A great uncle’s school certificate sparked a search for one of Toronto’s “vanished” halls of learning. Opened in 1874, Wellesley Public School sat like a fancy wedding cake on the north east corner of Bay and Wellesley Streets in downtown Toronto. The “most handsome and best-furnished school building in Toronto” […]
This plaque hangs in Rose Avenue School, 675 Ontario Street, (south of Bloor Street East, between Parliament and Sherbourne Streets) in Toronto’s St. James Town. Chilton Street does not appear on current maps of Toronto. There is a Chilton Road in East York, but it is several kilometres northeast of […]
…I see by your gravestone you were only nineteen When you joined the great fallen in 1916. Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean. —Eric Bogle “No Man’s Land (The Green Fields of France)” ©Larrikin Music Our first recorded memorial to an individual was that […]
Sackville Street School displays a memorial for World War I, but none for World War II. Little Trinity (Anglican) Church, a three-minute walk (270 metres) northwest of the school, fills some gaps in the neighbourhood history. Of the 581 parishioners involved in World War I, 70 died. A cenotaph beside […]
Every day is Remembrance Day when working with war memorials, but as November 11 rolls around each year, the “For King and Country” team aims for an extra push. Toronto Branch is pleased to add 3,026 names (from 10 schools) to our database in time for this year’s Lest We […]
When war broke out in 1914, Britain’s standing army of about 450,000 was dwarfed by the conscript-heavy armies organizing in Europe. Lord Kitchener, Britain’s new Secretary of State for War, wanted to avoid the political hot potato of conscription, but believed “the last million men” Britain could send into battle […]
“Degrassi” evokes realistic high school drama for fans of the long running Degrassi TV series. There are no schools on Toronto’s Degrassi Street in Riverdale, though nearby Earl Grey school is one of several used as a setting for early episodes. While teaching at Earl Grey, Linda Schuyler, aware that […]
More than 3,000 women volunteered for the Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC) in the First World War. All had trained as nurses before the war; average age was 24. Nicknamed “blue birds,” because of their blue uniforms and white veils, they assisted with surgery and cared for convalescing soldiers. Though […]
(including For King and Country) For King and Country will be featured this March in the “Finding Your Great War Ancestors” Workshop presented by the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society. This will be an excellent opportunity to update the community on our progress—3,600 names recently added to the […]
Just before the end of 2011, we added 3,600 names from memorials in ten schools from wide-ranging communities around the city, including Riverdale, North Toronto, Parkdale, East York, Dovercourt, Corktown, and Scarborough. The new schools are: Agincourt Continuation School, Deer Park Public School, Earl Grey School, Midland Avenue School, Morse […]