Saturday, May 4, 2013

Sibling Saturday - Warren Stanley Thompson

My paternal great grandmother, Ellen Louisa (Thompson) Coad's (1878-1961) older brother was Warren Stanley Thompson (1874-1919).  I don't know that much about Warren, but I do know that he was involved in World War I, and served as a Captain with the RAVC - Royal Army Veterinary Corp.

Warren was born in Lakefield, Ontario, Canada on 14 Jun 1874.  By 1891 the family had moved out to Manitoba to farm.  Originally, Warren's father, Lewis Edwin Thompson, took work on the Brandon Police Force, using his spare time for "land-seeking."  Ellen Thompson, my 2X great grandmother, was very industrious as she hired a local native woman to help in her kitchen, cooked meals for the single men in the town.  Finally the family located viable property in the Deloraine district.  

This was where my great grandma Ellen married Sherman Coad, aka George Sherman Coad, in 1898.  And my grandmother, Helen Muriel Coad, was born near Deloraine, Manitoba, on 22 May 1902 according to her birth registration.  The Coad family then moved out to Saskatchewan as George, Ellen and household are listed on the 1906 Canada Census (lines 33-38) in the region of Humboldt, Saskatchewan.  Their family is listed in the dwelling next door to Ellen's parents, Lewis Edwin and Ellen Thompson and family (lines 27-32).  All of them were listed in Humboldt's sub region 4, on page 23 (image 25 on Ancestry.com).

The 1911 Census of Canada found Warren living with his parents, Ellen and Lewis, and still in the Humboldt region, sub-district 112, page 3 (image 3 on Ancestry.com).  By this time, Warren's occupation is listed as Veterinary, and now his service with the Royal Army Veterinary Corp in WWI starts to make sense.  

When World War I came along many a young man felt the call to fight for King and country.  I don't know what Warren thought about the war, or about fighting, but according to a family history written by his sister, Emma Jane (Thompson) Kirkwood (see line 15 on the 1906 census), Warren enlisted as a Veterinarian, and took a ship's cargo of horses over to France.  Warren was later sent to Egypt, where the heat had a deleterious affect on his health.  He applied for transfer over to England in the hopes that the spring weather would help him recover, except the transfer took so long that he wasn't sent until November.  This drastic climate change made Warren even more ill.  Finally he was sent to hospital, and Emma writes that her brother "languished," and never recovered.  

Unfortunately, Warren finally died of Infective Endocarditis, as a result of his active service, according to his record on the Canada, War Graves Registers (Circumstances of Casualty) database on Ancestry.com.  His death on 2 Sep 1919 was at the Cambridge Hospital, Aldershot, Hampshire, as per his probate record from the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administration) 1858-1966 database on Ancestry.com.  I was originally confused by the database index listing his unit as the RARC, which, according to English World War I records, did not exist.  Luckily, when I transcribed the original document, I was able to see that the unit Warren served with was actually the RAVC, which made much more sense.

Warren's body was finally returned to Canada, and he is buried at the Del-Win Cemetery in Deloraine, Manitoba, where he grew up.  This record comes from the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website.  According to Emma, Walter never married, and his money and effects were willed to his mother according to the probate record.



I haven't dug up that much information about Warren, yet, but he would definitely be someone I would want to get the chance to meet.  As this meeting is not possible, I would happily settle for a trip to Deloraine to visit his grave site and pay my respects.  I believe Warren deserves that much.

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Coad, Hellen Murial, birth registration.  Vital Statistics Manitoba.  Winnipeg, MB, Canada.

Kirkwood, E.J.  "The Family of L.E. Thompson and Ellen Stone."  Typewritten reminiscences by their daughter, Emma Jane (Thompson) Kirkwood.  Copy of which is in the possession of the blogger, original in possession of the blogger's aunt.

2 comments:

  1. I never knew much about Grandma Helen's background I always thought that she was from Kansas like Grandpa was. Thanks for the information and keep it coming. It's extremely interesting.

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