One of the earliest marriages of a First World War soldier I've researched is the marriage of Canadian Expeditionary Force soldier Victor Albert Baker, Regimental #16508, to Bertha Van Den Bosch, a Belgian refugee living in London, England. Victor joined the 7th Battalion in Vancouver in September 1914 and went over with the First Contingent in October 1914.
Their marriage took place on 02 December 1914, at Linden Grove Church, Nunhead, Camberwell, London, about 1 1/2 months after arriving in the UK.
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| London, England, Non-conformist Registers, 1694-1931. Ancestry.com |
Hull Daily Mail - 4th December 1914
Romance of the War - Belgian refugee wedded to a Canadian A romance of the war is reported from Nunhead, where at the Lindengrove Church on Wednesday, Victor Albert Baker was married to Bertha Van Den Bosch. Baker left his employment as an engine driver on the Canadian Pacific Railway to join the Canadian contingent as a private. Miss Van Den Bosch was a refugee who had found shelter in a hostel attached to the church.
A cousin was responsible for the introduction, and although neither spoke
the other's language, an occasional meeting during seven weeks ended in
matrimony. The bridegroom and his father who is training with him, wore khaki
at the ceremony and the only honeymoon was a visit to a neighbouring picture
palace. The marriage was hastened as the bridegroom is expecting his orders for
the front.
The Mayoress of Camberwell attended the wedding breakfast at which one of
the guests offered the bride and groom a little ...... advice: "If you
don't learn each other's language you will be the happiest man and wife in the
world".
The bride is to go to the home of the husband's parents in Canada to await his return from the war.
Bertha did travel to Canada. She arrived at Saint John, New Brunswick on the Missanabie in March 1918 and was headed to Montreal where she gave birth to her first child in Verdun, Montreal in May. Her husband returned to Canada in 1919 and they lived in Moose Jaw in 1921.
They must have learned to communicate as they had three sons and two daughters. Victor died in 1967 at age 76 and Bertha in 1996 at the age of 102. They are buried together at the Rosedale Cemetery in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan and their gravestone reads, "Together Forever".
Victor Albert Baker, Regimental No. 16508. Personnel Records of the First World War, RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 378 - 30, Library and Archives Canada. (accessed February 5, 2021).
(c) Annette Fulford, February 2021
