Samuel Brown

Port Coquitlam

( Sam is not on the official Honour Roll, but he should be )

Samuel Brown, Sam Brown  131^st Battalion  791031  Signed his attestation papers on the 12^th of April 1916, at Vancouver, B.C.  Home was Port Coquitlam, where he was working as a logger.  Born on the 24^th of March 1876 ( NOT the correct year ) near Belfast, Ireland.
Brother: George Brown, of Castle Green, Comber, Ireland.
Service record:  France 16½ months with the 4^th Labour Battalion. 

      He was discharged from service on the 18^th of November 1918 at Victoria, B.C., after 31 months of service.  It appears that his true age was discovered, and he was discharged as unfit because there was a law that retired anyone who was overage.

      In January of 1919 he is back in Port Coquitlam, for a short time.  One of the records states that he was born in 1867, and he was 51 years of age, in 1918.

No. 14 Platoon( photo from the 131^st Battalion yearbook of 1916 )

Top Row: G. Brown, Percy Gibb, Hosford Franklin Nagle, Leslie Lemuel Evans Goldsmith, William Gower, Samuel Brown, John Simon Whittaker, James Alvin Scott, J. Gourlay, F. Jackson, P.J. Leidmeier, Frederick Harvard.
Second Row: Marmaduke George Bateman, Ralph Wellington Atkinson, Herbert William Henry, Harry Gower, J. Walker, John Gleave, James Arthur Hayne, Joseph Ladoux, William Perry Patten, J. Stewart, D. Dougherty,(David or Daniel Dougherty).
Third Row: George Dalziel, J. MacKenzie, Justin Dorr, G. Williams, John Henry Griffiths, William Henry Lawrence, A. Henderson, Ernest Turner, Wilfred Harold Coleman, Walter John Wigmore, Edward Cadenhead, Abe Denson.
Fourth Row: Albert Richard Eden, David Gillies, James Glass, William Herbert Simpson, F. Grant, Ernest Austen, James Joseph Shea, Roy Torrence Hildebrand, Martin Marin Beadle, James Lyall Goldsmith.
Front Row: Corporal Harry Carter, Company Sergeant Major Richard Arthur Henderson, Lieutenant Vyvyan Chard Brimacombe, Lieutenant Keith Campbell MacGowan, Company Quartermaster Sergeant Leslie George Rayner, Sergeant Edward Groves, Corporal Robert Albert Victor Cheale, Bugler Victor Thomas Crispin.

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

His parents were Samuel Brown, and Margaret Jane Anderson

Children of:

Elizabeth Brown  born:19 June 1866 Holywood, Down, Ireland   ( NE of Belfast )
Agnes Brown       born: 10 Feb. 1864 Comber, County Down, Ireland
Jane Brown          born: 9 Jan. 1869 County Down, Ireland
Samuel Brown     born: 8 Oct. 1871 Castlereagh, County Down
Sarah Brown         born: 10 Nov. 1872 Castlereagh, Down, Ireland (  SSE of Belfast )
Samuel Brown      born: 24 March 1875   Down, Ireland
Hugh Brown          born: 3 Oct. 1880 Unicarville, Ballymaglaff, County Down, Ireland
  
1901 census    house 10  in castle lane, Comber, County Down, Ireland
Finds : Agnes ; Jane, and Sarah  listed as working in a flax mill. And their widowed mother, Margaret Jane Brown, age 57; and Robert Brown 17, working as an apprentice carpenter
  

   Samuel Brown 781031
( not dated, from the Find-a-grave website )

Grave marker in Veterans section of the Fraser Cemetery, New Westminster
( photo from the Find-a-grave website )

The description about Samuel Brown at the Find-a-grave website is correct for the most part, but one main error is the fact that Samuel actually worked as a gardener for the Pacific Mills at Ocean Falls, B.C., from at least 1925 to 1946, in 1947 he was admitted to Essondale, where he spent the last seven years of his life.
Samuel Brown died on the 5^th of August 1954 at Essondale hospital, Coquitlam, B.C., at the age of 88; he had spent 44 years of his life in B.C., and 22 years elsewhere in Canada.   See also the Bowell & Sons obituary card for Sam Brown
Note: on the Find-a-grave site, the researcher states that Sam immigrated in 1887 and worked in the northern wilds of B.C. as a logger, and that he was born in 1865 (which is what the death certificate states, which does not align correctly with the Irish birth certificates in the LDS database.

Also the family appears to have had ties to Comber, in County Down, Ireland, they are mentioned a few times in some of the Comber History website texts. 

John Bruce

Port Coquitlam Cenotaph

Port Coquitlam cenotaph, plinth, west side

John Bruce, "Jock Bruce"   Private  790597  
Born at Renton, Dunbartonshire, Scotland on the 11^th of July 1889, his attestion paper states that he was a ships riveter.
He played for the local Black & Gold football team. John enlisted on the 11^th of February 1916 with the 131^st battalion, and was Killed In Action, KIA on the 22^nd of August 1917,in France at the age of 28.
Virtual memorial for John Bruce
 His father was David Bruce, of Renton, Dunbartonshire. John also left a sister behind Jean Bruce, who possibly became Mrs. Jean McIntyre.
At his death he was in the Canadian infantry ( Western Ontario Regiment ), 47^th Battalion.  John is memorialized at the Vimy Ridge memorial

 Article from a display at the Port Coquitlam Museum, probably from the Coquitlam Star, newspaper. The article is transcribed in full, below.

 Jock Bruce killed

       It came as a shock to the many friends of Jock Bruce in the city to learn that he had made the supreme sacifice "Somewhere in France." Jock was one of the most noted footballers on the coast, and for two seasons previous to his enlistment was a member of Coquitlam's famous black & gold team. He played on the Mainland team against the Vancouver Island team several times and was recoginized as one of the best centre half-backs in the game in the Province. The same thing that made hime a great footballer no doubt made him a great soldier. Jock never worried over those things, and was always willing to take a chance.
An incident that happened at Vernon in 1916, when the 131st Battalion was in training there, shows his canny Scotch way of overcoming difficulties. He was acting as stretcher-bearer in a sham battle and one of the men, weighing about 200 pounds, had to be carried back of the lines supposed to be wounded. When Jock saw him and noticed his size, he said, "Na, he's na wounded; he's deid," and left him on the field to walk back.

NOTE: the area where John was born is long noted for its capable football players

Rather poor quality scan of the 131^st Battalion, No. 15 Platoon

Top Row  -— W.J. Reeves, H.A. Jennings, T. Dickinson, A.R. Solloway, C. Strand, G. Royle, A.W. Buckett, E. Lake,L. Robbie, F.J. Robertson, J.E. Blais.

Second Row — W.J. Ayling, D. Rodman, J.J. O'Donnell, W. Ross, L. Paul, C.C. Clarke, S. Cleave, A.B. Mouldey, C.H. Smith, M.F. Weeks, R.E. Mundon, John Bruce.

Third Row — R.R. Abbott, L.H. Wadlund, E. Hide, H.A. Aves, J.H. McCormick, J. Reid, G.H. Nicholls, J.C. McInnes, F. Johncock, B.L. Davis, R. Thoreson, C. Nicholls.

Fourth Row — N.A. Craig, G. Johnson, D. McLeod, J. Clarke, J.A. Melton, J. Brown, H.T. Routley, J. Edwards, A. Angelo, A. McIntyre.

Front Row — Lee.-Corpl. T. Mars, Corpl. A.F.H. Moore, Co.S.M. R. Henderson, Lieut. R. O'Hanley. Co.Q.M.S. L.G. Rayner, Sergt. W.T. House, Corpl. L.W. Hookham, Drummer S.C. Ballard.

NOTE: Sadly very little is known about him, he is not memorialized at his birthplace.

Ernest Austen

Port Coquitlam Honour Roll

    Ernest Austen  131^st Battalion  "D" Co.   Attestation paper signed on the 2^nd of February 1916 at New Westminster, B.C.  790527 Service File: PDF.  linotype operator. Born on the 5^th of August 1880  Tonbridge, Kent, England.    active: 104^th Regiment . Living at Port Coquitlam. [  I suspect that he was involved with Coquitlam Star, newspaper concern ]
WIFE: Annie Austen
Ernest spent 9 months in Canada in the 131^st Battalion, and then was sent to England for three months where he was assigned to the 47^th battalion, and from there to France.
Discharged at Vancouver 31^st of March 1919, with slight hearing loss, from a concussion.
FATHER: Quelas Austen
MOTHER: Annie Cooper
Ernest Austen 5 August 1874 – 7 January 1952  buried at Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, B.C.
In 1913  Ernest, married Annie Seaker  ( 1884 – 1972 )
His wife's maiden name frequently is miss-spelt: Seeker, Secour.
     Her parents were: Robert Seaker, and Harriet Brown
The family lived for many years at  2546  East 45th Ave., Vancouver. Ernest appears to have spent most of his career as a  lino typist, compositor, retiring in 1944.

No. 14 Platoon

Top Row: G. Brown, Percy Gibb, Hosford Franklin Nagle, Leslie Lemuel Evans Goldsmith, William Gower, S. Brown, John Simon Whittaker, James Alvin Scott, J. Gourlay, F. Jackson, P.J. Leidmeier, Frederick Harvard.
Second Row: Marmaduke George Bateman, Ralph Wellington Atkinson, Herbert William Henry, Harry Gower, J. Walker, John Gleave, James Arthur Hayne, Joseph Ladoux,
William Perry Patten, J. Stewart, D. Dougherty,(David or Daniel Dougherty).
Third Row: George Dalziel, J. MacKenzie, Justin Dorr, G. Williams, John Henry Griffiths,
William Henry Lawrence, A. Henderson, Ernest Turner, Wilfred Harold Coleman,
Walter John Wigmore, Edward Cadenhead, Abe Denson.
Fourth Row: Albert Richard Eden, David Gillies, James Glass, William Herbert Simpson, F. Grant, Ernest Austen, James Joseph Shea, Roy Torrence Hildebrand,
Martin Marin Beadle, James Lyall Goldsmith.
Front Row: Corporal Harry Carter, Company Sergeant Major Richard Arthur Henderson,
Lieutenant Vyvyan Chard Brimacombe, Lieutenant Keith Campbell MacGowan,
Company Quartermaster Sergeant Leslie George Rayner, Sergeant Edward Groves,
Corporal Robert Albert Victor Cheale, Bugler Victor Thomas Crispin.

Source: 131st Battalion album, 1916   New Westminster Public Library  ( low quality scan )
But I have elaborated on the names list