Dependent Ships after the First World War

On February 10, 1919, the first official dependent ship, the Tunisian, arrived at Saint John, New Brunswick after WWI. An Order-in-Council was passed in January with plans to bring soldiers' families home to Canada. Many were war brides. It was the first of 73 dependent ships in 1919. While each ship carried the families of soldiers, it also had civilians travelling on board as well.

Born at Sea

 

Cedric at Liverpool - Annette Fulford collection

In 2017, I wrote about the birth of  Franklin Cedric Orchard, who was born at sea while on the journey to Canada in 1919 with his mother Winifred, a war bride.

I was able to find his birth entry in the passenger list records but often wondered if any additional records were created at the same time for his birth. There was even a note to the left of his entry on the passenger list indicating whom his mother was and what page she could be found on in the manifests (page12, entry 12).

Cedric - Library and Archives Canada, T-14797

I found an answer to this question a new database for Births, Marriages and Deaths at Sea from Ancestry. I was able to learn exactly what day he was born and also the coordinates of his birth location. 

UK, Registers and Indexes of Births.., Cedric. The National Archives.

It was exciting to learn these new details about his birth, which I was able to pass on to his family.

Sources:

Orchard, Frankin Cedric; Passenger Manifest: Cedric, 12 September 1919, Halifax, at Library and Archives Canada. Microfilm: T-14797 (accessed 3 February 2010).

 Ancestry.com. UK, Registers and Indexes of Births, Marriages and Deaths of Passengers and Seamen at Sea, 1891-1922, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey, England. (accessed 17 December 2023).

(c) Annette Fulford, January 2024

A Soldier's Family in Quarantine at Grosse Isle in 1919

While researching passenger lists at Library and Archives Canada, I've come across some very interesting information about the war brides and their families. The most recent was a whole family being sent into quarantine at Grosse Isle in August 1919 when they arrived in Canada on the Metagama.

Annette Fulford collection

The passenger list shows a military dependent with three children who were taken to the quarantine station near Quebec. This piqued my interest. Who were they and why were they taken there? 

Metagama Passenger List, August 1919, Library and Archives Canada

Initially, I searched for baby Jack and found his entry in the Grosse Ile Quarantine Station database at Library and Archives Canada but his twin is listed as a female named Florence and her entry could not be found. I searched for just the surname Glover and it gave me five entries for the surname in the results. Database info shows the whole family was taken there on August 12, 1919, a day before the ship landed at the Port of Quebec.

Library and Archives Canada

The information contained in the database indicated that the children had chickenpox and that they were released 10 days later on August 22. One of the twins listed on the passenger list as a girl was actually a boy named Lawrence.

On further investigation I learned that the parents were Alfred Cecil Glover, Reg # 117067 and his war bride Nora Augusta Prowse. They were married in Kent in 1916 and were travelling to Canada with their three sons: Stanley, age three, and twins Lawrence and Jack, age nine months. The couple lived in Lethbridge after the war.

Nora and Alfred had six sons before the death of Alfred in 1936 at age 46 in Edmonton. Nora died in Calgary in 1958 at age 63.

(c) Annette Fulford, February 2021

Travelling to Canada to be Married After the First World War

Evening Times & Star, February 11, 1919

TO BE MARRIED

If you're having trouble finding a marriage for your Canadian soldier and his war bride in the UK, perhaps they may have returned to Canada before getting married. 

A number of women arrived in Canada after the First World War as the fiancée of a former Canadian soldier. You will find many young women travelling to Canada “to be married” in the passenger manifests. It might even list a name and address of their intended spouse. This manifest is from the Tunisian in February 1919. 

Tunisian Passenger List, February 1919.  Library and Archives Canada

But don't just check where the soldier was from, try the port their intended bride arrived at. Some soldiers also met their fiancee part way across Canada to be married. Try at any main stop on the train journey across our vast country.

Two young Red Cross nurses travelled to Canada to marry former soldiers shortly after arriving at the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick. Many more arrived at Halifax, Nova Scotia and married at Pier 2 before continuing on their journey.

A number of soldiers also returned to the country where they met their wartime love and married at a later date. Check for marriages into the 1920s.

(c) Annette Fulford, July 2019

Researching First World War Brides in Canadian Passenger Lists, 1918-1921

Toronto World, January 20, 1919

Thousands of war brides came to Canada during and after the First World War in an immigration scheme arranged by the Canadian government. By late January 1919, the Canadian government provided the soldiers’ dependents with free third-class passage to Canada along with free rail passes from their home in the UK to their final destination in Canada or the US. 

However, finding these young women in passenger lists can be complicated unless you know what to look for. I have tracked thousands of these young women leaving Britain between 1917 and 1921. Here are a few tips to look for if you are having trouble locating them.

PASSENGER MANIFESTS

Start by using the database Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865 to 1935 at Ancestry.com. This is the most comprehensive database of passenger lists available to Canada. If they travelled to Canada prior to the Armistice in November 1918, then there is not always identifying info that shows that they are a war bride. The only info that might indicate they are a war bride is the fact that they have never been to Canada before and they are headed to be with their husband.

However, some war brides like Florence Gould and Lily Palmer travelled to the Dominion while their soldier-husband was still overseas. I only had newspaper articles and oral history to go by. Florence Gould left England on the Justicia the day after the Halifax Explosion occurred in December 1917. She had to change plans overnight. The ship was rerouted to New York instead of landing at Halifax and she had to take a train from New York to Saskatchewan.

Maud Carson, Aquitania, April 1918, Library and Archives Canada

 When Maud Carson travelled to Canada on the Aquitania in April 1918 the manifest shows that she was travelling “with husband Retd soldier”. Other women on the same page show they were “going to husband Retd Soldier.”

After November 1918, most war brides will be located in the manifests marked with Dependents somewhere on the page. Some pages may be marked Military Dependents, 3rd Class Dependents, Canadian Military Dependents or Steerage Dependents at the top of the page. The majority travelled by steerage but a number of officers’ families were able to travel in a better class. Those pages might be marked as Cabin Dependents in Saloon or Intermediate class.

Canadian Military Dependents, Library and Archives Canada

A war bride may be listed by her full name, by her initials and surname or the manifest might only have Mrs. with a surname. The key to verifying that the husband and wife are on the same ship is the destination they are travelling to.

Steerage Dependents, Library and Archives Canada

A large number of military dependent passengers may have the initials SD WH or a variation of those initials on their line. It stands for "soldier dependent with husband". This indicates that they are travelling on the same ship as their husband but you will have to locate him in the military lists which are usually at the end of the manifest pages. You will have to check the manifests of soldiers to learn if their husband was on board. The key will be to know their regimental number.

Remember, if you use different databases like the ones at Library and Archives Canada for the passenger manifests at Passenger Lists for the Port of Quebec City and Other Ports, 1865-1922 or Canadian Passenger Lists, 1881-1922 at FamilySearch, these databases might give you different results than those at Ancestry.

However, not all include full records up to 1922 like the title suggests. Only Halifax has original records indexed up to 1922 and Quebec goes to up to 1921. The rest only include records to 1912. A large majority of the war brides arrived at Saint John, New Brunswick during the winter of 1918-1919. These records are not included in these databases.

Also, if you do know the date they travelled and the name of the ship they travelled on you can view the original manifests at Passenger Lists, 1865-1922 at Library and Archives Canada. You can look at the manifests page by page to find passengers who are not indexed correctly. The only downside to using this database is advancing to the next page once you have clicked on an image. You may find it easier to advance the images at Family Search because their viewer is better.

(c) Annette Fulford, June 2019

Canadian Pacific Railway ship RMS Melita

RMS Melita - Annette Fulford collection

The Canadian Pacific Railway ship RMS Melita was just one of the many ships that brought war brides to Canada after the First World War. It was purchased by Canadian Pacific Ocean Services in 1917 and she started her first run to a Canadian port in January 1918 at Saint John, New Brunswick. The ship could carry 1750 passengers on board.

Manifest details for the Melita. Library and Archives Canada

My grandmother travelled on the Melita in September 1919 and she left the family a wonderful collection of memorabilia of her trip including a voluminous letter, a postcard print of the ship and a souvenir spoon. The latter two were purchased with the proceeds of a boxing match my grandfather won on board.

Melita, July 1919 Menu. LAC, RG 76, Immigration Branch files

This is a menu from the July 1919 sailing. My grandmother wrote about meals she had on board while on her journey:

The sea is awfully rough and has been for some hours. — Quite a large number of people have been sick already, but I am pleased to say I feel o.k. I eat a hearty breakfast consisting of bacon & liver. Of course that does not say I shall not be sick but I am hoping not.

It's a good thing that there were other choices on the menu beside liver and bacon. I imagine that would be hard to stomach if you are experiencing sea sickness.

Well Mother, I must say I am always ready for my meals. We have breakfast, at 7 am, dinner 11:45, tea 4:30, so we are early birds. There are three sittings, usually aft half an hour after the one before.

They could also purchase items from the canteen if they got hungry between meals.

 Hello! Here I am again, it is just eleven o’clock and Hugh has just gone down to the canteen (or stores) to get me some apples. — There is beeftea, & boveril and tea etc., to be got there, which are nice warming tonics. It is not dinner time for another three quarters of an hour yet, and you bet I shall be ready for it.

I am so thankful my grandmother left such a wonderful keepsake of her journey to Canada. It has inspired me to learn more about her journey and the war brides from her era.

(c) Annette Fulford, June 2019

Sources:

Clark, Grace (Gibson). Letter, written 17 September and 24 September 1919, while on board C.P.R. ship R.M.S. Melita to her parents Mr. and Mrs. F.O. Gibson in Sheffield, England; held since 1992 by the author.

Clark, Grace; Passenger list: RMS Melita, 25 September 1919, Quebec, Library and Archives Canada,  Microfilm T14702 (accessed 18 June 1999).

Library and Archives Canada, Immigration Branch, RG 76, Volume 615, file 908571, pt. 20.

The Ships List http://www.theshipslist.com (accessed 20 May 2002)

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

---

[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

First War Bride Ship Arrives At Sand Point in Saint John, New Brunswick

Sand Point, New Brunswick Harbour circa 1909. Annette Fulford collection.

It was on 10 February 1919, that the first official ship carrying military dependents - war brides and their children, arrived at Sand Point in Saint John, NB. Many war brides had travelled to Canada since 1917 but this was the first sailing where the ship was just for dependents. The Tunisian carried 711 adults and 202 children under 14 years of age and sailed from Liverpool on 31 January, landing 11 days later.

Tunisian Manifest Info. Library and Archives Canada.

All soldiers’ dependents were provided with free third-class passage aboard the troopships, except for those who paid to travel in a superior class. Unfortunately, obtaining a superior class on board usually meant they had to travel to Canada at later date. And when given the option to wait until later to sail, most chose third class passage in order to get to Canada as soon as possible with their husbands.

Third-class is essentially steerage, where the cheapest accommodations on the ship are housed. This is where the majority of the passengers were located on the ship. The rooms are below deck and were very crowded. In some cases, there is no proper ventilation to air out the stale air, the smell of seasickness or dirty diapers.

The rooms were very basic, often containing only two or four berths, which included bunk beds, and a wash basin. Steerage also had limited toilet facilities for the vast amount of passengers it contained. It was inadequate for women travelling with small infants.

CONDITIONS ABOARD

At the beginning of the repatriation scheme, there are many complaints in the immigration files about conditions in the third-class accommodations as most families were not used to travelling in steerage. It was an ordeal for most travellers.

Once on the ship, though, most passengers preferred to be on deck in the fresh air, not stuck in their cramped berths. Another common complaint was the lack of seating on deck for those who wanted to escape their berths. There were additional complaints about seasickness, overcrowded, dirty accommodations, and lack of amenities. Many of these complaints were dealt with while on board, while many other complaints were aired in local newspapers after the voyage.

The Calgary Herald, on 15 February 1919, described the adverse conditions on board the Tunisian:

  

Mr. Dyson who was a travelling representative for the Returned Soldiers' Commission, reported that "there was a good deal of sickness among the women and children owing to the conditions they were subjected to on board the steamer." Due to rough seas, lavatory water soaked the floors in steerage.

However, this information was not confirmed in any of the other news reports about the sailing.

Annette Fulford Collection

Gladys Kendrey, a war bride who was headed to Peterborough, Ontario, noted in a letter to her parents in England a month later, that the sailing was uncomfortable but she did not expand on the subject further. It was possible that she was trying to appease her parents so that they would not worry about her. Her father had sent a news clipping from a British paper with the headline "Brides Pelted with Refuse." She was adamant that this was not the case. Gladys was concerned about the many war brides who had yet to travel would read this and change their minds about coming to Canada.

She told her parents that her arrival in Canada was very pleasant. They had expected a cool reception from the Canadians. Once they made it through the immigration process, they were treated to free refreshments from the Salvation Army, Knights of Columbus War Activities and Y.M.C.A, in a large hall. They had time to freshen up and were shown a place for their children to take a nap while they waited for the trains to be loaded with passengers. If someone was ill, they could be seen by a nurse.

On the final leg of their journey, young children and the ill were given special treatment while travelling by train. Each train carried a Red Cross nurse. Once they arrived at their final destination, the local Rotary Club took them home in cars.

Cars taking soldiers home. Annette Fulford collection.

Sadly, Gladys Kendrey didn't stay in Canada for long. She and her husband Roscoe went to the US where her husband died in 1930. She returned to England with her young son. Donald Walker Kendrey enlisted in the British army during WW2 and died on 28 November 1944. His name is listed on a memorial in Singapore for the soldiers and airmen who have no known grave.

(c) Annette Fulford, February 2018