The first marriage of a Canadian soldier in England during the First World War occurred in 1914, shortly after the First Contingent arrived at Plymouth in mid-October. The marriage took place nine days later.
Lieutenant John Lee "Jack" Williamson of Toronto joined the 12th York Rangers in August and left with the First Contingent on October 3, as an unattached officer with the 4th Battalion. He travelled on the ship Arcadian, which landed on October 15. He married Charlotte Suzanne Josse on October 24, 1914, at St. Andrew's Church in Plymouth. Josse was a 21-year-old French woman living in Plymouth, whom he met briefly while on his way to the camp at Salisbury Plain.
Soon after the marriage, Jack joined the Imperial Army with the 10th Battalion South Lancashire Regiment in January 1915. He later transferred to the 1st Garrison Battalion Kings Liverpool in September 1915. By October 1916, he was appointed to the RFC and served with the Royal Air Force until July 1919.
His Royal Air Force records indicate his wife was back living in Paris. Jack returned to Canada in 1919 and by 1921 he was a salesman at an Auto & Supply company in Toronto. He filed for divorce in 1923 and remarried in 1924.
A French death index shows that Charlotte Suzanne Josse died in 1977 at age 82. I'd love to learn what happened to Charlotte. Did she ever remarry?
(c) Annette Fulford, December 2024
