Author: Nick Metcalfe

Gunner John Francis Hughes

~ Nick Metcalfe ~ 1 Comment

This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in New Hampshire.

The grave of Gunner John Francis Hughes and his parents
The grave of Gunner John Francis Hughes and his parents

Sources vary in their detail about the early life of John Francis Hughes but it is probable that he was born in 1884 or 1885 in Cornwall, Ontario.[1] His father, Barney, was from Fort Covington, New York and his mother, Ellen, was Canadian.[2] His parent had married in Cornwall, Ontario in 1882 and Hughes and three of his siblings were born there. The family travelled to the United States in 1895 and settled in Manchester, New Hampshire.

When Hughes left school, he went to work as an ostler, like his father, and in Manchester on 13 January 1906 he married Catherine Elizabeth Coates.[3] The marriage did not last and the couple had no children; his wife died on 12 January 1912. By the time war broke out Hughes was working as a fireman.

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Private Henry Louis Gerow

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This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Michigan.

The grave of Private Henry Louis Gerow
The grave of Private Henry Louis Gerow

This is a most tragic story about a young man, unsuitable for military service, who should not have been enlisted.

Christmas wishes, 1903
Christmas wishes, 1903

Henry Louis Gerow was born on 2 February 1895, the son of John and Matilda Gerow.[1] He was the fourth of six sons and he had four sisters. His parents were from New York, where they had married and started a family before moving to Beaugrand, in Cheboygan County, Michigan. His father was a farmer and in 1917 he was killed in an accident when a pile of logs that he was taking to the mill fell and crushed him.

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Private Frederick Harold Lewis

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This essay is about the single First World War casualty commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Wyoming.

The grave of Private Frederick Harold Lewis
The grave of Private Frederick Harold Lewis

Fred Lewis was a British immigrant who settled with his mother and two of his sisters in Wyoming. His father was a regular soldier in the Corps of Royal Engineers and Fred was born on 3 August 1894 in Alexandria, Egypt where his father was serving.[1] He was the fifth of six children, and the eldest of two sons.[2] His father was a quartermaster sergeant when died at the Station Hospital in Gosport, Hampshire in 1896. After his death the children were sent in different directions, with the youngest four attending St David’s orphanage in Mumbles, Glamorganshire. Fred’s movements over the next decade are not known.

His elder sister, Alice, emigrated to the United States in 1907, destined for Big Horn, Wyoming, where she married. His mother followed in 1910; she remarried in 1916.[3] Fred Lewis arrived in Canada on 23 December 1911 and also travelled to Sheridan County, where he became a ranch hand. His sister, Ethel, joined them in October 1912.

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Private David Buchan

~ Nick Metcalfe ~ 1 Comment

This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in New Hampshire.

The grave of David Buchan
The grave of David Buchan

Like his nine siblings, David Buchan was born in Scotland; he emigrated to the United States before the war. Buchan served in France with 42nd Battalion (Royal Highlanders) in 7th Brigade, 3rd Canadian Division, where he was wounded in the war’s latter stages during the ‘advance to victory’.

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Captain and Brevet Major Bernard Cecil Smyth-Pigott

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This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Connecticut.

The grave of Bernard Cecil Smyth-Pigott
The grave of Bernard Cecil Smyth-Pigott

Major Smyth-Pigott played an important role in the engagement between the War Office and the arms manufacturers in the United States that were contracted to supply rifles for the British Army in 1915 and 1916.

Bernard Cecil Smyth-Pigott was born on 5 November 1884 at Brockley Hall[1] in Somerset into a wealthy, landed family; he was the second son and second of the seven children of Cecil and Mary Smyth-Piggott.[2] On a sea journey in February 1893 to Colombo, his father fell overboard and drowned.

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Sergeant Michael Francis Moynihan

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This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Connecticut.

The grave of Michael Moynihan
The grave of Michael Moynihan

Michael Francis Moynihan served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force under the name Francis Henry Chapman. He was born on 24 March 1892 in Manchester, Connecticut one of the twelve children of Michael and Julia Moynahan.[1] His parents were both Irish immigrants, and his father and most of his siblings worked in the Cheney Brothers’ silk mill in the town; Moynihan worked as a clerk and stenographer.

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Cadet Kenneth MacDonald Kearney

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This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Connecticut.

The grave of Kenneth MacDonald Kearney
The grave of Kenneth MacDonald Kearney

Cadet Kenneth Kearney served briefly with the Royal Flying Corps in early 1918 before succumbing to pneumonia in Toronto during his initial training. He was born on 25 March 1894 in New Haven, Connecticut.[1] His father was born in New York of Irish parents; his mother was also born in New York but of Scottish parents; he was their only child.

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Private Winfield George Haviland

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This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Connecticut.

The grave of Winfield George Haviland
The grave of Winfield George Haviland

Winfield George Haviland was a United States citizen, whose service with the Canadian Expeditionary Force was limited to service in Canada as a result of illness. He was born on 4 February 1893 at Stamford, Connecticut, the only child of William and Eliza Haviland.[1] His father died in 1897 and in 1900, when he was seven years old, he was sent to Connecticut School for Boys;  the establishment provided an education for juvenile offenders and orphans.

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Private George Henry Chamberlain

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This is part of a series of essays about the First World War casualties commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Connecticut.

The grave of George Chamberlain
The grave of George Chamberlain

George Henry Chamberlain was born on 1 August 1894 at Orono, Maine, the son of John and Mary Chamberlain and the middle of their seven children.[1] His family were French Canadians from New Brunswick, who had emigrated to the United States in 1888. His father was a machinist in the local mill of the Orono Pulp and Paper Co. Some of his brothers worked there too but George Chamberlain learned to drive and became a chauffeur.

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