100th Anniversary of First World War Brides' Arrival in Canada

Grace Gibson and Hugh Clark on their wedding day. Annette Fulford collection

This year marks the 100th Anniversary for the majority of war brides that came to Canada after the First World War. My grandmother travelled to Canada in September 1919 on the ship Melita.

Check out the recent story about my grandmother Grace Clark by Tamara Baluja of CBC News Vancouver: Canadian war bride's story shared by her granddaughter (Source: CBC News)

I've often wondered just how many families have letters and photographs in the family archives similar to the ones in my family. Thankfully, many have shared their family stories with me. I use these stories to tell the history of the war brides from this era.

(c) Annette Fulford, November 2019

YWCA National Immigration Secretary, Mrs. Burrington Ham

Edith Alexandra Burrington Ham (1881-1951)

Among the many voluntary organizations to help with the immigration of war brides and soldiers' dependents arriving in Canada after the First World War was the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). Mrs. Burrington Ham, a YWCA National Immigration secretary, was the most notable. She had a long history of helping female immigrants arriving in Canada. She travelled the country, lecturing about the White Slave Trade for the government,[i] and the perils of single young women arriving in the Dominion without guidance from a trusted source and how other organizations could assist them.[ii]

An Aura of Mystery

Edith created an aura of mystery about herself in official records, which made it more difficult to find information about her. In most records, she used her initials E. A. and the surname Burrington Ham was often hyphenated, although Burrington was her husband’s middle name, not part of his surname. She often indicated she was a widow who was born in India, although this was proven incorrect. It is likely she was divorced from her husband Harry, who was several years older than her, but a record of their divorce has not been located.

Early life for Edith Alexandra

Mrs. Burrington Ham was born Edith Alexandra Johnston in England in 1881 to Walter Mowbray Johnston and Fanny Louisa Ellen Dunne. Her parents were married in India in 1876 and several of her older siblings were born there but Edith was born in Hammersmith, a suburb of London on April 10, 1881.[iii] In 1888, she and her sister Irene were admitted to the St. Stephen’s Parochial School in Hammersmith.[iv] Edith was taught at home prior to joining the school.

By 1901, I believe she was a sick nurse at the Kensington Infirmary in London.[v] However, more information is needed on this part of her life. Was she a fully trained nurse and where did she train at? The only other indication she was a nurse was in the Militia lists for Canada in 1917.

She married Harry Wilberforce Burrington Ham at Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa on February 4^th, 1905[vi]. Harry was the son of Henry Hobbs Ham and Maria Lavenia Davis of Long Ashton, Somerset, England. Harry served during the South African War with the 48^th Company, 7^th Battalion Imperial Yeomanry from North Somerset. Did Edith also serve during the South African War as a nurse or did she go to South Africa to visit her brother Arthur Johnston at Pietermaritzburg?

Their son Arthur Fenton Ham was born in South Africa in January 1906 and in June 1907, the family headed back to England and took up residence in Bristol, England.[vii] They travelled from Durban, South Africa to Southampton, England on the ship Walmer Castle which arrived on June 13.[viii] By 1912, Edith headed to Canada with the YWCA and toured the country lecturing at interested clubs across Canada.

YWCA Immigration Secretary in Canada

Mrs. Ham became a YWCA Immigration secretary in Canada and toured the country looking after the welfare of female immigrants, making sure they had places to stay while travelling, they arrived at their employer's safely and that working conditions were suitable.

In 1913, she became a YWCA National Port secretary in Quebec and was one of the first matrons placed on ships coming to Canada.[ix] She met with female passengers on board to provide them with information about their destinations, how to travel there and answered any questions they may have. 

At the end of the war, Mrs. Burrington-Ham responded quickly to the various needs of the dependents coming to Canada. She travelled overseas to make arrangements for the wives and children of Canadian soldiers working closely with the Commissioner of Emigration in London, J. Obed Smith.[x]

Caring for Soldier’s Families travelling from England

The following article describes the work that was done by Mrs. Ham and her fellow YWCA workers for the soldiers’ dependents in Britain, most of whom were travelling to Canada for the first time:

"Immediately on the signing of the armistice, Mrs. Ham saw the necessity of Y.W.C.A. reception huts at the ports of St. John and Quebec; also the need for Y.W.C.A. secretaries on the ocean-going steamers with dependents. An extra office was opened in St. John and also hut work.

Mrs. Burrington-Ham went to England to organize the work there for the soldiers’ dependents, arrange for the Y.W.C.A. secretary to travel on the ships bringing the women to Canada, and to attend to all the comfort and welfare work necessary for them. She began her work in London at British Columbia House with the Military Dependents branch of the O.M.F. of C. and then moved with them to Cockspur Street. Later [she] transferred to Buxton, where she established an office in the Canadian Discharge depot." [xi]

Buxton was close to Liverpool where many of the dependents travelled to Canada from. Mrs. Burrington Ham travelled across the Atlantic many times during this era assisting passengers on their journey. Her last trip was on the ship Vasari which travelled from Liverpool to New York in early December 1919. 

Edith continued to work in the immigration department for a few years but later remarried in BC in 1927. She died in Sidney, BC on December 3, 1951, at the age of 70.

(c) Annette Fulford, March 2019

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[i] Marques, Greg. Policing Canada’s Century: A history of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, 194. “In 1917, the CCAC welcomed a rare female speaker Mrs. E.A. Burrington-Ham, British Representative in Canada for the Young Women’s Christian Association and “White Slave Agent” for the federal government at Quebec.” However, Barbara Roberts in Sex, Politics and Religion, indicated “It was not only the female reformers who were concerned about moral dangers to female immigrants. Most immigration reformers and many social reformers were almost obsessive about what they described as “white slave traffic. In fact, there was not a real traffic in Canada. The problems that drove women to prostitution were economic, not moral…”

[ii] “Touring Province: Mrs. Burrington-Ham Inquiring Into Treatment of Female Immigrants”. Manitoba Free Press, February 11, 1916, 5 and “Care of Girls: Immigration Secretary Speaks of Good Work Done”. Manitoba Free Press, February 12, 1916, 8. Online at Manitobia.ca on February 20, 2008.

[iii] London, England, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1906. Accessed from Ancestry.com on February 24, 2016.

[iv] London, England, School Admissions and Discharges, 1840-1911. Accessed from Ancestry.com on February 24, 2016.

[v] Census of England and Wales, 1901: RG 13, Piece 33, Folio 29, page 2. Accessed from Ancestry.com on March 3, 2009.

[vi] South Africa, Natal Province, Civil Marriages, 1845-1955," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KDCG-:LCJ: 10 March 2018), Harry Wilburforce Burrington-Ham and Edith Alexandra Johnstone, 04 Feb 1905; citing Pietermaritzburg, Natal, South Africa, Natal Province, Civil Marriage 1845-1955; National Archives and Records Services of South Africa, Pretoria; 1,795,040. Accessed at FamilySearch.org on March 19, 2014.  

[vii] British Phone Books, 1880-1984. Accessed at Ancestry.com on March 17, 2016.

[viii] UK, Incoming Passenger Lists, 1878-1960. Accessed at Ancestry.com on March 3, 2016.

[ix] Weaver, Otis B. “Official Chaperons on Ocean Liners Are Proven Great Success.”The Shawnee Daily News-Herald, Vol 19, No.90, Ed. 1 Friday, December 19, 1913, 2. Online at The Gateway to Oklahoma History https://gateway.okhistory.org/.  Accessed March 19, 2014

[x] Canadian Almanac & directory 1919: Immigration Dept. Mrs. E.A. Burrington-Ham

[xi] Bio of Mrs. E.A. Burrington-Ham from the article, “City Association Council Meet Two Days at Y.W.C.A.” Calgary Herald, May 17, 1919, 6 & 14.

Death of War Bride Rosa Bertha Lambert

Calgary Herald

  “Perhaps the saddest task the Fund officials at St. John had to perform was to arrange the burial of those who reached Canada only to die… Mrs. Gordon Holder fell the responsibility of breaking the news to relatives in England or consoling the husband who had arrived with his wife. Saddest of all was the task of comforting little children that were sometimes left motherless and whose fathers were still in Europe.”

While researching the war brides for the past 14 years, some of the most difficult cases to come across are the ones who died while on their journey to Canada. One such war bride was Rosa Bertha Lambert. She died shortly after arriving at Quebec in August 1919

Rosa Bertha Jadwega Falecka married Calgary soldier Arthur Robert Lambert (Regimental # 447116) of the 31^st Battalion in the Parish church of Clapham in London on 22^nd January 1919. During the war, Rosa had reportedly been traumatized by a bombing near her home in London. She likely suffered from a stress disorder after the incident.

She came to Canada on the ship Corsican in August 1919 but her health suffered further and she was admitted to the Jeffrey Hale Hospital in Quebec after the ship arrived at the port and suffered a fatal relapse. She was 35 years old. Her husband had her body shipped to Calgary for a funeral and she was buried in the Union Cemetery. Sadly, she never had the chance to make a new life for herself in Canada.

Corsican. Annette Fulford collection

I haven't located a death record to learn her cause of death. I would like to confirm what she died of. If anyone has any further info on her, I'd love to hear from you.

Note: The newspaper report above lists her name as Cissy Bishop. Her name was indeed Rosa Bertha Falecka, wife of Arthur Lambert of Calgary.


(c) Annette Fulford, September 2018



Sources:
Canada Passenger Lists, 1881-1922. Database with images. FamilySearch.org http://FamilySearch.org: 27 August 2018. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.
Morris, Philip H. The Canadian Patriot Fund, a report of its activities from 1914-1919, 48.
Bombing Raid Shock Fatal to Mrs. Lambert. Calgary Daily Herald, August 26, 1919, 19.

Using Canadian WWI War Diaries for Military Ships with Civilian Passengers

Toronto Star

A great resource that many people are not aware of is the war diaries for ships during and after WWI. If your war bride travelled on a ship that contained military men, you might be able to locate a war diary for their sailing at Library and Archives Canada in War Diaries.  Some are online, while others are available on microfilm only. An alternative viewer for war diaries is online at UVIC C.G.W.P. War Diaries.

To do a search for the diaries for ships do an Advanced Archives Search for War Diaries and add the name of the ship on the second line in the search function. They show up under War Diaries - Progress Charts, Transports  Olympic for example.

Lily May Young married British-born Canadian Expeditionary Force soldier Samuel Palmer (Regimental #778984) in 1918 in England. Sam was a widower with three young children back home in Ontario. Not long after she married, Lily left from Southampton, England on the Olympic on 1st November 1918, intending to travel to Toronto and set up a house for her husband and his family while he was still overseas.

Lily travelled to Canada during the height of the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, so I was interested to learn whether the cause of her death was influenza. The passenger list for the Olympic shows her name is crossed off and the info "died at sea" is written above her line on the manifest but no cause of death is listed.

Olympic Passenger List. Library and Archives Canada

In order to confirm how she died, I needed to find an alternative source of information about her death. That is where the war diaries come in useful. This is one page from the November 1918 sailing of the Olympic. 

War Diaries, Olympic. Library and Archives Canada

The diary records that Lily took sick with a septic throat and was placed in an isolation hospital on board on 4^th November. She died on 8 November 1918, at age 23 of Broncho-pneumonia and septicemia and was buried at sea the next day. The ship landed at New York two days later on the 10^th. 

Sadly, she was just the first of many young war brides who died during their journey to Canada. Officials on the next sailing of the Olympic issued gauze masks to the passengers in order to keep the outbreak on board to a minimum but it didn't stop the deaths of a number of war brides coming to Canada during the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919.

Source:
Canada Passenger Lists, 1881-1922. Database with images. FamilySearch.orf http://FamilySearch.org: 27 August 2018. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.

MIKAN 2005288 War Diaries - Progress Charts, Transports: OLYPMIC = Journal de guerre - Tableau d'avancement, Transports: OLYMPIC. 1916/09/14-1919/04/21. Library and Archives Canada 

(c) Annette Fulford, September 2018
Updated on January 23, 2021