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Ralph Barron (1890-1980)


Leasingthorne man joined the Canadian Army with his nephew


Ralph Barron, born 19 July 1890 in Leasingthorne near Bishop Auckland, was the youngest of the eight children of coal miner Ralph Barron and his wife Annie Cole. Marrying in October 1867, Ralph and Annie had started married life living in Framwellgate Moor near Durham where their first son Robert was born in 1869. By the mid 1870s they had moved to Leasingthorne where the rest of the family of five boys and three girls were born. By 1901 they had moved to a bigger four bedroomed house in Oak Terrace, which backed onto the village green. When father Ralph retired they had to leave their colliery owned house. By the time of the 1911 census Ralph and Annie with sons Robert, a gateman at a railway crossing, and Newark and young Ralph, both overground colliery workers, were living in Howlish Terrace, Coundon.

On 9 June 1913 Ralph, along with his sister Alice, her husband Joseph Bradwell and their three sons, arrived in Quebec on the SS Corsican. They sailed onwards to the USA making for the coal mining town of Winter Quarters, Utah. However by 1915 the Bradwell family and Ralph Barron had moved back across the border and were living in Nanaimo, British Columbia. On 21 August 1915 25 year old Ralph Barron and Ralph Bradwell, his 23 year old nephew, both enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) at the local recruitment centre.

Ralph Barron became Sapper 541706 in the 6th Field Company Canadian Engineers. He spent six months in Canada before sailing for England in March 1916 on board the SS Metagama. Here he spent three months at Bramshott Camp, Hampshire before being posted to France in August 1916 with 12 Field Company, Canadian Engineers and becoming part of the 4th Canadian Divisional Engineers. These troops were responsible for construction of defences, sanitation systems, water supplies, bridging, and assisting with trench raids. One of the most important functions of the Sappers was to dig tunnels for mines underneath enemy trenches making it easy to plant explosives and destroy them. It was these mines that helped with the successes at Vimy Ridge and Messines in 1917.

In November 1916, Ralph was promoted Corporal and remained in France for two and a half years. In September 1918 he was sent on a Lewis gun course at Canadian Corps School, this gun was a portable automatic rifle that had first been issued in 1915. On leave in England in March 1919, Ralph was promoted to Sergeant and posted to the Canadian Engineers Reinforcement Depot at Seaford, East Sussex where he remained for three months. Ralph also received permission from his Commanding Officer to get married, which he did in May 1919 when he married Olive Mary Barnes in York, Yorkshire.

Both Ralph and Olive, as a dependent, sailed for Canada on the SS Corsican leaving Liverpool and arriving in Quebec on 18 August 1919 where Ralph was finally demobilized seven days later. They travelled onward and settled in Vancouver, British Columbia where Ralph’s sister also lived and Ralph found work as a truck driver for the City of Vancouver.

They remained living in North Vancouver and had at least one daughter, Mae. By 1963 Ralph had retired. Olive died in March 1967 and Ralph moved to live with his married daughter in Tsawwassen, British Columbia until his death from stomach cancer in Richmond General Hospital, British Columbia on 14 February 1980. He was cremated one week later at North Shore Crematorium, Vancouver, British Columbia.

Civil Parish: Middlestone

Birth date: 19-Jul-1890

Death date: 14-Feb-1980

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: Front Row, Leasingthorne (1891 census)
21 Oak Terrace, Leasingthorne (1901 census)
21 Howlish Terrace, Coundon (1911 census)
604 Nicholl Street, Nanaimo, British Columbia (service records)
384 Keith Road E, North Vancouver (service records)
354 15th Street W, North Vancouver (1949 voters list)
3220 Beverley Crescent, North Vancouver (1963 voters list)
1260 52nd Street, Tsawwassen, Delta, British Columbia (1980 death certificate)

Employment: Coal miner (1911 census)
Truck driver (voters lists)

Family: Parents: Ralph Barron, Annie Barron nee Cole
Siblings: Robert Barron, Alice Barron, Matthew Barron, Hannah Barron, William Barron, Newark Barron, Annie Barron
Spouse: Olive Mary Barron nee Barnes
Children: Mae Barron

Military service:

541706
Sapper,1915
6th Field Company, Canadian Engineers
Corporal, 1916
12th Field Company, Canadian Engineers
Sergeant, 1919
Canadian Engineers Reinforcement Depot

Gender: Male

Contributed by Jean Longstaff, Durham

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