Pte W.E.Vincent

W.E. Vincent outside his shop, Winnipeg, Canada

Jean Longstaff has submitted the following:-

The fourth child of master fruiter William Vincent and his wife Margaret (nee Todd), William Elvey Vincent was born on 3rd August 1879 four years after his parents' marriage. His older siblings were Margaret, Ralph and Jane and after him came Thomas, Elizabeth, Frederick, Albert, Mary, Averal and Septimus. While the children were young the family lived in Oxford Street in the centre of the city, and father William was a City Councillor. By 1901 William was working as a fruiter’s assistant and lodging in Chester Road, Jesmond.

January 1902 saw William enlist for one year as Private 42769 with 56th Battalion, 161st Company Imperial Yeomanry and from late May join the fighting in South Africa. Returning to England at the end of November, he was discharged in Aldershot on 3rd December.

By 1905 William was living at 766 Beverley Street, Winnipeg, Canada with Newcastle born Maria Carter Conyers Hardy where their first daughter Lillian was born on 15th June; she was followed by Jenny, William and Harry. William was working as a deliveryman for Crescent Creamery, eventually working his way up to route foreman. Maria died on 31st December 1911 and was buried in St. Boniface Cemetery, with their son Harry, who died a few months later. In September 1912 William married Marjorie (Madge) Wilson in Winnipeg and she helped to raise his young family.

William enlisted as a driver with the 3rd Divisional Ammunition Column in Winnipeg on 4th January 1916 and two months later sailed with them aboard the SS Metagama to Liverpool and a posting to camp at Bramshott, Hampshire. On 23rd April he reported sick with severe abdominal pains, but after initial assessment returned to duty. Two days later he was admitted to Bramshott Military Hospital where he was diagnosed with kidney stones.

William acquired an infection and underwent surgery to remove his right kidney in late June. Five months later and at a different hospital he had a second operation to drain the previous wound, and he remained there until mid February 1917 when he was discharged to duty pending his return to Canada.

Before a Medical Board in Quebec on 10th March he was found to be permanently unfit for military service and he returned home to Winnipeg for treatment as an outpatient at Tuxedo Park Military Hospital. His original surgery caused many problems, not least a hernia, and William was in and out of hospital for the next two years. A note on his case history stated “he has been a hospital case practically since the original operation.” His last Medical Board on 1st May 1919 found that he was permanently partially disabled and would not be able to resume his former occupation due to general weakness; further treatment would be of no benefit. Two weeks later he was discharged as medically unfit and granted a pension.

William returned to work at the dairy, but as a book keeper, until in 1925 he opened his own grocery and confectionery shop on Notre Dame Avenue, which he ran until he died on 4th September 1942. He is buried in Brookside Cemetery, Winnipeg.

William Elvey Vincent is remembered in Newcastle upon Tyne on NUT159 and for his service in South Africa in NUT195