Pte. Edward Grout 52nd Battalion June 6, 1916

Edward James Grout 195472

Edward James Grout was born in Portsmouth, England on November 7^th, 1895.  In 1909, at the age of 14, he was sent to Canada as a "Barnardo Home Child" to work as a farm labourer. It is likely under this program that he later reached Dummer Township to work as a farm labourer.   Grout was living in Norwood, Ontario when the War broke out, and later enlisted in 93^rd Battalion in Peterborough on December 24^th 1915.  He was single and listed his occupation as a farm labourer.  He listed his mother, Flora Kinch of Hampshire England, as his next of kin.  He had no previous military experience.  He was 20 yrs old and stood 5’3” tall, had a dark complexion, brown eyes and hair.  He listed his religion as the Church of England.

In England, the 93^rd Peterboro Battalion was later broken up and reorganized into various other battalions.  A contingent of 93^rd men, including Pte. Grout, were reassigned to serve with the 52^nd “New Ontario” Battalion raised primarily out of the Thunder Bay area. 

On January 16, 1917, he was listed as killed in action.   The burial register describes his death as follows:  “He was on sentry duty over a gun of the 9^th Canadian trench Mortar Battery South West of Neuville St Vaast, while the remainder of the crew were at dinner. As one of the other members of the crew was on his way up to the trench to relieve him her heard a loud explosion in the gun pit and upon arriving at the gun pit he found that the gun had burst and Private Grout had been killed. The fact that Private Grout was alone at the time renders any cause which might be ascribed to the explosion quite theoretical.”

He was buried in Ecoivres Military Cemetery 1 ¾ miles NW of Maroeuil 5 ¼ miles NW of Arras, France.  He is honored on the Cenotaph in Warsaw, Ontario, Canada.

 Sources:

Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; War Graves Registers: Circumstances of Death:

Record Group Number: RG 150, 192-93/314; Volume Number 187. 

Library and Archives Canada (LAC); War Graves Registry: Commonwealth War Graves. RG150, 1992-1993/314,

Box 39-244; Box: 74.
Canada. "Soldiers of the First World War (1914-1918)." Record Group 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4930 - 35.
Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.