Wilson, Private Ernest

Service highlights

  • Service number: 267956
  • Rank: Private
  • Born: St. Marys, 23 October 1885
  • Work: Bailiff
  • Enlisted: Humboldt, 14 May 1916, in the 214th Canadian Infantry Battalion, known as the Saskatchewan Wild Cats
  • Post: to 15th Reserve Battalion at Bramshott, appointed acting lance corporal
  • Voluntarily reverted in rank: 9 May 1917, gave up acting lance corporal to go to France
  • Arrived in France: 7 July 1917, at the 1st Canadian Infantry Base Depot at Etaples
  • Posted; 13 August 1917 to 1st Canadian Entrenching Battalion
  • Joined front line unit: 22 August 1917, joined the 5th Canadian Infantry Battalion, then active around Hill 70 with the 1st Canadian Division
  • Died: 15 September 1917,
  • Burial: Aix Noulette Communal Cemetery Extension, France
  • Epitaph: submitted by his father, “Greater love no man than this, John XV, 13.”
  • Family: survived by his parents, John and Anne Wilson of RR 6, St. Marys
  • Remembered: name appears on the Rannoch War Memorial and in the Woodham United Church

A Life and Service Remembered

Ernest Wilson was born in St. Marys in 1885 and raised in Blanshard Township near Woodham. The book places him working with his father into the early 1910s, then making a decision many young men made, to leave home and try a different life. He went west to Humboldt, Saskatchewan, where he worked as a bailiff. That move alone tells something about him: he was willing to start over, to take on responsibility in a new place, and to make his own footing.

He enlisted in Humboldt on 14 May 1916 with the 214th Battalion, the Saskatchewan Wild Cats. The early months of training were hard and basic. The men trained at Camp Hughes in Manitoba, living in unheated tents, and the weather turned brutal. The page you shared includes the blunt words of a camp commander describing a blinding snowstorm that made drilling impossible. With troopships scarce, the battalion had to wait, and Ernest’s war was delayed by the plain realities of distance, logistics, and winter.

When the 214th finally sailed in April 1917 from Halifax on SS Grampian, it reached Liverpool and was immediately broken up for reinforcements. Ernest was appointed acting lance corporal, then posted to the 15th Reserve Battalion at Bramshott. Not long after, he chose to give that up. On 9 May 1917, he voluntarily reverted to private to go overseas to France, a choice that speaks for itself. He was not trying to stay comfortable or safe. He wanted to go where the fighting was.

He arrived in France in July 1917, but even then his path was not straightforward. Suspected of having an infectious disease, he was confined to an isolation hospital. By August he was finally sent forward, first to an entrenching battalion, then on 22 August he joined the 5th Canadian Infantry Battalion, a unit that had just fought at Hill 70 and was operating near Lens.

In mid September 1917, the 5th moved back into the line. The battalion war diarist described intermittent trench mortar bombing and shelling of the communication trenches. Sometime on 15 September 1917, Ernest Wilson was killed, either by a shell or a trench mortar bomb. He was buried at Aix Noulette Communal Cemetery Extension in France.

His headstone bears an epitaph chosen by his father, “Greater love no man than this, John XV, 13.” Ernest was survived by his parents, John and Anne Wilson of RR 6, St. Marys. His name is remembered on the Rannoch War Memorial and in the Woodham United Church.

Major battles and operations

  • Enlisted with the 214th Canadian Infantry Battalion, Saskatchewan Wild Cats, 14 May 1916
  • Training in Canada including Camp Hughes, Manitoba, and winter quarters in Saskatchewan due to severe weather and limited troopships
  • Sailed to England on SS Grampian, 18 April 1917, arrived 29 April 1917
  • Posted to 15th Reserve Battalion at Bramshott, acting lance corporal appointment
  • Voluntarily reverted to private to proceed to France, 9 May 1917
  • Base Depot at Etaples, France, 7 July 1917
  • Isolation hospital confinement in July 1917 due to suspected infectious illness
  • Sent forward to 1st Canadian Entrenching Battalion, 13 August 1917
  • Joined 5th Canadian Infantry Battalion, 22 August 1917, in the Lens area following Hill 70 operations
  • Killed in action, 15 September 1917, near Lens, by shellfire or trench mortar

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