Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthAugust 8, 1884
Place of BirthPortage la Prairie, Manitoba
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle upon enlistment
Next of KinWilliam Wark, father, Rainy River, Ontario
Trade / CallingBrakeman
ReligionWesleyan
Service Details
Regimental Number439030
Service Record Link to Service Record
Battalion14th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentDecember 21, 1914
Age at Enlistment30
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details

Wark, Arthur Goodwin

Arthur Goodwin Wark was born on 8 August 1884 in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. His parents William Wark and Rachel Goodwin, both from Ontario, married on 31 July 1878 in Toronto. The couple gave birth to son Thomas Edward the next year in Toronto where William was working as a labourer. The family then moved to the Portage la Prairie area to farm, with daughter Viola born in 1887. By the time of the 1901 census the family had moved to the town of Keewatin a few kilometres west of Kenora in northwestern Ontario although Arthur was not listed on the census.

Arthur signed his attestation papers on 21 December 1914 in Kenora. His occupation was given as brakeman and his father William in Rainy River as next of kin. On 1 February 1915, in Kenora, Arthur married widow Catherine Jane Monkman. Born in 1882 in St Andrews, Manitoba, Catherine was the daughter of John Folster and Jane Sinclair. She had married Albert Charles Monkman in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) in 1900, the couple returning to the St Andrews/Selkirk area to live. It appears that they adopted a daughter before Albert died in 1912.

As a Private with the 2nd Reinforcing Draft of the 52nd Battalion, Arthur arrived in England aboard the Missanabie on 13 September 1915. After training in England, Arthur was transferred to the 14th Battalion (Royal Montreal Regiment), taken on strength in France on 10 April 1916. A short time later, on 3 June at Zillebeke (now part of Ypres), Arthur sustained a shrapnel wound just above his right wrist, fracturing his radius. He was admitted to the No 1 Canadian General Hospital in Г‰taples the next day and then transferred to the Bangour War Hospital in Edinburgh on the 14th. In early July Arthur was transferred to the King’s Canadian Red Cross Convalescent Hospital Bushy Park in London, to the Granville Canadian Special Hospital (orthopaedic) at Ramsgate in August, to the Canadian Red Cross Special Hospital in Buxton for a day in mid February of 1917. Over the course of his treatment Arthur had surgeries to remove shrapnel and dead bone. Infection had also set in making recovery more difficult. It was decided that Arthur be returned to Canada, embarking on 19 February aboard the hospital ship Essequibo.

Once in Canada Arthur underwent further treatment in hospitals in Winnipeg until he was discharged from service as medically unfit on 21 November 1917. His intended residence was given as Kenora. In April of 1919 the town held a reception for returned veterans with Arthur’s name included on the list as published in the local newspaper. However by the time of the 1921 census he was not listed as living with Catherine and her daughter in Kenora. A William Goodwin Wark, born in 1884 in Manitoba, was found living in Toronto and working as a labourer at the time. Further trace of Arthur was not found. His mother Rachel died in 1937 and father William in 1938, both in Rainy River. Catherine died in 1970 in Thunder Bay and is interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora.

Arthur is commemorated for his service on the Canadian Pacific Railway Company Roll of Honour, List 16.

By Judy Stockham


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