CANADIAN WAR BRIDES OF WORLD WAR ONE

There is a new website called Wartime Canada at http://wartimecanada.ca/ .
Lots of original documents and photos.

They have a number of wonderful pictures of WWI War Brides at
http://wartimecanada.ca/document/world-war-i/events/war-brides

I will be giving my war bride presentation at the Richmond Public Library on November 5. Here are the details of the Lest We Forget Program:

RICHMOND, B.C. – The Richmond Public Library (RPL) will hold a Remembrance Day event on Sat. Nov. 5th from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. at the Brighouse (Main) Branch, 7700 Minoru Gate, to remember and honour those who fought and gave their lives for our country.

“Lest We Forget” is a free, drop-in program for all ages and the Mayor and City Councillors, local MP and MLAs will attend the opening ceremony at 11:15 a.m. “People will be able to meet war veterans and find out what life was really like during the war,” said multilingual services coordinator, Wendy Jang. “We’ll also have displays of war memorabilia and books and DVDs on Canada’s military history, for borrowing,” added Jang. Other activities of the day include:

• Film: “Heroes Remember” from 12-1 p.m.
• Poetry reading by winners of the Lest We Forget poetry competition from 1-1:30 p.m.
• Presentation: “Deltans in the Great War” by historian Peter Broznitsky from 1:30-2:30 p.m.
• Presentation: “One Hundred Years of Canadian War Brides” by family historian Annette Fulford from 2:30-3:30 p.m.
• Have your picture taken with a real war backdrop.

Kids ages 6-12 are invited to pick up a Poetry Contest entry form at any Richmond Public Library branch and write an original poem on the theme of “Lest We Forget”. The deadline to return the forms to any RPL branch is November 1st. The best entries will be chosen and read at our Remembrance Day event on November 5th at 1 p.m.

  “During our Lest We Forget event you can even help create a peace quilt,” said Jang.

Everyone is welcome to attend this community event. It’s a chance to learn more about Canada’s military history and acknowledge the important contributions of our Canadian veterans.” For more information call 604-231-6413.

 100 YEARS OF CANADIAN WAR BRIDES 

with family historian
Annette Fulford

I will be giving two presentations in May 2011 to discuss my research on the WWI war brides.

 British Columbia Genealogical Society
http://www.bcgs.ca/
Edmonds Community Centre
7282 Kingsway, Burnaby BC
Wed, May 11th from 7:30 to 10:00 pm*
*Note: The BCGS meeting starts at 7:30. The hour long presentation begins after 8:00 pm.

Maple Ridge Public Library
http://www.fvrl.bc.ca/
130-22470 Dewdney Trunk Road
Maple Ridge, BC
Thurs, May 19th from 2:00 - 3:00 pm
This presentation is part of the library's Always Remember - Not Just in November series.

While the war brides were not supposed to sail during the latter stages of pregnancy, a number of children were born on ships that sailed to Canada in 1919.

This newspaper clipping reports that two girls were born on board the Grampian, in April 1919, but an actual medical report for the ship indicates that Mrs. Susan Riddell had a son, while Mrs. Germaine Durand had a daughter.

Daily Express, April 24, 1919, 1.

Born In Mid Ocean
Baby Girls For Two Canadian War Brides

St. John, New Brunswick, Wednesday, April 23 - When the troopship Grampian bearing many wives and children of soldiers, reached here, two passengers found on board were not present when the steamer sailed from Liverpool. Both of them came aboard in mid-ocean.

Both were young ladies. One came to Mrs. Mermaine Durand, who is on her way to Ottawa, and the other was a present from Mrs. Susan Riddle, who is going to Quebec, to her soldier-husband. Mrs. Durand and Mrs. Riddle are war brides and this is their first visit to Canada.

Another sailing where a child born aboard was the September sailing of the ship Cedric. A baby boy was born to war bride Winifred Orchard, the wife of Private Frank Orchard, as she travelled to Ontario. The newspaper article states that she named the child after the ship and that the Captain was chosen to be the godfather. The Captain gave the couple 50 dollars, while the passengers chipped in and gave them 95 dollars.

The child was given the middle name of Cedric – Franklin Cedric Orchard. I was able to confirm this on the passenger manifest. It’s a good thing the name of the ship wasn’t Melita, Metagama, or Tunisian! Otherwise he’d have a very different name!

I was recently interviewed by a community paper, The Bugel, for an article about my volunteer work. You can read it online at:

Local soldiers, war brides keep Maple Ridge historian busy writing and blogging

http://bugelonline.com/images/stories/MRPM/mrpm.11.10.10.pdf