Person

Born in Broomside, Belmont on 18 December 1891 John was the second of the six children born to Cornsay man John William Willey, a farm worker, and his Belmont born wife, Ellen, He was baptized on 7 February 1892. By 1901 father John was the farm bailiff at Home Farm, Crathorne, North Yorkshire and in February 1911 twenty-one-year-old John left England to start a new life as a painter and decorator in Canada. He crossed the Atlantic on the SS Corsican with the intention of making for Winnipeg and he was joined there by his parents and younger siblings within the year.

Having been a member of a local active militia group, on 1 July 1915 John enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in Winnipeg becoming Private 147333 of 78h (Winnipeg Grenadiers) Battalion. He gave his parents as his next of kin and his occupation as that of painter. Just four months later, on 23 November, he was discharged as “unlikely to become an efficient soldier”.

Not to be deterred, six months later John reenlisted in the CEF, on 9 May 1916, in Winnipeg, and mentioning his previous experience in the 78th Battalion he was passed as fit and became Private 288595 of 221st Battalion. Transferred in June to the Divisional Cyclists Depot in Winnipeg, he was promoted to lance corporal and then corporal. On 3 May 1917 he sailed with the Divisional Cyclists Draft aboard the SS Justicia from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Liverpool and a posting to the Reserve Cyclists Company based at Chiseldon near Swindon, where for a short time he became acting sergeant.

Before a Medical Board at Seaford camp on 8 September 1917, he was classified as B2 fit for base duty only because of a dislocated cartilage in his left knee due to a sports injury. As this injury pre-dated his enlistment, this may have been why he was originally discharged in 1915. Posted to the Reserve Cyclists’ Company at Shoreham, in February 1918 he was appointed acting lance corporal and then acting corporal whilst attached for duty to the Regimental Police.

At the end of the year, John returned to Canada on board the SS Olympic, sailing from Southampton and arriving in Nova Scotia on 14 December. Posted to the Casualty Company, Winnipeg he was granted 14 days’ Landing Leave on arrival and was then discharged from the CEF on 6 February 1919 as medically unfit after a Medical Board the previous month had classified him as Category E.

John returned to live with his parents and siblings and worked for many years as a law clerk for the Federal Government, retiring in 1958. He never married, and lived latterly with his widowed sister, Margaret.

John Willey died at Deer Lodge Military Hospital, Winnipeg on 8 March 1972 and is buried at Brookside Cemetery.

Civil Parish: Belmont

Birth date: 09-Dec-1891

Death date: 08-Mar-1972

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: Broomside, Belmont (birthplace)
Home Farm, Crathorne, Yarm, Yorkshire (1901 census)
781 Pacific Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba (1916 census of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta)
700 Elgin Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba (1921 Canadian census)
454 Cumberland Avenue, Winnipeg (1935 Voters list)
Suite 17, 694 Sherbrook Street, Winnipeg (obituary, Winnipeg Free Press)

Religion: Church of England

Employment: painter / decorator (enlistment papers)
Conductor (1921 Canadian census)
Law clerk (Winnipeg Free Press)

Family: Parents: John William Willey, Ellen Willey
Siblings: Henderson Willey, Thomas Willey, Nora Willey, Arthur Willey, Margaret Willey

Military service:

Private 147333
78h (Winnipeg Grenadiers) Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
Private 288595
221st Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
Divisional Cyclists’ Corps

Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal

Gender: Male

Contributed by Jean Longstaff, Durham