222nd Canadian Infantry Battalion / 14th
Battery Canadian Field Artillery
Regimental Number 291832
George
Richard Hyde was born in Warsaw, Ontario on October 10th,
1892 to parents, Richard Hyde and Barbara Kerr.
Richard was Presbyterian minister in the community. Sometime after 1911, the family moved to
Regina, Saskatchewan.
George was working as a bank clerk in
Boissevain, Manitoba when he enlisted there with the 222nd Canadian
Infantry Battalion on January 6, 1916.
He was nearly 23 years old, stood just over 5 feet, 8 inches tall, and
had a fair complexion, light hair and blue eyes. He indicated that he had no previous military
service and that he was a Presbyterian.
On his attestation file there is a hand written note on the bottom that
reads: “Transfer to Artillery promised by Col. Lightfoot.”
Pte. Hyde trained with the 22nd
Battalion in Canada throughout most of 1916.
He sailed from Halifax on November 14 1916 aboard the S.S. Olympic, arriving
in England a week later. The 222nd
was sent to the Canadian Camp at Shoreham, England where it was broken up and
its ranks used to reinforce other existing Canadian battalions already fighting
at the front. George was transferred to
the 19th Reserve Battalion to await further assignment. Notice came on April 19th 1917 to
proceed to France to join the 2nd Division Ammunition Column. This assignment meant that George was
assigned the job of driver and would be charged with transporting ammunition to
the front by horse. He arrived at the
front on April 21st and was posted to the 18th Battery of
the 5th Brigade of the Canadian Field Artillery.
George served as a driver with the 18th
Battery throughout the war. During the
battle of Passchendaele he was treated for gas poisoning at the Casualty
Clearing Station for two days, November 2-3, 1917. He returned to his unit and served throughout
the rest of 1917 with them. He was
granted a two week leave from January 16th to February 2nd
1918. He returned to fight in the
bloodiest year of the war and through the relentless push known as the Last
Hundred Days. He was lucky to come
through unscathed, and except for a 3-week bout of dysentery from August 8th
to September 12th 1918 he remained relatively healthy.
With the war ended, George returned to
England on April 14th 1919, nearly two years to the day since he
left for France. He embarked Liverpool,
England aboard the H.M.T. Cadrie on
May 5th 1919 bound for Canada where he was formally discharged from
military service.
After the war, George moved back to
Canada and lived in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and worked as an accountant. He married Eileen Tatvhell in 1922 in Oak
Bay, British Columbia. George Hyde died
on September 11, 1982 in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was 89.
Sources
Archives of Ontario. Registrations of
Births and Stillbirths – 1869-1913. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: MS 929, reel 112,
page 42.
Library and Archives Canada. Census
of Canada, 1901. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada:
Census Place: Dummer, Peterborough (east/est), Ontario; Page: 2; Family
No: 15
Library and Archives Canada. Census
of the Northwest Provinces, 1906. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: Census Place: 27, Qu'Appelle, Saskatchewan; Page: 15;
Family No: 137.
Library and Archives Canada. Census
of Canada, 1911. Ottawa, Canada: Census Place: 75 - Regina, Regina,
Saskatchewan; Page: 33; Family No: 192.
Canada. "Census returns for 1916
Census of Prairie Provinces." Statistics of Canada Fonds, Record Group
31-C-1. Census Place: Saskatchewan, Regina,
03D; Roll: T-21943; Page: 23; Family No: 272
Library and Archives Canada. Sixth
Census of Canada, 1921. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: RG 31; Folder Number: 161; Census Place:
Saskatoon (City), Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Page Number: 15.
Canadian Expeditionary Force. CEF
Personnel Files 1914-1918. The Military
Service File of George Richard Hyde.” Accession
1992-93/166. Record Group 150. Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4674 – 3. Item 487252.
No comments:
Post a Comment