Wilfred Oliver (1899-1918)
Jarrow man killed in action serving in Canadian Army
Wilfred Oliver was born on 18 January 1899 in Jarrow, where his family had their home on Suffolk Street. He was the only son of Newcastle-born draper’s assistant John James Oliver and his Jarrow-born wife, Margaret, and one of three children in total. In 1906 the family emigrated to Canada, where John carried on working in a draper’s shop while Wilfred and Eleanor attended school in Toronto. When Wilfred was old enough, he joined the local militia group ‘the 12th York Rangers’ and also found work as a stock-keeper, a job that was not hindered by his slight speech impediment.
Aged 17, Wilfred enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 9 May 1916 and became Private 285283 of the 220th Battalion. He sailed with them to England at the end of April the following year, where on arrival they were absorbed into the 3rd Reserve Battalion. A month later, in early June, Wilfred was transferred to the 134th Battalion based at Witley Camp, Surrey, and while there he wrote out his pay book will in favour of his mother. The 134th was subsequently absorbed in to the 12th Reserve Battalion the following year, and on 14 June 1918 a draft of men joined the 3rd Battalion in billets at Caucourt, near Lens.
The beginning of September 1918 saw the Battalion instructed to join an attack on the Drocourt-Queant Line. It was here on 2 September that Private Wilfred Oliver, aged 19, was killed “whilst taking part in an advance on enemy positions on the right of Cagnicourt [where] he was hit in the chest and instantly killed by a bullet from an enemy machine gun”. He is buried in the Queant Road British Cemetery, Buissy.
Civil Parish: Jarrow
Birth date: 18-Jan-1899
Death date: 2-Sep-1918
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 16 Suffolk Street, Jarrow (1901 census)
170 Madison Avenue, Toronto (1911 Canadian census)
Religion: Church of England
Employment: Stock-keeper (enlistment papers)
Family: Parents: John James Oliver, Margaret E.Oliver nee Hall
Siblings: Eleanor Oliver, Emma Elizabeth Oliver
Military service:
12th York Rangers (pre-war militia)
285283
Private
220th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
3rd Reserve Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
134th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
12th Reserve Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
3rd Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal
Gender: Male
Contributed by Jean Longstaff