Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthDecember 28, 1892
Place of BirthRat Portage (Kenora), Ontario
CountryCanada
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinFrederick Thomas Hooper, father, Kenora, Ontario
Trade / CallingAccountant
ReligionRoman Catholic
Service Details
Regimental NumberN/A
Service RecordLink to Service Record
Battalion58th Battalion
ForceCanadian Expeditionary Force
BranchCanadian Infantry
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Place of EnlistmentPort Arthur, Ontario
Address at EnlistmentKenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentJune 28, 1916
Age at Enlistment23
Theatre of ServiceEurope
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathNovember 7, 1970
Age at Death77
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
PlotRCE 25

Hooper, Frederick James

Frederick James (Jim) Hooper was born on 28 December 1892 in Rat Portage (later renamed Kenora) Ontario. His father Frederick Thomas Hooper was born in England while his mother Mary Sarah O’Sullivan was from Ireland, the couple marrying in 1883 in Detroit, Michigan. His father had worked on the construction of the MacKenzie canal at Fort Frances in northwestern Ontario in the mid 1870’s and then acquired his captain’s papers to run steamboats on Rainy River and Lake of the Woods. Children born to the couple in Rat Portage were Charles Thomas (Tom) (1883-1960), Mary Kathleen (1885-1918), John Ambrose (Jack) (1888-1933), Isabella Helen (1890), Jim, Sarah Margaret (Madge) (1895-1973), William Albert (1898-1977), and Frances Elizabeth (1901-1971).

The family settled on 1st Street South in Kenora and at the time of the 1911 census Jim was working as a stenographer. He signed his 94th Battalion Officers paper on 3 June 1916 in Port Arthur, Ontario. Living in Kenora, his occupation was given as accountant, his father Frederick in Kenora as next of kin, and unit of active service as the 96th Lake Superior Regiment. The 94th Battalion recruited in Port Arthur, Fort William, Kenora, Rainy River, Fort Frances and Dryden, Ontario and was mobilized at Port Arthur. As a Lieutenant with the battalion, the unit embarked from Halifax for England on 26 June 1916 aboard the Olympic, arriving in Liverpool on 6 July.

Once in England Jim was first taken on strength with the 32nd Reserve Battalion. That fall he achieved a First Class certificate in Telephony and Signal Course. In January of 1917 he was transferred to the 6th Reserve Battalion and attached to the 1st Canadian Reserve Brigade Signal Base at East Sandling. From there Jim was transferred to the 14th Reserve Battalion in mid February, on to the 8th Reserve Battalion and then to the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles for duty overseas. By early May he arrived in France to serve with the 58th Battalion. That September he was on course at the Fourth Army Signal ‘School and was granted a ten day leave a few days after his return. In February of 1918 Jack was granted a fourteen day leave, returning on the 23rd. On 30 April he sustained a severe penetrating wound to his right arm. According to the 58th’s war diaries for the 30th, the unit was at St Emile Sector,/Lens with Lieutenant FJ Hooper, Signal Officer, reported as a casualty. He was first admitted to the No 10 Canadian Field Ambulance and then transferred to the Duchess of Westminster’s Hospital in Le Touque on May 3rd. From there he was invalided to England on the 6th to the Prince of Wales Hospital in London and then on to the Granville Canadian Special Hospital at Buxton near the end of June. At the end of July Jim was admitted to the Convalescent Officers Hospital at Matlock for a few days and then was posted to the 8th Reserve Battalion. By the third week in September he was back in France, posted to the 58th Battalion, rank of Acting Captain. He was on command to the Canadian Corps Railhead Depot for three weeks in October, rejoining the unit on the 27th. In February of 1919 he was granted leave to the UK and from there he was struck off strength on proceeding to Canada, sailing on the 12th of March aboard the Baltic. Jim was discharged from service on demobilization on 4 April 1919 in Toronto, intended residence given as Kenora.

Jim’s brother Jack enlisted with the 61st Battalion in Winnipeg in January of 1916 and served in England with the Provisional Battalion at Bramshott and subsequently with the 18th Reserve Battalion. He was discharged from service as medically unfit in March of 1918 in Winnipeg. In April of 1918 the Kenora Miner and News reported that W Hooper, a former Kenora boy now living in Winnipeg, had joined the Royal Flying Corps. Further details of his service are unknown.

Jim was found living with his parents and two younger sisters at the time of the 1921 census. Over the years he worked as an accountant/town clerk for the town of Kenora, retiring in 1962. He was a member of various organizations: Notre Dame Roman Catholic Church, Kenora Council, Knights of Columbus, Chamber of  Commerce, Kenora Rotary, Lake of the Woods Club, and the Royal Canadian Legion.

Jim died on 7 November 1970 in Kenora. At the time of his death he was survived by his sisters Madge and Frances (Douglas) Hook in Kenora and his brother William (Burnice) in Sundridge, Ontario. He was predeceased by his father (1924) and mother (1935), both in Kenora, and siblings Mary Kathleen (1918, Barton, Ontario), Jack (1933, Winnipeg), Tom (1960, Vancouver), and Isabella (Colin) Dowsley. After his death, Kenora Council paid tribute to Jim at their regular council meeting. Along with family members, he is interred in the Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora.

By Judy Thorburn


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