stood 5 feet, 1.5 inches, with a girth of fully expanded of 32 inches. He was found fit for service on his medical examination. ‘Bugler’ was written on his attestation papers. Edwin was discharged from service on 19 April 1916 at Rosser Avenue Barracks in Brandon, ‘not likely to become an efficient soldier’.

At some point after the war Edwin married Alma Jane Pryce. Born in the RM of Elton, Manitoba in 1905, Alma was the daughter of Alfred Walter and Kate Louisa (née Buchan) Pryce. (Alfred, with occupation given as railway cranesman, signed his attestation papers in Brandon in February of 1915. He served overseas with the 45th and 27th Battalions. Alfred died in January of 1922 in Brandon, death due to service while overseas. He is commemorated on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial and on page 562 of the First World War Book of Remembrance.) Edwin and Alma moved to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in 1921 where Edwin worked for the Canadian Pacific Railway. The couple gave birth to two sons, Edwin and Ronald. Edwin was a member of the Brotherhood of Railway Trainmen and the Willowdale Golf Club.

Edwin died on 4 October 1966 in Moose Jaw. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Alma, and sons Edwin and Ronald, both of California. Alma died in 2000 in Moose Jaw and is interred with Edwin in the Rosedale Cemetery, Moose Jaw.

Edwin’s brother Russell served during the war, going overseas with the 101st Battalion at age 15. He was also listed as a bugler. Although appointed Lance Corporal, once his age was discovered Russell was returned to Canada in early 1917.

By Judy Stockham

McGuire-Edwin-Ernest-2 McGuire-Edwin-Ernest-3

gravemarker photograph courtesy of the Moose Jaw Branch of the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society
obituaries courtesy of Marge Cleave


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