William Frank Drain 1063112
William Drain was born on October 11,
1888 in Dummer Township, to parents John and Elizabeth Drain. The family lived near Crowe’s Landing, Stoney
Lake. The Drain’s moved north of Dummer
to Burleigh-Anstruther Township to pursue farming for a while around 1900. In 1911, William was working as a lumberman
when he married Hannah Ruttanor in the district of Campbellford, Ontario on
January 11th.
William and his brother James enlisted
in the 247th Peterborough Overseas Battalion on January 31, 1917.
The Battalion was the 2nd attempt that the city made at recruiting a
full size battalion to send overseas.
William was clear as to his reasons for enlisting: “I am
going to get the fellow that got my brother”.
He was referring to his brother Thomas who had joined the 93rd
Battalion in the previous year and had been wounded in the neck.
At the time of his enlistment William
lived at 450 ½ Mark Street in East City, Peterborough. He was married to Hannah
Drain and had formerly worked for the Quaker Oats Company as a flour
miller. His attestation paper lists his
occupation as a miner, but this probably was an error, as no evidence exists to
that case. He was almost 30 years old,
stood 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighed 160 pounds. He was described as having a fresh
complexion, brown hair and brown eyes.
He was a Methodist and had indicated that he had no previous military service.
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| Click for full Military Service File |
William was considered fit for service
by the 93rd Battalion medical officer. He indicated that he would be going back home
on a personal recruiting trip, to bring back a number of his former neighbors to
join.
The 247th Battalion was
never able to raise enough recruits on its own, and was itself, absorbed into
the 235th Battalion which recruited out of neighboring Northumberland,
Durham and Hastings counties. William
Drain and the 235th sailed to England on May 01, 1917 aboard the S.S. Megantic and arrived at Liverpool
on May 14. Upon arriving the battalion was
immediately transferred to the 3rd Canadian Reserve Battalion at
West Sandling Camp where it would be broken up into drafts which would join other
units already fighting at the front.
Nearly two weeks after arriving in England,
Pte. Drain entered Barnwell Military Hospital, Cambridge on May 25 for symptoms
of gonorrhea. Statements of a medical
broad show that Drain had contracted the illness in April 1917, before leaving
Canada. While in hospital Drain also
complained of severe, stabbing pains in his hips, back and knees. Medical
records note that his right ankle had bothered him for 4 years, and at the time
he complained of it swelling if he twisted it a little. He also complained of
weakness in both knees. He was treated and discharged to the 3rd
Reserve Battalion on June 04 1917. Though
he remained with this battalion, he continued to suffer from aches and pains in
his lower limbs throughout this time.
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| Peterborough Evening Examiner November 23 1917, p.12 |
Three months later, on September 09
1917, he entered the Canadian Military Hospital at Basingstoke with teno-synovitis
(pain and swelling of the joints). He remained
at the Hospital until October 16 1917 when he was sent to the Casualty Clearing
Depot at Buxton, England. On November 06 1917 he sailed for Canada
aboard the S.S. Olympic for further deliberation on his state of service.
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| Excerpt of the Pension Board's Report 1918 |
Pte. William Drain entered Queens Military
Hospital, Kinston Ontario, on November 24.
He was treated for gonorrhea and teno-synovitis (pain and swelling of
the joints) and continued to visit the hospital for regular treatments until February
07 1918, when he was formally discharged from service as being medically unfit. The medical board remarked that Drain was
quite lame and used a mechanical support on his left knee and walked with a
cane. The pension board declared that
William’s knee injury was linked to an injury 8 years previous to service, but
aggravated by his gonorrheal infection. Drain was awarded a 50% disability
pension.
William moved back to Peterborough to
work as a carpenter. In the 1921 Census
he was listed as living with his wife Hannah and two children, Garnet (7) and
Evelyn (2) at no. 270 Dalhousie Street. By the 1940’s he had moved to Dartford,
Ontario to farm. William Drain died in 1987
at the age of ninety-nine. He is buried in St. Mark’s Cemetery in Warsaw,
Ontario.
Sources:
Library and Archives Canada. 1891 Census of
Canada. Census Place: Dummer,
Peterborough East, Ontario. Roll T-6363; Family No. 65.
Library and Archives Canada. 1901 Census of
Canada. Census Place: Dummer, Peterborough East, Ontario, Page 3, Family no.27.
Library and Archives Canada. 1911 Census of
Canada. RG 31-C-1; Folder Number 81,
Census Place 22: Dummer Township, Peterborough East, Ontario. Family No. 64.
Page 07.
Library and Archives Canada. 1921 Census of
Canada. Census Place: Dummer (Township),
Peterborough East, Ontario. Series RG31
Folder Number 82. Statistics Canada Fonds. Page 14
Archives of Ontario. Registrations of
Marriages, 1801-1928. Toronto, Canada. Archives of Ontario. Series MS932, Reel 154.
Library and Archives Canada online. The Complete Military Service File of William
Frank Drain. Accessed November 27
2015. RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box
4930-35. <www.bac-lac.gc.ca>
Peterborough Evening Examiner. “Enlisted With
247th Because His Brother Has Been Wounded”. January 31 1917. P.5.
Peterborough Evening Examiner. “Big Party of Returned
Soldiers”. November 23 1917. P.12
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