Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthFebruary 23, 1895
Place of BirthZephyr, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinAlfred Sansom, father, 98 St George St, Weston, Ontario
Trade / CallingFarmer
ReligionMethodist
Service Details
Regimental Number3211479
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion1st Depot Battalion, Alberta Regiment
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedConscripted
Place of EnlistmentCalgary, Alberta
Address at EnlistmentBallantine, Alberta
Date of EnlistmentMay 20, 1918
Age at Enlistment23
Theatre of ServiceGreat Britain
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathNovember 9, 1965
Age at Death70
Buried AtBeechmount Cemetery, Edmonton, Alberta
PlotBlock 0278 Plot 0018

Sansom, Stanley Bertram

Stanley Bertram Sansom was born on 23 February 1895 in Zephyr, Ontario. His father Alfred was from London, England while his mother Elizabeth Ann Foote was from Scott Township in the County of Ontario. Alfred, previously married to Sarah Ann Sutton who died in 1887, had two children from this marriage, Ethel Beatrice (1885-1965) and Ralph (1887-1945). Other children born to Alfred and Elizabeth were Milton Barwell (1893-1910), Edward Cecil (1897-1960), Margaret Myrtle (1902-1902), and Thelma Marguerite (1905). Over the years Alfred worked as a mason and contractor. The 1901 Canada census found the family living in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora). They also lived in Sault Sainte Marie and Orangeville,  both in Ontario. Elizabeth died in 1911 in Orangeville.

Drafted under the Military Service Act of 1917, Stanley signed his recruitment papers in Calgary on 20 May 1918 and was assigned to the 1st Depot Battalion, Alberta Regiment. At the time he was farming in the Ballantine area of Alberta. He arrived in England on 25 August, taken on strength with the 21st Reserve Battalion at Bramshott upon arrival. In February of 1919 Stanley was transferred to the Canadian Army Medical Corps, serving at the Chelsea Red Cross Officers Hospital in London from mid March to early September. Returning to Canada aboard the Araguaya Stanley was discharged from service on 23 September 1919 in Toronto.

Returning to Alberta after the war, Stanley married Lily Skelton on 23 June 1920 in Edmonton. Born in 1901 in Reighton, Yorkshire in England, Lily was the daughter of Fred and Mary Jane (Waites) Skelton. By the time of the 1916 census her family was living in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. Stanley and Lily farmed for many years in the Cherhill area in the rural polling division of Ballantine, about 80 kilometres northwest of Edmonton. They gave birth to two children, Frederick Stanley and John Milton. By the early 1960’s Stanley and Lily had retired to Edmonton.

Stanley died on 9 November 1965 in Edmonton. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife Lily, son Fred of Cherhill, son John of Kinsella, seven grandchildren, and his sister Thelma (Evan) McDonald of Toronto. Lily later died in 1980. Stanley and Lily are interred in the Beechmount Cemetery in Edmonton.

Stanley’s half brother Ralph and brother Edward also served during the war.

By Judy Stockham

Sanson-Stanley-Bertram-2

Grave marker photo: Alison on findagrave.com
Family photo as found on the public Clark Family Tree on ancestry.ca.


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