Pte. Henry Payne 46612

Pte. Henry W.N. Payne

46^th Canadian Infantry Battalion

Regimental Number 426612

Henry “Harry” Wilbert Norman Payne was born in Dummer Township on July 14^th 1884 to parents Frederick Payne and Rebecca White.  His parents farmed on Lot 22, Concession 5 of the township.

On August 27, 1909 Henry married Alice Dunford of Douro in Lakefield, Ontario.  The young couple moved to farm in Dummer, where Harry continued to farm.  Sadly, Alice died on April 25^th 1912, shortly after the birth of their first child. Sometime after this Harry headed to Western Canada.

He was living in Saskatchewan and working as a farmer when he enlisted with the 46^th Overseas Battalion in Moosejaw on March 22^nd 1915.  He was nearly 31 years old and declared himself a widower with one child.  He stood 5 foot 7 inches tall, weighed 130 pounds, and had a dark complexion, dark blue eyes and black hair. He indicated that he had one year previous service with the Canadian Dragoons.

Pte. Payne and the 46^th Battalion sailed aboard the S.S. Lapland from Halifax on October 23^rd 1915 and arrived safely in Devonport, England nine days later.   Though the 46^th Battalion would be sent to France as a complete battalion in the upcoming months, Henry Payne left their ranks and joined the 16^th Canadian Battalion in the trenches on June 20^th.   He served at the front for close to two months before entering the Casualty Clearing Station on August 17^th with an undetermined illness. He complained of shortness of breath after slight exertion such as walking rapidly.  Payne also complained of attacks of rheumatism which he had incurred for ten to twelve years previously.  He explained that this ailment had been aggravated when he was shaken up by a shell landing near him while doing sentry duty days earlier in a trench at Hill 60. When the Battalion started their march to the Somme six days later, he was obliged to fall out after experiencing shortness of breath, dizziness, neck pain, as well as poor circulation in his legs.

Payne remained at the No. 10 Stationary Hospital in St. Omer, France until being transferred to the County of London War Hospital in Epsom, England on September 3^rd. There he was diagnosed with valvular disease of the heart and treated for Aortic Stenosis.  He improved under treatment and was then sent to the Canadian Divisional Convalescent Hospital at Epsom a month later, before being discharged on December 20^th, being declared medically unfit for duty at the front.

Harry Payne returned to Canada aboard the S.S. Northland on January 13^th 1917.   He remained in Kingston, residing at the Richardson Convalescent Home for close to eight months before being transferred to Queen’s Military Hospital.  He was treated here as an outpatient for a month before being diagnosed with a heart murmur and an enlarged aorta, and discharged at the end of November 1917. 

After nearly a year since his discharge, Pte. Harry Payne’s condition improved and he was reenlisted on October 17^th 1918 for clerical work in the Quartermaster Stores in No. 3 Military District, Kingston.  He continued to serve in this capacity until after the war, being discharged in January of 1920 after rising to the rank of Sergeant.

After leaving the military, Harry worked as a stores clerk at the Canadian General Electric Company in Peterborough, Ontario in the post-war years.  He died on February 20, 1928 at the Nicholl’s Hospital in Peterborough, Ontario from myocarditis.  Even though much time had elapsed since Henry had served in the First World War, doctors recorded in his medical records that his death “was related to service duty”, and it is for this reason that his name is included on the Douro-Dummer cenotaph as a casualty of the First World War.  Henry Payne is buried in St. Mark’s Cemetery in Warsaw, Ontario.

Sources

Archives of Ontario. Registrations of Births and Stillbirths – 1869-1913. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Series: MS929; Reel: 67; Record Group: RG 80-2. Page 51.

Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1891. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Census Place: Dummer, Peterborough East, Ontario, Canada; Roll: T-6363; Family No: 38.

Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1901. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Year: 1901; Census Place: Dummer, Peterborough (east/est), Ontario; Page: 9; Family No: 85.

Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1911. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Year: 1911; Census Place: 22 - Dummer Township, Peterborough East, Ontario; Page: 3; Family No: 30. Page 3.

Canada. "Military Service File of Henry Norman Payne." Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa: Record Group 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 7670-30. Item Number 570664.

Library and Archives Canada. Sixth Census of Canada, 1921. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Reference Number: RG 31; Folder Number: 82; Census Place: Peterboro (City), Peterborough West, Ontario; Page Number: 27

Archives of Ontario; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Registrations of Marriages, 1869-1928; Reel: 926. P.32.

Archives of Ontario. Registrations of Deaths, 1869-1947 (MS 935, reels 1-694), Archives of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Collection: MS935; Reel: 363.