Wood, Private William

Service Highlights

  • Service number: 3131221
  • Drafted: into the 1st Depot Battalion at Stratford on 26 October 1917
  • Born: 31 January 1897
  • Unit (overseas): 4th (Reserve) Battalion, Canadian Infantry
  • Home and family: Son of Alexander and Margaret Wood of St. Marys
  • Overseas timeline (late war): Sailed to England on the SS Durham Castle, arrived 25 September 1918, continued training and was transferred to Kinmel Army Camp in North Wales
  • Death: Died 23 October 1918 at No. 9 Canadian Hospital, Kinmel Park Camp, cause listed as influenza
  • Burial: St. Margaret’s Churchyard, Bodelwyddan (grave reference 439)
  • Commemoration: Listed on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial

A Life and Service Remembered

William Wood grew up in the shadow of a family story that began across the Atlantic. His parents, Alexander and Margaret, were part of the wave of Scots who built a new life in rural Ontario, and William was the youngest of their children. He was born in Blanshard Township on 31 January 1897, and by the time the family settled into St. Marys, he was working as a labourer, like his father.

His path into uniform was shaped by the reality of 1917, when Canada’s need for manpower reached into small towns and working lives. Drafted in Stratford in October 1917, William entered the system as many did, moving from call up to training, with his father named as next of kin back in St. Marys.

His records also hint at a difficult stretch in 1918, including a period when he was reported missing and accused of desertion, he was apprehended and convicted to two years by a civil court along with several others the same day. Later while held in custody St. Marys Police Chief Hunt and several others spoke on his behalf, it seems Wood had been confused for another private Woods, he was returned to service and posted onward. There is a human ache behind those bare phrases. War service was not always a clean story of marching forward. Sometimes it was confusion, hardship, discipline, illness, and the grinding pressure of a world at war.

When William finally reached Britain on the SS Durham Castle in late September 1918, it was close to the end. Instead of France, he was moved through camps in Wales, likely among thousands waiting, training, and being shuffled as the conflict wound down. He was located at Kinmel Park Camp, a segregation camp used to house Canadian Soldiers to be repatriated back to Canada. Unfortunately at this point in the war the conditions of the camp had become extremely harsh with a lack of every kind of supply. The camp had become overcrowded with those waiting for the war to end and to go home. It was these conditions that lead to a vast number of servicemen and women became ill.

Sadly William contracted Influenza and was admitted to the Kinmel Park Military Hospital where he became dangerously ill on 22nd October 1918 and died on 23rd October 1918. He did not get the homecoming that people were beginning to imagine.

His personal effects, were sent back to his father, but he was buried at Bodelwyddan St. Asaph Rural district. William’s grave is in Welsh soil, carefully maintained, while his name remains part of the memory kept at home on the St. Marys cenotaph.

Major Battles and Operations

William’s service does not read as a catalogue of named battles at the front. Instead, it reflects the late war experience of many conscripted soldiers:

  • Conscription era service (Canada): Drafted in Stratford on 26 October 1917, processed through depot battalion training.
  • Late 1918 overseas posting: Arrived in England 25 September 1918, posted to Whitley Army Camp and later transferred to Kinmel Army Camp, North Wales.
  • The influenza epidemic at Kinmel: Contemporary descriptions of Kinmel Park Camp emphasize overcrowding, shortages, and harsh conditions, with many servicemen falling ill during the influenza wave.

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