Pte. Wilburt McCracken 9th C.M.R. Oct. 11, 1918

Pte. Wilburt McCracken    114349

Walter Wilburt McCracken was born on February 21, 1885 to parents Robert and Margaret (ne. Drain) McCracken.  Records show that Margaret died from inflammation six days after giving birth to Walter.  After her death, Walter lived with his father, and two older sisters on a farm in Dummer Township, Ontario.  By the age of 16 he was living and presumably working on his uncle James McCracken’s farm in the same township.  By 1906, Wilburt at the age of 21, headed west farm a homestead located SW10-48-13-W3 southwest of Rabbit Lake, Saskatchewan.

McCracken answered his country’s call and enlisted in the 22^nd Saskatchewan Light Horse, a militia unit, on Christmas Eve 1914.   A few days later this regiment was reincorporated into the newly designated 9^th Canadian Mounted Rifles in North Battleford, Saskatchewan.  He was almost 30 years old, a Wesleyan, was 6 feet tall, with a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair.  The Medical Officer examining him noted that he had webbed fingers.  He listed his status as single, but a note in on the Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial says that he left a fiancée, Doris Nixon, behind at Star City.

The 9^th Canadian Mounted Rifles proceeded overseas on November 23, 1915 aboard the ship California. Upon arriving in England, the 9^th CMR was broken up and its ranks used to reinforce other infantry battalions.

By October 10th 1918, Pte. McCracken had died at the No. 12 Canadian General Hospital in Bramshott, England from “Hemotypsis”, a medical term for coughing up blood.  He is buried in Bramshott Churchyard, England. A Commonwealth Grave Register show that McCracken was serving with the Canadian Artillery, at the time of death.  This conflicts with the Commonwealth War Grave Commission Database that states that he was serving with the Canadian Army Service Corps, 1^st Division train.

Pte. Wilburt McCracken is commemorated on the Cenotaph in Warsaw, Ontario.

Sources

Ancestry.com. Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.

Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1891. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2009. <http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1891/index-e.html>. Series RG31-C-1. Statistics Canada Fonds. Microfilm reels: T-6290 to T-6427.

Library and Archives Canada. Census of Canada, 1901. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2004. <http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1901/index-e.html>. Series RG31-C-1. Statistics Canada Fonds. Microfilm reels: T-6428 to T-6556.

Library and Archives Canada. Census of the Northwest Provinces, 1906. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Library and Archives Canada, 2008. <http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/census-1906/index-e.html>. Series RG31-C-1. Statistics Canada Fonds. Microfilm reels: T-18353 to T-18363.

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

Commonwealth War Grave Commission. [website] < http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/360078/McCRACKEN,%20WALTER%20WILBUR> 2013.

Saskatchewan Virtual War Memorial: Walter Wilbur McCracken.  Bill Barry (Moderator). http://svwm.ca/casualty-display/?ID=A000003806  2013.