Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthSeptember 7, 1898
Place of BirthManitoulin Island, Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinEliza Ann Sinclair (Mother), Box 358, Kenora, Ontario
Trade / CallingTeamster
ReligionMethodist
Service Details
Regimental Number821098
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion141st Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentJanuary 11, 1917
Age at Enlistment18
Theatre of ServiceGreat Britain
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathJuly 11, 1991
Age at Death92
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
Plot47E-28-4

Sinclair, Benjamin Elton

Kenora’s David George Sinclair and his wife Eliza Ann Bock had four sons that served in WW1 – Leslie Foster John (born 1887), Levi Wilmot (born 1893), Roy Frederick (born 1895) and Benjamin Elton (born 1899).  The family arrived in Rat Portage (Kenora) in 1903 and settled north of town in the rural area of Jaffray Melick.  Three daughters – Cyrella (born 1885), May (born 1889) and Maude (born 1891) completed the make-up of the family.  They had come from the Manitoulin area of Ontario where they were listed as Mennonites in the 1901 Canadian Census.

Youngest son, Benjamin, was born on 07 September 1899. He received his education in Rat Portage (Kenora).  In 1915 he started working for the CPR.

Benjamin enlisted with the 141st Bull Moose Battalion in Kenora on 11 January 1917.   After training in Port Arthur for several months the battalion left for the east and embarked for overseas from Halifax on 29 April 1917 aboard the S.S. Olympic. Once in England Benjamin was transferred to the 18th Reserve Battalion.  He was only 17 at the time, so he served in England until returning to Canada in June 1919. He received his official discharge on 25 June 1919 in Fort William.

Benjamin was working as a fire ranger in Sioux Lookout when he married Hilda Florence Stevenson on 26 August 1926. They returned to Kenora and had four children –  William, Robert, Richard, and Virginia.   He worked for the CPR for 49 years, retiring in 1964.

He was active in his community being a charter member of the Lakewood Credit Union, the secretary-treasurer of the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, a member of the Royal Canadian Legion and also St. Alban’s Cathedral.

Benjamin died on 11 July 1991 in Kenora and is buried in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery.   He was predeceased by his wife in 1976.

Sinclair-Benjamin-Elton-10 Sinclair-Benjamin-Elton-11 Sinclair-Benjamin-Elton-11b baj-veterans-1981 Sinclair-Benjamin-Elton-12 Sinclair-Benjamin-Elton-13


« Back To Soldier Biographies