Walter James Hawes signature

On this day in 1915, Walter James Hawes enlisted in Napanee. He was born in Colchester, Essex, England on August 13th, 1874 and married Emma Darling in Paddington, London in 1899. In 1901 they were living in Willesden, Middlesex with their baby daughter, Rose and by 1911 the family (now with three sons, as well as Rose) were living in College Street, Deseronto, where Walter was working as a pipe fitter. The family had arrived in Quebec on the SS Canada in May 1907.

When he enlisted, Hawes was described as five feet two and a half inches tall, with a dark complexion, blue eyes and dark brown hair. He joined the 77th Battalion with the regimental number 144679 but his service record shows that he was discharged as medically unfit for service on October 2nd. Walter died in Victoria, B.C., on April 8th, 1937.