Robert William Frayne signature

On this day in 1916 contractor Robert William Frayne enlisted. His first attestation paper has not survived, but he enlisted again on May 8th, 1919 and stated that he had previously served in the Royal Canadian Garrison Artillery between May 18th, 1916 and October 15th, 1918. He said that he was born in Deseronto on July 23rd, 1877. He was living in Victoria, British Columbia when he signed up and had previously been living in Nanaimo, at the time of the 1911 census, with his wife Lily and two small children.

On his second enlistment, Frayne was given the regimental number 1286139. He was five feet nine inches tall, with grey eyes, a dark complexion and black hair. His service record shows that he joined the Canadian Army Service Corps and served with them until September 30th, when he was demobilized in Victoria. In the 1921 census he was back with his wife and three children in Fernwood Drive, Victoria, working as a driver. He died in North Vancouver on December 24th, 1959.