This week in Canada we
remember those who gave their lives for our country. This year is a fairly special time as it is
100 years since the start of the First World War. I knew that both my grandfathers (Joseph
Ringen Allison and Leslie William Bond) had enlisted. I was also fairly certain that neither had
actually gone to battle. I was not,
however, aware of the great sacrifices that others in our family made during
that terrible war. Researching the
family tree has uncovered several relations who fought, and some who died. Those I learned of were all the progeny of the Scottish
side of the family. Apparently they were brave, adventurous souls, and some
paid the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
In their memory, I will tell you a little about them, at least what I have
come to know.
Alexander Peden and Mary
Anne Emily Holtum were my great-great-grand-parents on my father’s mother’s
side. They had nine children, among them
Ernest, Alexander and George. They were
my great grandmother Isobel’s siblings.
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| Canadian forces in the trenches in France |
Ernest J. Peden (b. 1875)
was a quiet, good, thoughtful man. He
left Scotland and his home to the west coast of Canada to be a lumberjack in
1909. He reportedly lived in both
Victoria and Vancouver while visiting cousins.
When the war broke out, he was quick to enlist. He was reportedly shot and wounded on several
occasions, but kept heading back to the war, fighting for the Canadian side in
France. My grand-mother believed he survived through four years
of war, only to be shot in the head in 1918.
He was indeed injured, but there is plenty of correspondence and other evidence that Ernest survived the war, then returned to Canada. He didn't stay long and left to, presumably, visit his father in New Zealand. Eventually he returned to Scotland and died in 1947.
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| Alick |
Alexander “Alick” Peden (b. 1876) was quiet, witty, amusing and very kind. He often accompanied his niece Isobel Maxwell with her dog Rex on long walks. He would regale her with splendid stories of far away places such as China and Australia. Alick, you see, was a seaman. Alick left home to pursue his life as sailor, becoming second mate in 1892. He advanced to first mate in 1902, and was living and working on ships through to the start of the war. Alick survived the war, and lived until 1927.
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| George |
George Edward Peden (b.1883)
was the youngest of the three brothers who fought in the war. A fine banjo player, he also appears to have
been the most thrill-seeking of his brothers.
He joined a crew headed to Australia, and jumped ship in Cape Town. He found an outlet for his
heroic nature in joining the Cape Mounted Police. During his time there, he crossed the
Kalahari Desert and became a first-class horseman and swordsman. He reportedly became aide-de-camp to Major
Christian Anthony Lawson Berrange.
Berrange himself was a much-decorated officer and experienced at a
number of campaigns in Africa. George
fought alongside Berrange during the South African War (1899-1902), but
apparently found things a little “too quiet”.
He returned to the UK, joined an English regiment and was assigned the
rank of Second Lieutenant. He was with
the Machine Gun Corps when he was posted to South West Africa. It was there that he was killed in 1915. In 1919 his Victory medal was sent to his
mother, in appreciation of his service.
I am a direct descendant
of David Maxwell (b. 1828) and Jane Johnston (b. 1833). They had a number of children, among them
George (b. 1870), who is my direct ancestor, and his brother David. David is my great grand-uncle. He had two sons: David and John (“Jack”) Maxwell. Both died in the First World War. They had never married.
David Maxwell was a
Lieutenant Sergeant in the Royal Scots Fusiliers. He was a miner before he joined up on August
14, 1914, at the outbreak of war. He
served with the expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from December 3,
1914, to January 30, 1915, and again from April 13 1917, to September, when he
was killed in action on the Somme. He died
of wounds in 1918 in France, and received the military cross.
John "Jack" Maxwell was killed during the infamous and disastrous landing at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli in 1915.
The idea was to plan a large allied landing to coincide with new
reinforcements that were arriving in August.
Suvla is a large bay and was considered the right size for an allied landing
of this magnitude. The combined allied troops had previously established two beachheads,
but they couldn’t manage to strike out from there. There had been significant casualties
already, and the allies knew that more Turkish reinforcements were arriving
daily, lead by German Commander Liman von Sanders. The British Commander in charge of the
landings was Sir Frederick Stopford, with no battle experience but apparently well endowed with ineptitude. Jack, my first
cousin twice removed, along with 18,000 others, lost his life at Suvla Bay
because of the failings of this British officer.
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| The landing at Suvla Bay |
This Remembrance Day,
November 11, I will think of Ernest, Alexander, George, David and Jack, with thanks for their sacrifice.
Sources:
Isobel Maxwell - notes
The Anglo-African Who's Who and Biographical
Sketchbook, 1907
edited by Walter H.
Wills
de Ruvigny’s, volume 4,
page 0132
Census records (various)
Travel and immigration
records relating to Ernest J Peden
Wikipedia: images of UK war medals
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