Joseph Henry Metcalfe Garry (1875-1950)
Stockton man served with the Canadian Army
With both his parents dying before he reached his teens, Joseph was brought up by his three sisters and great-aunt. He joined the 19th Yorkshire Regiment and served in South Africa before emigrating to Canada in 1903 where he immediately joined the North West Mounted Police. After ten years as a civilian, Joseph Garry enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) on 7 April 1916 in Lethbridge, Alberta, where he had been living and working as a butcher.
As Private 736842 of the 113th Battalion (Lethbridge Highlanders) he received training at Lethbridge Exhibition Grounds before moving to Sarcee Camp at Calgary. He then embarked along with the 111th and 145th Battalions on SS Tuscania. After arriving at Shorncliffe camp, the 113th was absorbed into the 17th Reserve Battalion in October 1916. Joseph was transferred to the Canadian Ordnance Corps based at Ashford, Kent, where he remained for a year before being transferred to France with the 85th Battalion in November 1917.
Transferred to the Canadian Labour Pool in France in October 1918, he then returned to England and a posting to the Nova Scotia Regimental Depot at Bramshott, from where he went absent without leave for thirteen days over the New Year. On his return he was fined 13 days’ pay and sentenced to 13 days’ punishment and then almost immediately returned to Canada for demobilisation in Calgary on 8 March 1919.
Civil Parish: Stockton on Tees
Birth date: 11-Jul-1875
Death date: 28-May-1950
Armed force/civilian: Army
Residence: 23 Palmerston Street, Stockton-on-Tees (1881 census)
5 Crown Street, Stockton-on-Tees (1891 census)
Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada (1911 Canadian census)
1251 8th Avenue, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada (service record, 1923)
Religion: Church of England
Employment: Army reservist (ship’s manifest 1903)
Butcher (enlistment papers)
Family: Parents: John Metcalfe Garry, Anne Garry, nee Robinson
Siblings: Emily Jane Hannah Garry, Edith Annie Garry, Elizabeth May Garry
Military service:
19th Yorkshire Regiment (pre-war)
North West Mounted Police, 1903-1905
Private 736842
113th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
17th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
Canadian Ordnance Corps
85th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
Nova Scotia Regimental Depot
Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal
Gender: Male
Contributed by Jean Longstaff, Durham | (Mod - Gemma, Durham University Intern)