Person

The second youngest child of railway clerk John Jameson and his wife, Agnes, John was born on 28 August 1890 in Shildon and baptised a month later. His father died in 1900 and his mother in 1911. John was working as a boot repairer at the time. In May 1913 John’s four siblings emigrated to Canada to start a new life in Winnipeg. John followed them a year later. Not long after his arrival war was declared and on 28 October 1914 John enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in Winnipeg. He became Private 71608 in 10th Platoon, “C” Company, 27th (City of Winnipeg) Battalion. He gave his older brother, William, as his next of kin, their shared address in Winnipeg and his occupation as shoe clerk.

After some months training at Camp Hughes the 27th Battalion sailed aboard the SS Carpathia from Quebec to Plymouth and a posting to camp at Dibgate camp near Folkestone on the south coast. Four months later the battalion proceeded to France as part of the 6th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division. During fighting at St. Eloi on 6 April 1916, in an area where the trenches had almost been obliterated and those that remained were waist deep in water, Private Jameson was shot in the left leg and admitted to hospital in Boulogne. After four weeks at the convalescent depot John was transferred for temporary duty to the Canadian Base Depot, Havre before being granted an extended leave in the UK.

Due to permanent partial loss of function of his left leg, the Havre Medical Board classified John for permanent base duty and he returned to England and an attachment with the Canadian Records Office in London. July 1917 Private Jameson was posted to Office of Military Forces of Canada in London and five months later was promoted to lance corporal. Granted permission to marry by his commanding officer on 28 April 1918, John married Helena Alice Howard in All Saints Church, St. John’s Wood, London and his pay and allowances were transferred from his brother to his wife from this date.

Appointed acting corporal in December 1918, it wasn’t until September 1919 that John and his new wife, accompanied by their six-month-old daughter, also called Helena, returned to Canada on board the SS Cedric. On arrival John was attached to the Corps of Military Staff Clerks (CMSC), 9th Detachment for duty with “A” Section, Directorate of Records, Ottawa. Corporal Jameson ceased to be attached in February 1920 and was posted to the CMSC in Ottawa firstly with the CEF and then with the Non Permanent Active Militia.

On 31 March 1921 Corporal Jameson was demobilised from the CEF in Ottawa and returned to civilian life, where he soon found work with the civil service, and he and Helena had a son, born in 1922. Apart from a seven-month stay in England in 1955 John and Helena remained living in Ottawa. In 1945 their daughter, Helena, who was in the Royal Canadian Air Force, married in York, England, and their son, John, married in Ottawa in 1951.

John Jameson died in hospital on Ottawa on 13 December 1966 and was cremated two days later at Beechwood Cemetery.

Civil Parish: Shildon

Birth date: 28- Aug-1890

Death date: 13-Dec-1966

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: 21 Albert Street, Shildon (1891 census)
48 Albert Street, Shildon (1901 census)
24 Alexandra Street, Shildon (1911 census)
403 Cumberland Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba (enlistment papers)
73 Electric Street, Ottawa, Ontario (1921 Canadian census)
72 Maple Lane, Ottawa, Ontario (Death certificate)

Religion: Church of England

Employment: Shoe clerk (enlistment papers)
Government clerk (1921 Canadian census)
Civil servant (1955 ship’s manifest)

Family: Parents: John Jameson, Agnes Jameson nee Musgrave
Siblings: William Jameson, Mary Ellen Jameson, Agnes Annie Jameson, George Henry Jameson
Wife: Helena Alice Jameson nee Howard
Children: Helena Agnes Jameson, John Howard Jameson

Military service:

Private 71608
27th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
Canadian Base Depot
Canadian Records Office, London
Office of Military Forces of Canada, London
Corps of Military Staff Clerks, Ottawa

Medal(s): 1914/15 Star
British War Medal
Victory Medal

Gender: Male

Contributed by Jean Longstaff, Durham | Jim Busby, Canada