War Bride and President of Silver Cross Mothers in Paris Ontario in 1958

Edith Wakefield (1889-1972) and Albert Dore (1894-1954)

Aquitania - Annette Fulford collection

Edith Rebecca Wakefield was born in 1889 at Folkestone, Kent, the daughter of William Matthew Wakefield and his wife Emma Elizabeth Cullen. Edith worked as a domestic servant before the war. She met British-born Canadian Expeditionary Force soldier Albert Dore and they were married in June 1916 at Folkestone, only eight months after he arrived in England.

Albert William Dore was born in 1894 at Milton, Oxford, England to Wyckliffe Albert Dore and Fanny Puffet. Albert came to Canada in April 1913 onboard the Ascania, which travelled from Southampton, England to Portland, Maine. He was headed to Toronto but ended up in Paris, Ontario working in the knitting mills.

Albert enlisted with the 4^th Canadian Mounted Rifles (Regimental # 109312) on 23 November 1914 at Toronto, went overseas in July 1915 and trained at Dibgate and Caesar’s Camp in Kent. They left for France from Folkestone in October 1915.

He suffered from shell shock after the Battle of the Somme in September 1916 and was in the hospital for three weeks. He complained of nervousness, headaches, shortness of breath on exertion, and excessive perspiration at night. He was also easily startled and had a slight tremor.

He was awarded the Military medal in October 1916 for bravery in the field “for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty.” The website Great War Centenary Association, Brant County, Ontario gives a full citation for receiving the medal “in carrying despatches on frequent occasions under rifle and shell fire. He carried despatches in daylight through places which were considered too dangerous to allow other ranks to use.”

"In June 1917, a shell exploded close by and he was thrown into a shell hole." He returned to England from France and spent the rest of the war in and out of hospitals suffering from dyspnoea, palpations, vertigo, fatigue and sweating on exertion.

Albert was diagnosed with Neurasthenia and was no longer fit for service. He was invalided to Canada on the hospital ship Araguaya in February 1918, landing at Halifax, Nova Scotia. The Halifax harbour was severely damaged in the explosion of a supply ship and a munitions ship in December 1917.

Edith Dore came to North America on the ship Aquitania in October 1918 with their daughter Minnie Edith, who was born earlier in the year. They were headed to Paris, Ontario. The ship travelled from Southampton, England to New York between October 21 - 28^th, 1918.  

Edith and Albert had 2 sons and 4 daughters while living in Paris.

In June 1940, their eldest son Thomas enlisted in the Canadian army at Galt, Ontario and he went overseas to England with the Highland Light Infantry of Canada. Thomas died of wounds in June 1944 and is buried in Brookwood Military Cemetery in Woking, Surrey, England.

Edith Dore was the president of the Silver Cross Mothers in Paris, Ontario in 1958.

Albert died in 1954 and Edith in 1972. They are buried in the local cemetery in Paris.

 

Sources:

Bennett, S. G. The 4^th Canadian Mounted Rifles, 1914-1919, Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/mountedrifles00bennuoft/page/4/mode/1up (accessed October 4, 2020)

Albert William Dore MM, Great War Centenary Association website, Brant County, Ontario http://www.doingourbit.ca/profile/albert-dore-mm?page=4 (accessed October 4, 2020)

Albert William Dore, 4^th CMR website http://www.4cmr.com/dore.htm (accessed August 4, 2020)

Albert William Dore, Personnel Records of the First World War, Regimental No 109312, RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 2604 – 2, Library and Archives Canada. https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=360825 (accessed August 1, 2020)

Thomas William Dore, Service No A/37579, Canadian Virtual War Memorial (CVWM) https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/canadian-virtual-war-memorial/detail/2762464?Thomas%20William%20Dore (accessed August 1, 2020)

Chilliwack Progress, August 27, 1958, 20 https://theprogress.newspapers.com/ (accessed August 4, 2020)

London Gazette, 29805, page 10488, 27 October 1916 https://www.thegazette.co.uk/awards-and-accreditation (accessed August 4, 2020)

 

(c) Annette Fulford, March 2021

 

Red Cross Nurses Are Brides Today at Double Wedding Here

 

Romance Indeed in this Happy Ceremony - Grooms Returned Soldiers - Met on Train on Way to City.

A real romance, in fact, two romances, culminated in a double wedding in the solemn quietude of Trinity church this afternoon when James Steadman of Calgary became the husband of Dorothy Tucker of Reigate, England and George Kerr of Moose Jaw wedded Ethel E. Masters of London, Eng. The grooms are returned soldiers and the brides returned nurses, all four having seen strenuous services in the late war from its earliest stages.

Tunisian -  Annette Fulford collection

I posted an article back in 2019 about the young women who travelled to Canada after the war to be married to former Canadian Expeditionary Force soldiers.

The brides from the article were Ethel Emily Masters, age 22 and Dorothy Tucker,  age 31. They arrived together on the Tunisian after the war, which landed at Saint John, New Brunswick on February 10, 1919. The ceremony was held at the Trinity Church in Saint John, the following day.

Ethel Emily Masters was born in 1896 in Lewisham, London, England to Hugh Edmond Masters, a Law Clerk, and his wife Ann Elizabeth Muckle. She married British-born, George Kerr, a Commercial traveller who was born in Dudley, Worcestershire, England in March 1885. He came to Canada on the ship Victorian in October 1912 and was headed to his brother living at Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

George Kerr travelled to England and enlisted in the 43^rd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in Birmingham in July 1915. This is usual. Most British-born men returned home to enlist in the British Expeditionary Force or joined the CEF in Canada. Was he travelling at the time or visiting his brother Walter who lived in Birmingham?

He was wounded on March 31, 1916, just three months after he arrived on the Western Front. George was struck by eight pieces of shrapnel which included his left leg and ankle causing a fracture of his tibia and fibula. He was also hit in his elbow, buttock and his chest causing fractures to two ribs. 

After repairs were done on his leg, his damaged leg was 3/4 of an inch shorter than his right leg and he was having difficulty walking. In December 1916 infection spread in his leg. He spent many months in hospital with a variety of additional issues before being invalided to Canada for further medical treatment on the Missanabie in October 1917.

The second bride Dorothy Tucker was born 1887 in Hackney, London, to George Nathanial Goldsmith Tucker, a Printer, Publisher and Editor and his wife Emily Jane Williams. Dorothy worked as a nurse before the war but I haven't located where she was during the war when she met James.

James Steedman was born in Japan in 1883 to Scottish parents. The family returned to Scotland circa 1887 and James came to Canada circa 1907 destined for Winnipeg, Manitoba where he would find work with the Canadian Pacific Railway as a Land Inspector.

James enlisted with the 56^th Battalion in Calgary in 1915 and while overseas was transferred to the 49^th Battalion. He was wounded in June 1916, a gunshot wound to the arm and returned home on the Andania in January 1917.

The ladies were roommates on the ship and they both indicated on the passenger manifest that they were going to Canada “to be married.” The manifest pages even have details of their intended husbands and where they lived. The men met on the train and discovered that they were both travelling to New Brunswick to meet their sweethearts and get married.

I’ve love to know where the women were working during the war and if these couples remained friends. If you have any further info on them, please contact me at wwiwarbrides@shaw.ca

(c) Annette Fulford, March 2021

George Kerr, Personnel Records of the First World War: Regimental No. 421122, RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 5115 - 46, Library and Archives Canada (accessed March 5, 2021)

James Steedman, Personnel Records of the First World War: Regimental No. 447218, RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 9252 - 15, Library and Archives Canada (accessed March 5, 2021)