The Blue Book of Toronto, Hamilton & London

One interesting source of information about Sturgeon Point families had been the Toronto, Hamilton & London, Society Blue Books. It describes itself as: "A reliable Directory to over 3,000 of the Elite Families of Toronto, Hamilton and London, alphabetically arranged, with much additional information regarding families, Club Membership, Summer Residences, Maiden Names, Receiving Days, and other items of social interest." ¹

This book was published at the height of the Victorian society tradition of holding "At Homes" to receive callers and provided a ready reference by which a person's (or family's) position in "Society" could be ascertained. For those who considered themselves, or wanted to be considered, a member of Society it would have been vital to ensure the families particulars were correctly entered in this publication.

In detailing the Canadian perspective on what constituted the necessary qualification to be considered a part of "Society" the publishers wrote: 

"In preparing for publication this first edition of Tyrrell's Society Blue Book, we have departed somewhat from the popular idea of what constitutes a Blue Book, and included many individuals who may not be strictly in Society. The entries in the Royal Blue Book in England include only those individuals who have been presented at Court, but with no such list to draw from in Canada we have included in this edition individuals who are prominent in the trades and professions as well as the leaders of Society, believing that such a list will be of greatest service to the greatest number.

It is our intention to improve each successive edition of this volume, making it a help to every hostess, and a necessity in every home.

We invite suggestions for the improvement of future editions and thank our numerous patrons who have so kindly furnished us with the information contained in these pages."

The 1900 edition included a copy of the pro-forma supplied by Tyrrell for the purpose of making application to get an entry and so gaining the desirable status of being "in" Society.”²

Although the publisher says that they want the information, summer residences do not appear in the early books, although the familiar names are there.  These are from the 1902 edition.

Flavelle, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W.

565 Jarvis street

Mrs. nee Ellsworth.

Receive second and fourth Monday.

Miss Mina Flavelle.

The Flavelles do not purchase the Swananowa property until 1906, but they are here in the Blue Book

Grace, Mr. and Mrs. James C.

39 Madison avenue

Mrs. nee Ross.

Receive Friday.

The Graces are another old Lindsay family and James Grace grew up next door to the JR Dundas family on Mill Street. 

Grantham, Mrs. Arthur.

80 College street

Receive first and third Tuesday.

Mrs. Arthur Grantham was Trudy MacKenzie, daughter of Sir William MacKenzie of Kirkfield.  The Grantham family had owned the Corn Cob.

Jones, Mr. and Mrs. W. Wallace

5 Wellesley place.

The Jones never listed that they had a summer residence at Sturgeon Point even though they owned Lot 11 on Lake Avenue from 1907 through 1930.

Ryerson, Dr. and Mrs. G. Sterling.

60 College street

Mrs., nee Crowther

Receive Tuesday.

The seventh edition was published in 1910 where it defines itself as per the Webster Dictionary:  “Blue Book – a book containing a list of fashionable addresses”.

Carruthers, Mr. (M. A.), and Mrs. Adam (King)

132 Tyndall avenue

S. R., Sturgeon Point

Receives 2d and 4th Thursday

Mr. E. B. Carruthers

Mr. Clive H. Carruthers

Miss Enid Carruthers

Miss King

Miss L. E. King

Flavelle, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. (Ellsworth)

"Holwood", Queen’s Park

S. R., Sturgeon Point

Receives Tuesday

Miss Mina Flavelle

Miss Clara Flavelle

Mrs. Ellsworth Flavelle

McMichael, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Forrester (Howden)

43 Empress Crest.

S. R., Sturgeon Point, Ont.

Receives 1st Friday

Ryerson, Dr. and Mrs. G. Sterling (Crowther)

66 College street

S. R., "Oakhurst", Sturgeon Point

Receives Tuesday

Mr. George C. Ryerson

Mr. Yoris S. Ryerson

Mr. Eric Ryerson

The 1913 Blue Book introduces:

Carruthers, Mr. (M. A.), and Mrs. Adam (King)

132 Tyndall avenue

S. R., Sturgeon Point

Receives 2d and 4th Thursday

Mr. E. B. Carruthers

Mr. Clive H. Carruthers

Miss Enid Carruthers

Flavelle, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. (Ellsworth)

"Holwood", Queen’s Park

S. R., Sturgeon Point

Receives Tuesday

Miss Flavelle

Grace, Mr. and Mrs. James C. (Ross)

"Aghaveller", 430 Avenue road

S. R., "Boley" Sturgeon Point

Receives Friday

Miss Mary Grace

Hogg, Mr. and Mrs. Albert O. (Bowes)

305 St. George street

S. R., Sturgeon Point, Ont.

Receives 2d Friday

Miss Ida Hogg

Mr. Harold Hogg

Mr. Murray Hogg

Langton. Mr. and Mrs. Wm. J. (Worrell)

80 Bedford road

S. R., Sturgeon Point. Ont.

Receives 1st Wednesday

Mr. William Langton

McLaughlin, Mr. (K.C.) and Mrs. Robert J. (Eliza A. Webster)

26 Prince Arthur avenue

S. R., Sturgeon Point, Ont.

Receives 2d Friday

Miss Gertrude McLaughlin

Mr. Hugh J. McLaughlin

Mr. William McLaughlin

Miss Anna H. McLaughlin

Ryerson, Dr. and Mrs. G. Sterling (Crowther)

66 College street

S. R., "Oakhurst", Sturgeon Point, Ont.

Receives Tuesday

Mr. George C. Ryerson

Mr. Eric Ryerson

Miss Laura R. Ryerson

Mr. Arthur C. Ryerson

Wood, Mr. and Mrs. W. Lloyd

58 Chestnut Park

S. R., Sturgeon Point, Ont.

Receives 1st Monday and Tuesday

Mr. W. Lloyd Wood, Jr.

The 1920 Blue Book listed:

Barrett, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace (Mina Flavelle)

61 Cluny avenue

Sum Res: Sturgeon Point, Ont.

Flavelle, Sir Joseph & Lady (Clara Ellsworth)

"Holwood" Queen's Park

Sum Res: Sturgeon Point, Ont

Mr. Ellsworth Flavelle.

Hogg, Mr. and Mrs. Albert O. (Hannah Bowes)

305 St. George street

Sum Res: Sturgeon Point, Out.

McLaughlin, Mr. (K.C.) and Mrs. Robert J. (Eliza A. Webster)

82 Bedford Road

Sum Res: Sturgeon Point, Ont

Miss Gertrude McLaughlin

Captn. Hugh J. McLaughlin

Lieut. William McLaughlin

Miss Anna H. McLaughlin

Milner, Prof. (M.A.) and Mrs. William S.(Marguerite Flavelle)

74 Grenville street

Sum Res: Sturgeon Point, Ont.

Mr. Arthur Milner

Mitchell, Mr. and Mrs. Charles J. (Mary Grace)

"Aghaveller." 430 Avenue road

Sum Res: "Boley," Sturgeon Point

In the 1913 volume, Mary (nee Grace) Mitchell was still at home.  She has now inherited the family home and cottage.

Ryerson, Surgeon General and Mrs. G. Sterling (Elizabeth Thomas)

59 Warren road

Sum Res.: "Oakhurst," Sturgeon Point, Ont

Major Arthur C. Ryerson

Source:

1. and 2.  http://www.familylink.com/indexinfo.aspx?ix=cdcanadaca0065w_socblue_ont1900

Bugle Call: Bruce Hamilton (1955-2011) SLSC Instructor, 1971

 BRUCE HAMILTON

1955 – 2011

I'm sad to send you the news that Bruce passed away this past week.  When I came to SLSC as head instructor in 1971, Commodore Fred Hopkins and his board did me an incredible favour by hiring Bruce as my assistant.  Although I knew of Bruce as a result of his success at Boulevard Club's junior program, we had never met.  Fortunately, we really hit it off and I think we made a pretty good team.  I think we both enjoyed the summer immensely.  We became good friends.

Bruce was not only a very talented sailor, but he went on to be one of Canada's top sailing instructors.  Within a couple of years he was head instructor at RCYC, which was generally regarded as the top sailing instructor position in the country.  It did not surprise me, however, that he found that environment restrictive with its staidness and politics.  Bruce moved on to Geneva Park where OSA was starting up a provincial sailing centre.  He quickly made that the premiere place for top sailing instructors to work.

While I gave up instructing to focus on racing, Bruce continued to pursue both.  He crewed for several top boats in Albacore, 470  and International 14's where he competed in the World Championships.  At Sturgeon we were both introduced to the Laser by incoming Commodore David Barr.  The class was brand new in 1971 and growing by leaps and bounds.  I recall going with Bruce to the National Capital regatta and the Quebec Championships in 1972 where there were some 90 boats.  By 1974 I had opted to concentrate on the 470 while Bruce continued to sail Laser.  He qualified and represented Canada in the first Laser Worlds in Bermuda that year.

After university Bruce spent several months in France.  Unfortunately he contracted TB in France which I think led him to a greater interest in reading, film and music.  He went to work for Noranda in HR, then moved to Montreal where he used his French skills to help negotiate some major labour contracts for Noranda.  For a while he was back in Toronto and we reconnected.  We did a fair bit of cross country skiing, but I could not interest him in getting back into sailing.  He met his wife, Heather at Noranda and they settled back in Montreal in Kirkland, near Pointe Claire.  He started his own consulting practice which he ran successfully for several years.  Recently he had returned to the corporate world in a senior position at CBC.  Bruce was very devoted to his family and encouraged his 3 kids in the sports they chose.  On the West Island that meant swimming and water polo.

I've been sailing Sharks for the past few years.  Still doing battle with my skipper from Port Credit Junior Club, Johnny Dakin after all these years!  It was a bit of good luck that the Shark Worlds this past summer were at Beaconsfield Yacht Club, less than 5 KM from Bruce's home.  It was great to see him and his family.  I did my best to persuade him that the Shark fleet in Montreal would be a great way for him to return to sailing.  I couldn't tell whether my efforts to evoke the fun we'd had at SLSC and sailing Lasers was having any success.  Sadly, we'll never know.  Bruce was a fine human being.  His tremendous talent may at times have been hidden by his modesty and even temperment, all the more to his credit.  He will be missed by all who knew him.

Ian "Bags" Brown

The following appeared in the Globe & Mail on Saturday, November 26th:

In great sadness, we announce the sudden passing of Bruce Hamilton on November 21, 2011. Wonderful, loving husband of Heather MacKay and devoted father to Jeffrey, Andrew and Emily. Son of Norma and the late Richard Hamilton. Beloved brother of Leslie (Leigh Goodall). Cherished uncle to Lauren, Blake, Jaclyn and Jordyn and nephew of Nancy Hamilton. Bruce will always be remembered by family, friends and colleagues for his strong sense of community and passion for music. Visitation will take place at Collins Clarke MacGillvray White (222 Hwy. 20 - Pointe-Claire), on Sunday, November 27th 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m., and Monday, November 28th from 1 to 2 p.m., followed by a service in the chapel. In lieu of flowers donations to Friends for Mental Health (www.asmfmh.org) or the charity of your choice would be appreciated.

As a community, we would like to extend our condolences to Heather MacKay and to Jeffrey, Andrew and Emily and to the Hamilton clan.

If you have memories of Bruce that you would like to share, we would enjoy hearing them.  If you would like to leave the Hamilton family a message, they can be reached care of Collins Clarke MacGillvray White at: 

 http://dignity.mem.com/dignity/guestbook.aspx?id=33846327

Fenelon Falls

This was such a brilliant photograph, that I had to share it with you.  How ever did they managed not to tip this boat over!?!

courtesy of the Neeland family

When you have finished trying to figure out how many people are on the boat, glance up at the large brick building directly above.  That building , located at the corner of  Colbourne Street was the McArthur House Hotel, also called the Aldous Hotel, after manager John S Aldous who ran the hotel from 1893-1936.  Built in 1864, it had replaced the earlier  Quebec & Ottawa House Hotel which had burned down.


I can only remember the building with its third story gone, and it housed the Canadian Tire.  Now it is a Subway restaurant..

Do you have any pictures of your family going through the locks in Fenelon or Bobcaygeon?  If so, we would love to have them.

John Savage

I was thinking today of people at The Point who had great presence and style and who contributed greatly to the community.  And how as they as no longer able to be here, how their presence is missed.  John Savage was one of those people.

John was third generation at The Point.  His grandparents were Major John "Alexander" Cooper and Agnes May Massie.  They had married in Kingston in June of 1896.  They had four children - Marjory McKenzie Cooper (b. 29 Jun 1897), a baby boy  who died in infancy in 1903, Norman Massie Cooper (b. 30 Dec 1904) and John J. Cooper (b. 1907)

The young family settled in at No. 12 Glen Road in Toronto, that tiny sliver of a street that runs south from Bloor Street, just east of Sherbourne.

No.10 and No.12 Glen Road, Toronto, in 1913 - possibly with the Cooper boys on the step

A journalist and author, Major Cooper served with the Fourth Canadian Infantry Brigarde and later wrote a book on their on the history of their operations from April 1915 through demob. The Coopers came to Sturgeon Point in the Summer of 1918.  They rented the Stewart Cottage from Lillian Greig Stewart of Lindsay, whose husband Thomas Stewart had died of the Flu in 1918.

The Coopers rented until about 1926-28 when they bought the house at the bottom of 2^nd Street across from their friends William & Ada (nee Dundas) Rundell.  

In time, the cottage passed to their daughter Marjory Cooper and her husband Reginald Savage.  They had two children, Joan and John.

John Savage, Lake Avenue, 1928 - abt age 2 or 3

Together they grew up here at The Point doing all the swimming, canoeing, sailing, the running of races and hanging out with friends that happens to every child who summers here.

Joan Savage, 1946 - Courtesy of the Roberts family

As John grew-up he did all sorts of things, including serving in the military.

In the 1970s, John and his partner Joe Rivard moved to Sturgeon Point year round.  They made the cottage at No.5 Second Street their year round home.  They worked in Lindsay, travelled extensively and built a wonderful life at Sturgeon Point.

John also became politically involved.  He ran and served as Reeve of Sturgeon Point - If you have an "Elect Doc Savage" button were would love a picture!  He worked hard for us as a Counsellor and as Reeve.

Pictures taken in the 1980s and at the 100th Anniversary Party in 1999

As the year round community grew at The Point, John was very much a part of it.  The people he had known all his life exemplified the extended family that this very special place creates.  His presence is missed.

But his home lives on and is now the very special cottage of a new famiy whose purchase of the property in 2010 has given the cottage a new lease on life.

The

Evolution of a Cottage

One of the wonderful things about receiving all of these pictures is that a time line can start to be developed for some of the cottages.  Interestingly one of the most photographed cottages was Koshaqua Lodge.

This picture dates to just prior to WWI

Koshaqua Lodge was the cottage of Alexander "Sandy" Flack and his wife, Anna Mae Brown.  Married in Lindsay in 1899, they cottaged at The Point with their son, Lloyd Flack.

Anna Mae Brown was the daughter of Joseph Brown & Sabina Masters, and the sister of Ida Brown, who married Web Shelley, and Bill Brown, who married Flora Graham.  Bill & Flora had the nest cottage north on 5th Street.  The Shelleys owned the property at the east corner of 4th and Lake Avenue.  It was inherited by Bill & Flora's children, Ida Mae Brown Steen Noble and Bill Brown.  Sandy & Anna Mae's son Lloyd, kept Koshaqua Lodge until the late 1940s, but he regularly brought his children Linda and Sandy back to spend time at The Point with their cousins.

By the late 1940s the cottage's porch had been partially enclosed.

Late 1930s - Early 1940s

Then at a later date the porch was fully closed in.  While the front lawn is now a driveway and the small trees are gone.  The pillars are still visable behind the windows.

Circa 2005

Today the Davis family loves and cares for this cottage as much as the Flacks did and we thank them for allowing us to display pictures of their cottage... and their pug!

The Simpson Family

The Simpson family could be viewed as one of the oldest families at the Point.  Margaret Simpson (b. 25 Aug 1856 Bocaygeon, Upper Canada) married Eber Hubbard Dunham, a Civil War vetran from Volney, Oswego, NY.  While Eber's father had been a farmer, Margaret's father was a hotel keeper. Eber's purchase of the Sturgeon Point Hotel was the first of eight known hotels he had bought.

Dunham would purchase The Sturgeon Point Hotel from George Crandell in 1883.  That same year, they bought the 12 acres next  door to the hotel and built a cottage called "Oak Grove".

By 1900, Dunham had built an empire of hotels and was focused on his hotels in Montreal. He sold the cottage to John MacDonald, the railway contractor and business partner of William MacKenzie of Kirkfield, and the hotel block to his brother-in-law and former hotel manager, William Simpson. 

While Eber and Margaret were building hotels along Lake Ontario and  in Montreal, her brother William was managing the Sturgeon Point Hotel for them, as he had for George Crandell prior. 

According to Fenelon Falls business historian Randall Speller:

Wm. H. Simpson of Bobcaygeon took over the lease of the Mansion House Hotel on August 23, 1882, after Nobel Ingram left for the McArthur House.  According to the Gazette Simpson was well and favourably known to almost everybody in this section [FFG 1 Sept 1882; 2].  He immediately purchased all new furniture for the hotel and cleaned it from top to bottom.  The hotel quickly became known locally as the Simpson House.  He sold his lease to Jackson Read in August 1884.  [CP 12 May 1893: 7]

From September 1894 through until his death on August 15, 1912, William Simpson was also the Post Master for the Village.  He was succeeded by his son Arthur George Simpson, who held the post until he resigned on 21 September 1921.

William Simpson had sold the hotel property and Dunham had Oak Grove to John MacDonald, the railway magnate and business partner of William MacKenzie of Kirkfield, in 1900.  So we are now working to identify where the Simpson cottage was as it was also the Village's second post office.  If you have any suggestions, please let us know.

I would also like to draw your attention to the pictures of Eber and Margaret.  They are from the Notman Collection at the McCord Museum in Montreal.  This is an excellent archive and an amazing resource.  If you have a few minutes, go on line to: http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/scripts/explore.php?Lang=1&tableid=4&tablename=department&elementid=00016__true and look through the collection.

Another Mystery Cottage...

This image came from the Brown family and we believe that it was either on 4th or 5th Street.  The couple pictured are Sandy Flack, his wife Anne "Mae" Brown, and their son, Lloyd Flack. Based on Lloyd's age on the photo, about 2 years old, this picture was taken about 1914.

Sandy & Mae Flack's cottage Koshaqua Lodge was on the west side of 5th Street.  Sandy was a barber in Lindsay and he used to have a barber chair on the front porch of their cottage to handle the needs of the men of Sturgeon Point.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

First Snow Fall..

Well winter arrived yesterday evening with a whiteout blizzard.  The trip over the Fenelon Hill and into The Point was done by braille, but this morning all was beautiful.

Over the course of the past year, we have had a number of winter images donated.  Here are a few.  If you have any, we'd love to add them to the collection.

Parked on 2nd Street

February 1985 on 2nd Street



Charlie Gray cutting ice, abt 1950



With temperatures expected to be up around 9C tomorrow, we'll enjoy this brief taste and be back to raking up the last of the fall leaves by Sunday.

A reminder to any coming north that Santa Day in Fenelon Falls is on November 26th with events for children all day and the parade in the early evening.  It's great fun and we hope to see many of you up for it.

Can you help identify the cottage?

We have a cottage mystery and I am hoping that someone might recognize their own.  The picture dates to the 1890s and it is Dr. Jacob Needlands who is sitting with his dog on the bench.  The woman on the porch is not clear. 

Here is what the gingerbread looks like.

The gingerbread is identical to that of Bide-a-Wee and the Stewart-Wolff-Phipps cottage but the double doors and lack of bay window eliminate that property.  It is not the Corn Cob. Besides being too big, the roof line does not work for the Neelands cottage.  The roofline also does not work for Oakhurst - the Ryerson-Barrett-Tawastjerna-Koozak cottage.  Its too wide for CD Barr's cottage and the gingerbread is all wrong for the Britton House.

The challenge with this cottage is that it is two rooms wide.  Most are only one room wide, so show just a door at the front or a door and a window.  Have not had any luck in finding it still standing and so am hoping that it might also appear in someone else's album. 

Would love your suggestions!

Flags

Early on there were a number of images donated which showed cottages in the 1890-1910 period.  Many of them had flags on their porches, like this image of the Stewart-Wolff-Phipps cottage.

And then the Brown family shared this image of a flag that had flown from their boathouse.

Beyond knowing that it had flown at The Point nothing was known about the flag.  A little investigative work uncovered that it was known as the Seven Province Canadian Red Ensign.  It is an unusual version as the Seven Province shield is printed on a white rondel in the lower right field.  Normally is is simply the shield.  It turns out that it was the unofficial flag of Canada from 1873-1897.  Unofficially because the official flag of Canada was the Union Jack, but from 1868, the Canadian Red Ensign with was the flag of choice.

The Red Ensign officially was a marine flag that had been used by two of Canada’s earliest trans-continental businesses – the Hudson’s Bay Company and the North West Company.  So its adaption

“Although the Union Flag was widely used and ardently supported, it was not distinctly Canadian. Indeed for many, the very lack of a distinctive Canadianness to the Union Flag was its appeal; for them it served to emphasize the degree to which Canada was immersed in the greater Empire. In the words of Joseph Pope, private secretary to, and biographer of, John A. Macdonald:

There is nothing that so imbues one with a sense of the power and greatness of the Empire to which we belong, and which makes us so realize the extent of our kinship throughout the world, as the Union Jack.

To which John S. Ewart, an ardently nationalist lawyer whose essays helped define the form of the Statute of Westminster, replied:

And if Canada be still a colony, it [the Union Flag] should still fly there. Canada is, however, very nearly free of its swaddling-clothes, and ... the flag that has been adopted is extremely appropriate to our equivocal situation, namely, the red ensign with the Union Jack in the corner-indicative of colonialism, and the Canadian coat-of-arms in the fly-indicative of individual existence.”

[Source: The Canadian Ensigns, www.fraser.cc/FlagsCan/Nation/Ensigns.html ]

Dr Fraser in an e-mail noted that the Seven Province Canadian Red Ensign was "used enthusiastically, but the UK resisted authorizing them for use in other than a maritime capacity. Of course, that did allowed them to be used on boats in cottage country. But, even then, it was only the four-province version that was authorized for use on the water---not the one shown. So, everything was unofficial. “

Another version of the flag showed up in the picture of Sandy Flack's cottage on 5th Street.  The little girl sitting on the steps was Ida May Brown.

On the wall of the cottage appear two more pictures.  On the right, Dr. Fraser advised that the flag "has the composite badge used for Canada at the time on the lower fly and an image of Queen Victoria at the top. I have seen quite a few of these and almost always it was the five-province badge that was used despite the fact that the event being marked was the diamond anniversary in 1897."

Image courtesy of http://angloboerwarmuseum.com/Boer92w_pastdis_jubflag.html

Dr. Fraser has also suggested that the flag on the left was one used for the 1897 celebration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.

I would like to thank Dr. Alistair Fraser for taking the time to look and comment on our flags and would like to recommend, if you are interested in reading further, his e-book The Flags of Canada  [http://www.fraser.cc/FlagsCan/index.html] .

Remembrance Day... Lest We Forget

Last night many from Sturgeon Point had the privilege of attending the Candlelight Procession in Fenelon Falls.  The Veterans, Legion members, Cadets, Scouts, Cubs and Beavers, along with members of the community paraded through Fenelon Falls to the Cenotaph (across the street from the LCBO).  There the candles are placed around the base of the Cenotaph where the Cadets will stand vigil though the night until this morning's service.  It is an incredibly moving ceremony.

Candles lit at the Fenelon Falls Cenotaph, 2008

image courtesy of http://www.redfridays.ca/news/1000candlesneeded.php

As we pause today let us also remember...

Major John E. Kennedy, 29th Field Artillery, Canadian Army, and his brother-in-law, F/O Jack Connell, Mosquito pilot, RCAF and POW at Stalag Luft III

Lt-Commander John Walker Macmillan, on board the USS Langley, 1945...

Staff Captain Stuart Aird Flavelle...

Brothers, Watson Kirkconnell (b. 1895) historian and writer of the County of Victoria Centennial History (1967) also served.  O.C. of L.C.I. Cadet Corps. Captain C.O.T.C. and 253rd Bn. C.E.F. Musketry Instructor, Barriefield Camp. Adjutant, Fort Henry, 1916-17. Paymaster and Accountant, Kapuskasing Camp, 1917-19.

and

Walter Kirkconnell (1893-1918), brother of historian Watson Kirkconnell. In 1913-14, he was a law student at Osgoode Hall. Captain 45th Regt. and 14th Battn., C.E.F. Member of First Canadian Contingent, August 1914. Killed in action, battle of Amiens, August 8, 1918. His burial was registered in the CEF Register of Burials.

Recently the Neelands family shared their family albums with us.  The first two pages were full of the Lindsay 45th Regiment leaving for Valcartier in August 1914.  They were being led by Lt-Col. Fred Holmes Hopkins.  It was to be his last day at home.  This first image shows the Regiment assembled inside the Lindsay Armouries.

and Fred Hopkins standing just outside the front doors of the Armouries.

Led by the band, then the Regiment began its march through town to the train station.

With Fred Hopkins front and centre.

At the train station midst all the good-byes...

and one last pose in front of the engine...

Fred Hopkins was killed in a traffic accident in England on the 30th of January, 1916.

Courtesy of the University of Toronto Roll of Service, 1914-1918 (pub 1921) p68

Because Fred was killed in a traffic accident and not in battle, his remains were repatriated and he was buried with full military honour at Riverside Cemetery in Lindsay.  It is reported that the shops on Kent Street all closed and that the streets were lined in honour of  Lt-Col Fred Holmes Hopkins. 

From the Beall Collection held at the City Of Kawartha Lakes Reference Room

Used with kind permission from John Beall who retains copyright.

His name is listed on the Cenotaph in front of the Lindsay Library.  Fred had studied law at Osgoode Law School and been called to the bar in 1908.  His name is listed on the Osgoode Law School's War Memorial.  He is also listed on the WWI Book of Remembrance which lies in the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

From the poem For The Fallen by Lawrence Binyon come the lines...

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.