Arthur Ferguson

Arthur (Art) was born in Blantyre, Scotland and immigrated to Canada circa 1910, choosing to locate in Winnipeg.

He joined the 100th Winnipeg Grenadiers militia while working as an insurance clerk. He married a young Scottish girl he met in a church choir in Winnipeg just before shipping out.

He enlisted in early 1916 in the CEF, volunteering to serve overseas for the duration of the war. Following training in Canada he shipped out with the 11th reserve battalion leaving Halifax for Liverpool on September 18, 1916 aboard the RMS Olympic, sister ship to the Titanic, arriving on September 25, 1916. He was bivouaced with his battalion at Shorncliffe in England.

Following further training he shipped out to France early in 1917. On January 18, 1917 he was taken on strength in Company D of the 27th Winnipeg Battalion, 6th Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division. 

The winter of 1917 in northern France and Belgium was the worst on record in 34 years. Trench life was perfectly miserable with snow, extreme cold, and slashing winter rains. The Regimental Diaries include repeated admonishments to senior NCO’s to ensure soldiers regularly applied whale oil to their feet and calves to protect against winter conditions.

Much of Art’s winter in France was taken up with routine soldiering consisting of training, marching, practice rifle and bayonet drills and frequent equipment checks. In the lead up to the Canadian Corps attack on Vimy Ridge, Art who had been appointed a Lance Corporal (section leader) occasionally was ordered out on trench raids. Much of this activity was to gather intelligence about the opposing German units, prisoners if possible otherwise unit badges and any paperwork they discovered.

Art finally succumbed to the cold and damp, rather than a German shell or bullet. He was invalided out of the front line 5 days after the battle for Vimy Ridge. After a brief stay in No 35 General hospital at Calais he was shipped to England where he spent almost a year recovering from kidney disease (Nephritis). Remember there were no effective drugs for treatment at that time. (Sulfa was patented in 1935, and penicillin was mass produced in 1942.)

After being pronounced well enough to travel he was invalided back to Canada where he was discharged in 1918 as medically unfit to serve. For his time in France, Art was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. That’s what Art Ferguson did when he was 23

Art is buried alongside the love of his life, the pretty girl from the church choir in Winnipeg who he married in 1916, Euphemia “Phemie” Ferguson nee Thorburn. They are at rest in Sanctuary Park in Toronto. 

We Will Remember Them 

FS