LEST WE FORGET 143 GURNEY, Richard Everett WWI Richard (Dick) was born on February 27, 1882 (birthdate on enlistment form is February 24, 1886) in Bierton, England, to Rev. John Langton Gurney and Francis Sophia (Richardson) Gurney. There were nine children in the family and Richard was the second youngest. Two of his brothers were in the Boer War and Alexander was a casualty of that war. Two brothers immigrated to the Holar area (near Tantallon, SK) and Dick signed up for a four-year apprenticeship with the British Navy to learn the tinsmithing trade. In 1904, age 22, Dick came to Tantallon and lived with his brother John in the Holar area. Dick joined the Tantallon Band and belonged to the Valleyview Syndicate (local farmers with a threshing machine.) His father died in 1913 in England and his mother and oldest sister, Frances, and her husband Henry Gurney, came to Tantallon to Langton Farm. Richard enlisted on April 29, 1916 with the 217th Overseas Battalion in Tantallon. His form states that he had a tattoo on his arm that said “Faith, Hope, and Charity.” While training, he was hospitalized for ear problems on November 13, 1916 and bronchitis in December 1916 and on the 1917 census he was a lodger in the Queen’s Motel in Moosomin with many others from the 217th (nearly all of Tantallon Band members) awaiting orders to ship out. He sailed from Halifax aboard the Olympic on June 2, 1917 and was absorbed into the 19th Reserve unit upon arrival in England. On December 23, 1917, he was “granted permission to marry” Katherine Elinor (“Kit”) Woodford of Stone Farm, Aylesbury, England. Newly married, he went to France with the 5th Battalion Canadian Infantry on March 1, 1918. Less than five months later, on August 9, 1918, Richard was: “Killed in action whilst taking part in an attack from Warvillers and when near the final objective, between Vrely and Rouvroy, he was hit in the stomach by an explosive bullet and instantly killed.” Private Gurney was 36 years old. His name is on the Vimy Memorial Wall at Pas-de-Calais, France. He is also remembered on the Bierton Memorial in England, the Tantallon Legion Cenotaph and on the Rocanville Legion plaque. His mother is buried at Holar Cemetery in Tantallon. HAGAN, Henry Edward “Harry” WWI Henry Edward “Harry” Hagan was born in London, England, on August 23, 1894. He was the eldest of nine children born to Henry and Annie Elizabeth (Bellamy) Hagan. Two-year-old Harry arrived in Canada with his parents in 1897. He suffered from asthma as a child. Harry was working as a bank clerk in Conquest when he enlisted with the 128th Overseas Battalion in Outlook on January 17, 1916. Before leaving for Europe, he and Ada Irene McLaughlin of Conquest were married on June 1, 1916. After basic training at Camp Hughes, he served in England, where the damp weather exacerbated his asthma, and he was confined to base duty. He was sent back to Canada aboard the SS Grampion, arriving on February 22, 1917. He and his wife had two children: Beryl Annie (1920-1980) and Robert Edward (1923-1943). (Robert was killed in action in Europe on May 22, 1943.) After his discharge on March 21, 1917, he worked as a salesman in a General Store. In 1926, he was a charter member of the Wolseley Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. In 1931, he was a salesman in Granum, Alberta. By 1933, Harry was living in Smith Falls, Ontario, working as a plumber. He died on November 16, 1976, in Smith Falls.
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