Deseronto Archives

Arthur Dean, a machinist, signed up in Picton on this day in 1917. He was born in Deseronto on September 6th, 1885, the son of Paul Dean and Samantha (née Lindsay). He married Lottie Humphrey in Deseronto on August 27th, 1903, when he was working as a miller.

Arthur joined the 254th Battalion with the regimental number 1093348. He was five feet five and a half inches tall, with a ruddy complexion, hazel eyes and dark brown hair. His service record shows that he went overseas on the RMS Olympic, arriving in England on June 9th, 1917.

Dean joined the 6th Reserve Battalion in Seaford, but was admitted to hospital in Eastbourne suffering from rheumatic fever in September 1917. In October he was in hospital again, this time with influenza, in Hastings. He was transferred to the Canadian Special Hospital in Buxton in December and did not rejoin his battalion until March 1918. He then served with various units in England before leaving that country from Liverpool on December 15th, 1918. Dean was demobilized in Kingston on January 29th, 1919. Family tree information on Ancestry suggests that he died on December 13th, 1940 in Rochester, New York.