It was in May 1915, during the Second Battle of Ypres, that John McCrae penned the words of In Flanders Fields, the simple poem that became an enduring testament to the toll of war, recited at countless Remembrance Day observances. This November—100 years after the Armistice that brought an end to the Great War—McCrae’s words are as poignant as ever. McCrae’s poetry writing began at Guelph Collegiate, where he was an accomplished student. At the […]
For King and Country
12 posts
Humberside Collegiate Institute, near Toronto’s High Park, is the latest institution to be added to our searchable For King and Country database of war memorials in the city’s schools. It has been 125 years since Humberside—or the Toronto Junction High School, as it was then known—first opened its doors in 1892. Since then, the school sometimes called the “castle on the hill” has expanded, undergone extensive renovations, and developed a reputation for music and […]
As this year’s students and teachers headed back to their classrooms, Toronto Branch volunteers were busy deciphering, transcribing and recording more than 1,500 new names of students and teachers from the past, from war memorials in the city’s schools. Our growing For King and Country database now contains almost 46,000 names of individuals who volunteered for active service during World Wars I and II, and other conflicts, as well as details about the memorials themselves and the […]
For King and Country has expanded again! We’ve just added more than two thousand names to our database of Toronto school war memorials. Many schools in the city display lists of students, former students, and teachers who volunteered for active service during the two World Wars and other conflicts. Some lists name only those who died, but most include all who enlisted. For King and Country is an ongoing Toronto Branch project to locate, photograph […]