Person

Bert Horsley was the second child of grocer Jack Horsley and his wife, Winifred Horsley nee Fairclough. At the time of his birth in April 1899, the family were living in Washington. He had an older brother, Joseph, who was born in 1897 and a sister who was born in 1901. Father Jack emigrated to Canada in June 1905 with a view to becoming a grocer in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Winifred and the three children followed in March 1909, sailing on the SS Virginian and going to join Jack who was then living in Westbourne, about seventy five miles east of Winnipeg.

At the time of the 1911 Canadian census the Horsley family were in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba and, though Joseph was shown as being at school, neither Bert nor Ethel were. By 1916 the family were farming at Bluff Creek, Neepawa, Manitoba, even further north, on land that had been obtained through the Homestead Grant scheme (the government offered 160 acres of land as a homestead grant a way of encouraging people to settle in western Canada).

A month after his eighteenth birthday in 1917, Bert enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) at Winnipeg. He gave his father as his next of kin and his occupation as farmer and he became Private 1084397 of the 251st (Good Fellows) Battalion. This was absorbed into the 18th Reserve Battalion before even leaving Canada. Due to his age, Bert remained in Canada until October 1917 when he sailed for Liverpool, Lancashire on board the SS Metagama and a posting at Dibgate Camp near Folkestone, Kent. A note on his service file gives his date of birth in April 1899 with a note attached saying that he would not be available for overseas duty until 17 April 1918. So, on 22 May 1918, having just recovered from a bout of influenza, he was drafted to the 52nd Battalion and joined them in France on 6 June near Hazenbrouch, before marching on to billets at Guarbecque. He then moved into the front line in mid-July to take part in an attack on NeuvilleVitasse and then back to billets at Beaudricourt.

8 August 1918 saw the start of the battle for Amiens and it was here, on the front line, that Private Bert Horsley received multiple shrapnel wounds to his face, arms and chest. This was the day before his brother, Joseph, was killed in the same battle. Bert’s arm and chest wounds were only superficial, but the wound to his face shattered his jaw and similarly his elbow. Initially treated at No 1 Canadian Field Ambulance Station he was eventually invalided back to England, arriving at Reading War Hospital, Berkshire in September 1918. From here, he went on to Queen’s Hospital at Sidcup, Bexley, London where he remained until May 1919 with his jaw in a splint for ten weeks and his elbow treated with massage and electric therapy. Bert was invalided to Canada at the start of June 1919 and spent a further six weeks in Manitoba Military Hospital before being discharged from the CEF as medically unfit on 25 July 1919.

Bert returned to the family farm and, in September 1920, applied for a Soldier’s Homestead Grant. He was left with a permanent scar and indentation on his cheek and had some loss of mobility in his elbow but was able to carry out most jobs around the farm. His sister married in 1920 and the 1921 Canadian census shows only Bert and his parents at the family farm in Neepawa. His father died in 1951 and his mother four years later.

On 3 June 1955 Bert married widow Mary Ellen Porteous, who had five adult children from her first marriage, and they settled in Winnipeg. Bert retired in the early sixties. His wife died in 1973 and he died on 24 November 1976. He is buried in Thomson in the Park Cemetery, Winnipeg, Manitoba next to his wife.

Civil Parish: Washington

Birth date: 17-Apr- 1899

Death date: 24-Nov-1976

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: 101 Spout Lane, Washington (1901 census)
Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada (1911 Canadian census)
Bluff Creek, Manitoba, Canada (1917 enlistment papers)
Neepawa, Manitoba, Canada (1916 census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta)
635 Maryland Street, Winnipeg. Manitoba, Canada (1953 voters list)
998 Sherburn Street, Winnipeg. Manitoba, Canada, Winnipeg ( 1957 voters list)
708 Kildare Street, Winnipeg. Manitoba, Canada (1976 death certificate)

Religion: Church of England

Employment: Farmer (1916 census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta)

Family: Parents: Jack Horsley, Evelyn Ethel Winifred Horsley nee Fairclough
Siblings: Joseph Horsley, Ethel Winifred Horsley
Spouse: Mary Ellen Horsley nee Birss formerly Porteous

Military service:

1084397
Private
251st (Good Fellows) Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
18th Reserve Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
52nd Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force

Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal

Gender: Male

Contributed by Jean Longstaff, Durham