C. Harold Hamblin 852933

Cephas Harold Wakefield Hamblin was born in Dummer Township on November 14, 1893 to parents, Samuel and Charlotte Hamblin.  By 1906 the Hamblin family appears to have been farming in Deloraine, Manitoba.  

Harold travelled to Winnipeg on October 28 1916 to enlist with the 190^th Canadian Infantry Battalion.  He was nearly 20 years old, and was working as a farmer at the time.  He declared that he had no previous military service and that his religion was Methodist.  He was 5 feet, 8 inches tall and weighed 130 pounds; he had a dark complexion, blue eyes and medium hair.

During his training in Winnipeg, Harold was quickly promoted to Lance Corporal on February 21^st, 1917.  He later suffered from a couple of bouts of sickness, spending five days in Winnipeg General Hospital with Tonsillitis on March 5^th and a week in St. Boniface Hospital with the mumps.

L/Cpl. Hamblin embarked on a ship from Halifax on May 3^rd 1917 and landed safely in Liverpool May eleven days later.  Almost immediately upon arriving the 190^th Battalion was broken up and its ranks dispersed into the 18^th Reserve Battalion to await assignment into Canadian Battalions already fighting at the front.

On August 28, 1917 Harold was sent with a draft of men to 8^th “Winnipeg” Battalion, a hard fighting unit known as the “Little Black Devils”.  He arrived at Canadian Brigade depot in France on Sept 1, 1917 and spent the month assigned to the 1^st Entrenching Battalion, a labour battalion that worked behind the front lines.  He joined the Little Black Devils at the front on September 29, 1917.

Harold’s arrival at the allowed him to spend a month with the 8^th Battalion before they were thrown into the bloody battle of Passchendaele which began on the 26^th of October.  Harold spent nearly three weeks in these horrifying conditions before being wounded on November 11^th in the right arm by shrapnel.  He was evacuated to No.7 Canadian General in Etaples where he received an operation to remove shattered bone. 

Harold was then transferred a recover in the Manitoba Reserve depot in Eastbourne, England.  His recovery was slow, and by November 22^nd a medical examiner noted that he “complained of pain in lower back, frequent headaches, dizziness and looked wretched”.  Hamblin was re-hospitalized on December 7-17^th, before being released to the Casualty Clearing Depot. He recovered sufficiently to be further sent to the 18^th Reserve Battalion on February 5, 1918 to await re-assignment to the trenches.

Hamblin was sent to the school of Musketry at Aldershot Camp, England on March 11-15^th.  At which time he became dangerously ill with Cerebro-Spinal Meningitis.  This illness kept him in the hospital for nearly three weeks before being discharged.  Hamblin spent the next 8 months being bounced around to various convalescent and reserve depots, until the end of the war.   He was declared as unfit for further service and sailed home for Canada on December 7^th 1918. Though his health had improved he would still complain of dizziness and occasional weakness.

Harold's Grave, Peterborough Ontario

Harold Hamblin moved to the city of Peterborough where he worked as a carpenter.  He married Vivian Waram in 1923.  He died on September 17, 1984 in Pembroke, Ontario having lived to the age of 93. He is buried in Little Lake Cemetery, in Peterborough, Ontario.