View across the Outer Harbour of Stornoway

Tuesday 29 June 2010

Lewismen in Canadian service

Lewismen serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1918

Total found: 678
112 do not feature in the Rolls of Honour
200 cannot be traced on Veteran Affairs Canada (with any degree of reliability), in spite of being quoted as serving with the Canadians

130 were killed

Drafted
37 were called up under the Army Act from 1917 onwards, 3 were defaulters, and were arrested after not answering their summons

445 volunteered for service

Marital status
53 were married
414 were single

Religion
1 was a Seventh Day Adventist
1 was United Free Church
11 were Church of England
451 were Presbyterian
6 had no religion recorded

Location of enlistment
Calgary 21
Edmonton 21
Valcartier 41
Vancouver 38
Victoria 31
Winnipeg 96
amongst others

Trades / occupations
Carpenter 35
Farmer, farmworker 50
Labourer 110
Miner 22
Sailor 15
Stonemason, -cutter 16
Teamster 21
amongst others
 
Complexion
Dark 141
Fair 150
Fresh 40
Ruddy 45

Eyes
Blue 243
Brown 99
Grey 97
Hazel 25

Hair
Black 77
Brown, dark or light 289
Dark 31
Light / fair 60

Height
Less than 5 feet - 2
5 ft 0 to 5 ft 3.75 - 20
5 ft 4 to 5 ft 4.75 - 31
5 ft 5 to 5 ft 5.75 - 45
5 ft 6 to 5 ft 6.75 - 57
5 ft 7 to 5 ft 7.75 - 82
5 ft 8 to 5 ft 8.875 - 41
5 ft 9 to 5 ft 9.75 - 64
5 ft 10 to 5 ft 10.75 - 40
5 ft 11 to 5 ft 11.75 - 25
6 ft and taller - 19

Tuesday 29 June


Quite a nice day, even if there was some cloud about. Managed to sit outside for lunch, as there was far less wind than yesterday. Nothing noteworthy in football land - Paraguay and Spain are through to the next round. I went to the library to find copies of the Stornoway Gazette from 1918. This was printed on poor quality paper, meaning it has had to be transferred to microfiche. Being quoted the wrong date did not help, but the quality of the film was mediocre.



I ended up photographing the screen of the microfiche reader to get the best result.