Harry Blackman (1888-1961)
Sunderland man served with Canadian Army in France, Belgium and Germany
Born in Fulwell Village, Sunderland on 12 May 1888, Harry was one of the nine children of Wiltshire-born quarryman William Blackman and his Haswell-born wife, Martha, who had married in Sunderland in 1879, two years before the birth of their first son, William. By 1901 William was working at Mere Knolls Cemetery in Fulwell and the family were living in the East Lodge.
April 1911 saw Harry arriving in Canada, having sailed from Liverpool on board the SS Lake Manitoba with the intention of becoming a farmer. The Canadian census of the same year saw him lodging and working for the Jeffrey family in Oxford, Ontario. On 4 February 1916 Harry enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in his home town of Ingersoll, named his father in Sunderland as his next of kin and his occupation as farmer. Just three weeks later, on 1 March, Private 675485 of the 168th Battalion married Margaret Mae Thomas in Oxford. They would have had some time together as Harry was granted furlough for farm work in April before the battalion moved to Camp Francis at London, Ontario in June and then 250km to the newly opened Camp Borden in July. Before moving to Borden Harry was in hospital in London for nearly three weeks having a bunion removed from his left foot.
The 168th sailed for England on 1 November on the SS Lapland and camp at West Sandling, Kent, where, in January of the following year, the battalion was absorbed into the 6th Reserve Battalion. On 17 April 1917 Private 675485 found himself drafted to the 2nd Battalion who were on the front line in Belgium and needing reinforcements after the fighting at Vimy Ridge. He joined them in billets at Brunehaut Farm at the end of the month and then into the trenches three days later. It was whilst in Brigade Reserve in July that Harry suffered fourteen days punishment for failing to obey an order.
On 31 March, in fighting around Arras, Private Blackman sustained a shotgun wound to his face and was out of action recovering in field hospitals and casualty clearing stations until rejoining his unit on 6 May in camp at Manin. Harry was wounded again the following October when the battalions were moving forward around Pecquencourt, but he was treated at a field ambulance station and remained on duty. Still in Pecquencourt in November, the Battalion carried on training, they bathed and received clean underwear, there was a musketry competition. On 11 November, after an inspection by the Commander of the Canadian Corps, Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Currie, asked the men to take off their helmets for one minutes silence to give thanks for the armistice being signed.
On 4 December 1918 the Battalion marched into Germany with the band playing “O Canada”, on into Cologne and then the outpost line at Hannut where they remained until leaving by train on 16 March 1919. Four days later they were docking at Weymouth on their way to camp at Bramshott and then a return to Canada by mid-April and final discharge from the CEF on 24 April in Kingston, Ontario.
By 1921 Harry, Mae and their two sons, Harry junior and Donald, were living in East Oxford, Ontario and Harry was working as a labourer. Mae died of pneumonia in 1923 and, at some time Harry, remarried. He died on 27 September 1961 and is buried in Harris Street Cemetery, Oxford, Ontario.
Civil Parish: Sunderland
Birth date: 12-May-1888
Death date: 27-Sep-1961
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: Fulwell Village, Sunderland (birthplace)
2 East Lodge, Mere Knoll Cemetery, Sunderland (1901 census)
Dereham, Oxford County, Ontario (1911 Canadian census)
Religion: Methodist
Employment: domestic (1911 Canadian census)
Farmer (enlistment papers)
Labourer (1921 Canadian census)
Family: Parents: William J.Blackman, Martha Blackman nee Bosanquet
Siblings: William Blackman, George Blackman, Sarah H.Blackman, Charles Edward Blackman, Florence Blackman, Rosina Blackman, Ernest Blackman, James Arthur Blackman
Wife: 1) Margaret Mae Blackman nee Thomas 2) Alice E. Blackman nee Stevens
Children: Harry Blackman, Donald Blackman (died in childhood)
Military service:
675485
Private
168th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
6th Reserve Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
2nd Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal
Gender: Male
Contributed by Jean Longstaff, Durham