Kenora Great War Project

 

Personal Details
Date of BirthJune 8, 1887
Place of BirthGrange, Banffshire
CountryScotland
Marital StatusSingle
Next of KinRobert and Jane Still (parents)
Trade / CallingMarine engineer/locomotive fireman
ReligionPresbyterian
Service Details
Regimental Number7712
ForceRoyal Naval Reserve
BranchTrawler Section
Enlisted / ConscriptedEnlisted
Address at Enlistment711 River Street, Kenora, Ontario
Date of EnlistmentFebruary 12, 1918
Age at Enlistment30
Theatre of ServiceGreat Britain
Prisoner of WarNo
Survived WarYes
Death Details
Date of DeathAugust 4, 1983
Age at Death96
Buried AtLake of the Woods Cemetery, Kenora, Ontario
Plot9W-2-2

Still, Andrew

Stoker Andrew Still was born in Scotland and living in Canada when the war started. He returned to the UK and joined the Royal Naval Reserve in February 1918, serving with them for fifteen months.

Andrew was born on 8 June 1887 in the parish of Grange, Banffshire, Scotland. His parents were Robert Still, a farmer and crofter, and Jane Shand. Andrew had at least one sister, Maggie, who was five years younger than him. Andrew became a merchant marine and by the time he was in his early twenties he was living in Balboa, a port on the south (Pacific) side of the Panama Canal. The canal was under construction at the time and was not completed until 1913.

In 1911 Andrew moved from Balboa to Canada, sailing on 9 April on the SS San Juan and arriving in San Francisco on 6 May. His occupation was marine engineer and his final destination was listed as Vancouver. He settled in the town of Kenora in northwestern Ontario where he worked as a locomotive fireman. Sometime after the war started he returned to Scotland and joined the Royal Naval Reserve.

Although he may have served earlier, Andrew enlisted with the Trawler Section of the Royal Naval Reserve on 12 February 1918 in Anstruther, Scotland. He was posted to HMS Pembroke, the Royal Navy shore establishment at Chatham. From 4 May to 20 May he was on the trawler HMT Pekin and from 20 May to 22 June he served on the HMS Venerable. The Venerable was based at Portland, Dorset at the time and it served as a depot ship for mine-laying trawlers in the Northern Patrol. On 22 June Andrew was transferred to the HMS Implacable and he served on the ship for almost a year. During that time the Implacable was also a depot ship for the Northern Patrol and it played a crucial role in the anti-submarine war. It was based in the Shetland and Orkney Islands and on the northern coast of Ireland.

Andrew was dispersed to shore on 14 April 1919 and discharged on demobilization on 11 May. His character was described as very good and he was awarded the British War and Victory Medals. Ten days after his discharge he was on his way back to Canada, embarking from Liverpool on 21 May on the SS Carmania and arriving in Halifax on 29 May. His destination was Kenora where he intended to work as a locomotive fireman.

On 19 June 1920 Miss Mary Forbes arrived in Quebec from Glasgow, Scotland on the SS Sicilian. She was a domestic servant from Edinburgh and she was going to Kenora. Andrew met her in Montreal and they were married there on 20 June at the Inspector Street Presbyterian Church. Andrew and Mary settled in Kenora where he had a long career with the Canadian Pacific Railway, first as a fireman and later as an engineer. They lived on First Street South in Lakeside and they had a daughter Jean who was born in 1926.

Andrew was a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen and a life member of the Canadian Legion, Kenora branch. By the early 1960s he was retired and his wife passed away in 1967, at age 77. During Kenora’s centennial in 1982 Andrew was named an honorary citizen of the town. He passed away the following year, on 4 August 1983, at age 96. He was survived by his daughter Jean of Kenora and his sister Mrs. Maggie Henderson in Aberdeen, Scotland. Jean died in 2007, at age 81.

Andrew, Mary and Jean are buried in Chapel Grounds West Block at Lake of the Woods Cemetery in Kenora.

By Becky Johnson


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