From Home to the Front

Pitt Meadows was incorporated in April 1914. Little did we know, that a few months later, the world would plunge into the darkness of the First World War.

1914 Pitt Meadows

Pitt Meadows in 1914 was a newly incorporated municipality, with our first Reeve being a former resident of Maple Ridge, John Blaney. In 1914 our community had a population of about 250 individuals. It was a small, farm town, where everyone knew everyone. There were very few roads, and those that were available were rough. Pitt Meadows was bordered by farmland and brush. The only commercial businesses on Harris Road were the Post Office and General Store beside the CPR tracks. In May of 1914, approval of the first municipal hall was underway, seeing its completion in September of that year.

Losing strong men in our community was also a hard blow, as these men were labourers, farmers, councillors, and all-important members of this community! It is difficult to imagine what was going through their heads at the time as well. Going from our small, farming community to the front would be jarring. From peace to war, it is a difficult transition to make for everyone.

The War

On August 4th, 1914, Canada was officially at war. In our small community, 27 men would enlist or be drafted into the conflict by the end of the war, that is 10% of our population! Most of the men signed up between 1915 to 1916 with another five waiting to be drafted after conscription began in late August 1917. Two men, Alexander and Robert McRae, enlisted in 1914 but both men had not lived in Pitt Meadows very long and after the war, they did not return to this community.

The names of the men who served in the First World War from our community were: B.A. Allan; George Barker; Charles Fenton; G. Harling; Alexander McRae; Robert McRae; John McRae; William McRae; George Menzies; William McDermott; C. McDermott; T. Richardson; Hector Richardson; Peter Sproute; David Tindall; R.F.C. Thomson; Septimus Waring; K. Gurney; F.M. Stewart; George McMyn; Beryl Princep; Fred Taylor; Simon Stewart; Henry Sprout; John L. Lynch; H. Summerscales; Charles Cook. Unfortunately, one man would not see the end of the war. R.F.C. Thomson was killed in action on September 26th, 1916, just one year after enlisting and never returned home.

Many of those who enlisted have left their name in the community: Charles Cook was our Reeve, and his name graces a Park in Maple Ridge; the Fenton, Menzies, McMyn and Richardson families have their names on streets. All the enlisted are remembered for their effort in print in the community history book and on the honour roll in the Pitt Meadows Community Church.

One name, Roland Francis Croasdaille Thomson, is also remembered on a brass maple leaf on the cenotaph at Spirit Square. He is the one who did not return, having lost his life at the Battle of the Somme on September 26th, 1916. Thomson, who immigrated to Canada from Ireland five years earlier, had arrived in Pitt Meadows sometime before the municipality’s incorporation in the spring of 1914. We know little about his time here other than the fact he was single, a rancher and was a member of the community’s first Municipal Council and that he was present at their first meeting in May 1914. He died a Private on September 26, 1916, most likely by mortar fire while engaged in battle at the Somme. His body was never recovered, and, thus, his name is inscribed on the Vimy Memorial in France, and this is his final resting place.

Lest we Forget.