Monday Monuments and Memorials – Ft Lt John Scholfield, St James Cathedral, Toronto

Flight Lieutenant John Douglas Price Scholfield, St James Cathedral, Toronto

John Douglas Price Scholfield (Jack) was born in Toronto on 9 May 1894, the only son of Henry Chadwick Scholfield and Alexandra Laura (Sutherland) Scholfield. The family moved to Guelph, where Henry was a bank manager and was elected Conservative Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) in 1911.

Jack attended Guelph Collegiate Institute and Upper Canada College. On graduation, he joined Dominion Securities Corporation as a stockbroker. He attested on 30 July 1915 at Shorncliffe, Kent, England, and was assigned to the Canadian Army Medical Corps. He transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in March 1917.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Prescott Cenotaph and aviator William FN Sharpe

Prescott cenotaph in front on Fort Wellington

Plaque in honour of aviator William FN Sharpe

Fort Wellington looks out over the St Lawrence River in Prescott, Ontario, a reminder of the lines of defence built during the War of 1812. In the park that now surrounds the fort, at the corner of Vankoughnet St and King Street East (Highway 2), a cenotaph stands to those from Prescott killed in WW1 and WW2. The cenotaph was moved here from its original location on Dibble St in 2001.

Another WW1 marker, at the corner of Water St W and Edward St S, honours William FN Sharpe. Sharpe has the distinction of being one of Canada’s first WW1 pilots and its first air casualty of the war. He died in a flying accident on February 4, 1915.

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Edric Hurdman Read memorial window, allsaints, Ottawa

Window at allsaints, dedicated to Flight Lieutenant Edric Hurdman Read

Each soldier tells a story.

All Saints Anglican Church, on Chapel St at the corner of Laurier Ave E, was once the place of worship for many of Ottawa’s elite. Prime Minister Borden was a parishioner – his state funeral was there in 1937. The church was recently deconsecrated and converted into a unique event venue. The stained glass windows and other WW1 memorials remain in the former sanctuary.

One window is dedicated “in ever loving memory of our son, Flight Lieut Edric H Read, 16^th Squadron RFC, killed in action December 26, 1917, aged 20 years.”

Monday Monuments and Memorials – Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force Memorial, Deseronto ON

Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force Memorial, Deseronto

RFC/RAF graves in Deseronto – Humphreys, Coleridge, Holland, Robson, Grand, Marshall

Flying aces are romantic heroes of the war that first used air battle and reconnaissance to advantage. Canadian flying ace Billy Bishop quickly realized “it’s clean up there! I’ll bet you don’t get any mud or horse shit on you up there. If you die, at least it would be a clean death.”* 

In the week marking the centenary of Bishop’s first hit, it seems fitting to remember how dangerous the job was.

Two Royal Flying Corps training camps – Camp Mohawk and Camp Rathbun – were established near Deseronto, Ontario in 1917. British, Canadian and American aviators trained there.