Shore, Private John Arthur Murton

Service highlights

  • Service number: 880806
  • Born: 29 December 1894
  • Rank: Private
  • Early service: enlisted with 26th Middlesex Light Infantry
  • Enlisted for overseas service: 186th (Kent) Canadian Infantry Battalion, 19 June 1916, London
  • Sailed: Halifax to England, 28 March 1917, aboard the SS Lapland
  • UK posting: 4th Reserve Battalion at Bramshott
  • Volunteered for the front: reverted to private at his own request on 25 August 1917 to go to France
  • Front line unit: D Company, 18th Canadian Infantry Battalion, 2nd Canadian Division, near Lens
  • Died: 11 November 1917 at Passchendaele
  • Commemorated: Menin Gate Memorial and St. Marys Cenotaph

A Life and Service Remembered

John Arthur Murton Shore was born in Port Rowan on 29 December 1894 and grew up in Ridgetown. He worked as a bank clerk and spent time in St. Marys before moving to Ilderton, where his father served as rector of St. George’s Anglican Church.

He first joined a local militia unit, then enlisted for overseas service in 1916. The months that followed were full of waiting, training, and uncertainty as his battalion worked up to strength. When he finally sailed in March 1917, he did so as a sergeant, a sign that he had already taken on responsibility quickly.

In England his path shifted. He was placed where he would have been expected to instruct others, but he did not feel he had the right background for that role. He stepped down in rank, then later made a choice that feels especially personal and determined: he asked to revert to private so he could go to France. That decision sent him to the 18th Battalion and the front lines.

In the autumn of 1917 he reached the Ypres Salient during the Canadian fight for Passchendaele. The conditions described by the battalion were brutal, with relentless rain, shelling, and trenches that could be waist deep in mud and water. On 11 November 1917, only a day after the village of Passchendaele was captured, he was killed by shrapnel near Vindictive Crossroads north of the village.

After the war his grave could not be located, and he is commemorated by name on the Menin Gate. He was survived by his parents, Reverend Arthur Shore and Edith Shore of Ilderton, along with a sister, Edith, and a brother, Francis.

Major battles and operations

  • Enlistment and training in Canada with the 186th Battalion (June 1916 to March 1917)
  • Overseas movement to England (28 March 1917)
  • Reserve and reinforcement system in England at Bramshott (spring and summer 1917)
  • Front line service in the Lens sector with the 18th Battalion, 2nd Canadian Division (from late August 1917)
  • Passchendaele operations in the Ypres Salient (October and November 1917)
    • The 18th Battalion served in support roles, including carrying food and ammunition forward, evacuating wounded, and reinforcing assault units as needed
    • Killed during heavy shelling on 11 November 1917, the day after Passchendaele village was captured

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