Sunday, February 11, 2018

The Milton Soldiers Blog Returns to Action

The Milton Soldiers Project has now returned to Blogger, as we begin the next big stage of linking the project to all the new locations, many of which are new and others that are the result of server changes at the source. Here is a brief overview of what is changing:
  1. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has completely revamped their site and any of the old links in the blog from the 2008 era no longer work. Shortly I will begin the process to correct all the links to the casualty page for each of the Milton soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the Great War of 1914-1921.
  2. The Maple Leaf Legacy Project changed from a domain listed as ".org" to a Canadian domain listed as ".ca". As such, all the links to the individual soldiers listings must be changed. Many of the grave site photographs came from the MLLP site.
  3. A great deal of new material has been digitized by Library and Archives Canada for the Canadian men who served in the war, not just those that perished. After a long process, they are nearing the end of a major project to have linked access to the Service Records of each individual, not just their Attestation Papers. With this big change, we are now linking ALL the Milton Soldiers that served in the Great War to their records, not just those that perished. This addition will take time.
  4. The Canadian Great War Project has been transferred to the University of Victoria in British Columbia. The new version of the site is located at a new address, although the old site is still active. In addition, the University has added a very good component that provides simple access to the War Diaries of Canadian units from the Great War. We strongly suggest this over the "less than friendly system" available from Library and Archives Canada.
A decision has not yet been made as to whether the web based version of the Milton Soldiers Project will be re-activated on the Laughton web site, or abandoned. During the Beta Testing period, you can check here to see if the web pages have returned:


A copy of this notice has been posted to the Laughton web site at that location. Stay tuned for more information!
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Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Tuesday November 11, 2008

We celebrated the 2008 Remembrance Day a bit differently this year. We had offered to video the Milton Legion Parade and Service, which we did and is available on DVD for those that want a copy.


In the process of preparing for Remembrance Day 2008, we also gave some additional thought to Private Lachlan James Kingsbury #663268 who was all alone at the Ebenezer Cemetery (North Milton) and not a beneficiary of the wreaths and service the other Milton Soldiers had experienced for years. We decided to have the Legion prepare and extra wreath, which the Laughton Family placed at his Grave Site on Remembrance Day. Just as we arrived the cold wind and wet snow arrived, just as many of the men may have faced in the trenches of France and Flanders.


We then went back to Evergreen Cemetery in Milton to pay our respects to our Great War Soldiers who rested there: Corporal William Maddocks #30222; Private William James Allan #141847; Private Harold James Dent #511217; Private Alfred James Evans #663090 and Private Edmund Adolphus Cooper #3112559.

As we have noted on the web site, Private Evans is a unique member of the "Soldier's Club" as he died of his wounds in 1925, thus he is not commemorated at the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. That is their rules, not ours, it was not his fault he died to late to be added to the list. In the end he is commemorated, for if you now go to the CWGC web site it is the grave site of Private Evans that is shown as the photo for the Evergreen Cemetery! (click to see photo here). If you don't tell, we won't!


Private Evans has a friend on the CWGC web site as we also submitted a photo of Private Kingsbury's grave for the Ebenezer Cemetery (click to see photo here).
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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Remembrance Day 2008

The work to complete the history of each of the Milton Soldiers is now complete. As part of the Remembrance Day 2008 project we have now added all of the soldiers that were on the Haltonville Cenotaph, as well as those soldiers that were identified as "local" but were not on either cenotaph. The soldiers on the Victoria Park Cenotaph were in place for Remembrance Day 2007.

Milton Soldiers of the Great War 1914-1919

This blog version of the project is a simplified list of the soldiers and links. Considerable more detail is available on the web site version, including images and additional links.

In preparing the web site version we have done our best to correct the information that was in the book based version released by others in 2006. A complete copy of the corrections is now available upon request.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns or additional information for the web based version - please e-mail us directly or post your notes to the blog.
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Sunday, October 07, 2007

2007 Remembrance Day Project

As we quickly approach Remembrance Day 2007 I have been working to add the details of the final fate of all of the Milton Soldiers. The intent is to add to the basic information that was made available from the 2006 Remembrance Day Project by adding the following information:
  • a summary of what action caused their death
  • information from the War Diary for the unit on that date
  • background information on the ongoing battle of that period
  • any additional information of relevance, such as whether they died of wounds or were transferred to England or Canada before they died
During the Spring and Summer of 2007 I have been helping the Milton Historical Society rebuild their web site (see new MHS Web Site) and in exchange I now have a place to put the detailed summary pages. You will find these new pages here:

I started with the soldiers that were buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Milton, as that information was used for the cemetery tours as part of Milton's 150th Anniversary this summer. I am now in the process of going back through the records of the others, hoping to have this all complete by November 11, 2007. By mid October, I am half way through the rest of the soldiers.

During the spring and summer the Milton Soldier's grave stones in Milton were added to the Maple Leaf Legacy Project. To add a new twist to that project, I have also started to add the GPS co-ordinates for the grave markers, which are now linked via Google Earth to their ground level photo and detailed MHS page. Thanks to Steve Douglas at the Maple Leaf Legacy Project for sending me a number of grave site photos from the Milton Lads that are buried in European cemeteries - many of those have now been added to the blog and web site.

The Milton Soldiers Google Earth Page is now being upgraded to include the individual soldier place marks as they are completed, so you can reach any of these files by this direct link. The individual soldier pages are shown as "Replies" at the bottom of the primary page. As well as the soldiers buried in the Milton Evergreen Cemetery, I have started to add those that are commemorated at the Vimy Memorial (France), the Menin Gate Memorial (Belgium) and some of the European cemeteries (i.e. Vis-en-Artois, France). More will be added shortly.















The Service Records of the Milton Soldiers were obtained by John Challinor II who co-authored the book on Milton's Soldiers which was released in the Fall of 2006. I have now digitized all of these are they are available at the MHS Archives. If you are looking for information on a specific Milton Soldier, you can e-mail me at miltonsoldiers@gmail.com and I will upload the file on a case-by-case basis.

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Saturday, November 11, 2006

List of Milton Soldiers

Updated March 3, 2009:

The following shows the postings for each Milton Soldier killed in the Great War. The death may have occurred from accident or illness prior to service, or while preparing for battle, during the battle, or as a result of wounds from which the soldier did not survive. The site provides the links to the Library and Archives Canada for the Attestation Papers and to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission for the Casualty Details.

The soldier's name is linked to the page of the Canadian Virtual War Memorial at the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, Canada. The Regimental Number link takes you to the Attestation Papers and the Cemetery or Memorial Link takes you to the Casualty Details of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Our newest addition is the photographs of the tombstones, taken as part of our participation in the Maple Leaf Legacy Project.

Although the date remains at November 11, 2006, the information is being updated on a regular basis. The information has now been updated on the web site version to show where their unit was active at the time of the casualty, and and what the War Diaries report for that specific date. Information for some soldiers is limited, as officers do not have Attestation Papers unless they moved up from the enlisted ranks. As well, some Canadians took officer positions with the Imperial Army, thus there records are in the UK National Archives.

The Fall 2006 release of "Milton Remembers - World War I and The Men and Women We Never Knew" provided additional information to track some of the unknown names. Where possible, we have corrected errors that appear in the book. The blog has now been updated to include the 2007 and 2008 research on the Milton Soldiers that were listed on the Victoria Park and Haltonville Cenotaphs, as well as those known to have died but not listed on the Cenotaphs.

The Milton Historical Society has generously allowed us full access to the soldier's service records that were collected by John Challinor for the preparation of "Milton Remembers". All of these records have now been scanned and are available through the link on the web site. Those records have been used to identify the time and place of death of each soldier, which has now been linked to the unit war diary and historical references.

Here are Milton's Soldiers:



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Monday, November 06, 2006

Remembrance Day 2006 Project

To commemorate Remembrance Day 2006 in Milton, Ontario CANADA a blog has been created to allow all those interested to learn more about the soldiers of Milton who served and lost their lives in the Great War (1914 - 1919).


This site will contain the list of all soldiers (and others) who are listed on the Milton Cenotaph, or are interned in Milton's Evergreen Cemetery.

From the links on this blog, you will be able to access the Attestation Papers of the soldiers, as well as the Memorial Certificates published by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. As we progress, we will link the soldiers names to the Canadian Virtual War Memorial, the Canadian Great War Project, and finally to the units in which they served as detailed on the CEF Matrix.

If you have additional information on any of the soldiers on the list, we would be pleased to add the details to each soldiers profiles.

For additional details on the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War, please visit the CEF Matrix Web or the counterpart CEF Matrix Blog. Here you will find details on the structure of the CEF during the Great War and the Army Corps and Troops that made up the CEF ranks. In addition, the Matrix provides you with a number of Matrix Utilities to support your continued research.
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