Ernest Mesley's signature

On this day in 1914 Ernest Mesley joined up in Valcartier, Quebec. He was born in Deseronto on January 30th, 1892 to William Henry Mesley and Emmeline (née Jones). He gave his profession as ‘armature winder’.

Mesley was five feet nine inches tall, with grey eyes and dark brown hair. He joined the 1st Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force with the regimental number 7663. His service file shows that he left Canada on the SS Cassandra on October 4th, 1914. He joined the 2nd Battalion in France. At Ypres on April 23rd, 1915 he received a bullet to the right thigh and spent several weeks in hospital in England. He did not recover the full use of his leg and a medical board held in August 1915 recommended that he be invalided home to Canada. He left England in September on the SS Missanabie and was discharged as medically unfit in Kingston on February 9th, 1916.

Ernest married Jessie Hannah Stevens in Peterborough, Ontario, on December 26th, 1921. He died on March 28th, 1979.