The former township of Cumberland has a long history of service to their country starting with the First World War when many young men left their family farms to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Most saw service in the Royal Canadian Artillery, where they were responsible for moving the heavy guns from position to position using teams of heavy draft horses such as Clydesdales and Percherons.

Almost all of them would have experience working with the horses while doing plowing and other chores. In fact, a number of the local farms contributed some of their own horses to the war effort, never to see them again. All told, the Canadian Corps required over 23,000 horses during the duration of the war. Less than a dozen were returned to their owners, none of which were draft horses.

Twenty-four young men from Navan served in what became known as the Great War. Another 42 men joined from other parts of the township, including Cumberland Village, Vars and Bearbrook. A number of them never returned home.

Charles McKenzie, Cheswell Allan, Robert Leslie Taylor, Peter McLaren, William Spratt, John McKenzie and Thomas Foy, all from the Cumberland Village area, were either killed in action or died from other causes related to having to live for weeks on end in mud-filled trenches.

Thanks to Cumberland Village historian Jeannie Smith, we know a little bit about some of these men.

Charles McKenzie came to Cumberland to work on the Canadian National Railway which had opened in 1909. A tall man at 5’11”, he signed up to go overseas with the Canadian Forestry Corps on May 3, 1916. He was assigned to the 38th Battalion of Eastern Ontario and set sail with his comrades on June 2, 1917. He was injured in battle and =died of pneumonia in an English hospital just over year later on Aug. 25, 1918.

Creswell Allan enlisted on Sept. 29, 1914 and was assigned to the 2nd Battalion Eastern Ontario, the day before his 23rd birthday. He had been a fireman, working on the railroad stoking the engines.

Although he was only 5’5”, Creswell was strong and sturdy enough to be a stretcher-bearer with the medical corp. He was fatally wounded in the head and abdomen on
April 4, 2017 while carrying injured soldiers to safety during the Battle for Vimy Ridge.

Robert Leslie Taylor left the family farm and enlisted in the army on Nov. 20, 1915. He was later assigned to the 73rd Canadian Infantry of the Royal Highlanders of Canada, also known as The Black Watch.

Less than a year after he enlisted, Robert Taylor was severely wounded in the head during the Battle of the Somme. He died in an English hospital on Feb. 13, 1917 at the age of 33.

Peter McLaren was the son of Cumberland constable Peter A. McLaren. Young Peter was a farmer who enlisted on Aug. 16, 1915 at the age of 33. He was assigned to the 77th Battalion. He was getting killed by shell fire during a raid on enemy positions near Vimy on the morning of June 9, 1917.

Private McLaren was buried at La Chaudière British Cemetery in France. His body was exhumed in 1922 and reburied in Dale’s Cemetery beside the present-day Cumberland Heritage Village Museum

Two Cumberland comrades were killed in action on Nov. 18, 1916, probably dying close to each other on the muddy battlefield at the Somme. Bill Spratt and John McKenzie were in the 38th Ottawa Battalion together.

Spratt stood a head taller than his pal John. He enlisted on Feb. 26, 1915, four days after John did.

They were ten digits apart in regimental numbers but killed nearly side by side. Bill Spratt, dying at 27, never fulfilled his talent as a carpenter.

John MacKenzie was just 23 years old when he and his company took part in an attack on Vancouver Trench, north of Vimy. The explosion of a German shell at 6 a.m. on Nov. 18, 1916 instantly killed both himself and his friend Bill Spratt.

The Mackenzie’s family home was located at 2518 Old Montreal Rd., on the same block as the homes of Creswell Allan and Peter McLaren.

The story of Thomas Patrick Foy is tragic indeed. Neglected by both of his parents, he emigrated to Canada in May 1911 to work on the farm of Peter Larocque just east of Cumberland Village.

Foy enlisted in the army on Nov. 23, 1915, and was assigned to the Canadian Grenadier Guards 11th Brigade.

He was killed during his company’s attack and capture of Regina Trench during the Battle of the Somme, sometime between Oct. 21 and Oct. 24, 1916.

These are the stories of just some of the men from Cumberland who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and for whom we pay homage every Remembrance Day.