We recently catalogued a wooden tent peg mallet we’d received from the estate of the late Captain Scott “Paddy” Patterson, CD. This was however no ordinary mallet. There were some simple designs scratched into both the handle and the head. But that alone was not the most interesting find. Etched into the round wooden handle was the following:

“A” Coy 3rd Batt
1st Canadian Overseas Force
1914
Compliments of
Sergeants

Further, etched into the head of the mallet were the following names and information:

1914    1914
Sergt A.G. Eddis
Sergt R.L. Seeley
Col Sergt A.E. Thompson [sic Thomson]
Sergt H.G. Kerr
Sergt W. Pratt
Lce Sergt G.B. Roberts
Salisbury Plain, England

Salisbury Plain (near Stonehenge in South West England) was where the Canadian Expeditionary Force trained in England before heading to France. Known for its heavy rains, the Canadians were housed in tents and not in the few barracks available, hence a tent peg mallet would have been an essential piece of kit, not just to erect the tents on arrival, but to re-erect them after various severe storms blew them down.

We catalogued and photographed the mallet, added it to our collections database, and then added it to one of our WWI exhibit cases – something we can’t always do because of limited space.

All the Sergeants named on the mallet formally enlisted with the 3rd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force on 22nd September in Valcartier, Quebec where they were sent for equipping and preliminary training. They all had previous service in The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada militia. As you can see below, they have consecutive service numbers.

• 9151 Colour Sergeant Alfred Edward Thomson
• 9152 Sergeant Herbert Gladstone Kerr
• 9153 Sergeant William Pratt
• 9154 Sergeant Arthur George Eddis
• 9155 Sergeant Le Roy Launcelot Seeley
• 9156 Lance Sergeant Guy Burland Roberts

After further training in England, the 3rd Battalion arrived in France on 14 February 1915. On 5 March they had their first experience in the trenches. Starting on the evening of 23 April, the battalion faced their first combat in the 2nd Battle of Ypres where hundreds were killed or taken prisoner of war.  After the Battle of Festubert, they were once again in the trenches from May 25-28 and subjected to a severe high-explosive bombardment which caused many casualties.

We couldn’t help but wonder how many of these “Originals” survived the war. (Click on the name links for more detailed profiles.)

9155 Sergeant L.R.L. Seeley

Roy Seeley was born in Toronto in 1889, served for five years with The Queen’s Own Rifles militia battalion, and rose to the rank of Sergeant when, on 22 September 1914, he enlisted with several of his fellow sergeants in the 3rd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF). At the time he was married with two young children. A brother would later be posted to the 3rd Bn as a reinforcement.

He served through some tough battles including St Julien, the 2nd Battle of Ypres, and Festubert. After the latter, he was in a trench and knocked out by a shell but refused to go to the rear. Later that night he was shot in the lung by a sniper and died in hospital on 25 May 1915. He was the first of the six sergeants to succumb.

9152 Lieutenant H.G. Kerr

Herbert Kerr was born in Pickering on 16 October 1887.

He joined The Queen’s Own Rifles of Canada militia battalion around 1909 and in 1910 he participated with H Company on the trip to England.

With his fellow QOR sergeants, he enlisted with the 3rd Battalion CEF on 22 September 1914. Kerr travelled to England and France with the 3rd Bn and on 9 May 1915 he was promoted to Lieutenant.

Only a few weeks later he was killed in action at Festubert, on 25 May 1915. He has no known grave so he is memorialized on the Canadian Vimy Memorial in France.

9154 Lieutenant A.G. Eddis

Arthur Eddis was born in Toronto, Ontario on 28 January 1891. His father Francis had served with the QOR in the 1880s and participated in the North West Field Force in 1885.

An accountant, Arthur joined the QOR in 1908, was a competitive marksman and participated in the 1910 trip to England.

With his fellow sergeants, he enlisted with the 3rd Battalion, CEF on 22 September 1914. While in the field he was promoted to Lieutenant in early May 1915 and three weeks later was killed in action on 27 May 1915, the third of the sergeants to die.

His original grave was lost so he is remembered on the Canadian Vimy Memorial in France.

9153 Company Sergeant W. Pratt

William Pratt was born in England on 21 July 1891 and came to Canada around 1907.  He joined the Queen’s Own Rifles militia battalion around 1910 (and older brother Henry may already have been in the QOR that year.)

An accountant who then worked with his fellow sergeant Arthur Eddis at Wilton C. Eddie and Sons chartered accountants, Pratt enlisted on 22 September 1914 with the 3rd Battalion, CEF as a Sergeant.

He trained with the battalion in Quebec and England before heading to France and Belgium where he survived the 2nd Battle of Ypres which decimated the 3rd Bn. He was promoted to Company Sergeant Major on 4 May 1915.

Sadly, on 5 June 1915, he drowned while swimming in a canal near Bethune, France and is buried in the Bethune Town Cemetery.

The Survivors

Within just 10 days in 1915, four of the six sergeants named on the mallet had died. Two however were to survive the war.

Warrant Officer Class II (CSM) A.E. Thomson

Arthur Thomson was born in Nova Scotia on 10 December 1886 and enlisted with The Queen’s Own Rifles militia circa 1903.

In Belgium having survived the 2nd Battle of Ypres, he was reported missing on 11 May 1915 and two months later confirmed as a prisoner of war, originally in Giessen POW camp and later in Holland. Thompson was repatriated to England on 8 February 1919.

After returning to Canada, Roberts was discharged in Toronto on 23 May 1919 and in September 1919 married Florence Haskell.

It’s not clear how he was employed immediately after the war but in 1938 he moved to England and worked for the UK Ministry of Transportation. He died in Bedford, England on 9 November 1966 and is buried there.

Captain R.B. Roberts, MC

Guy Roberts was born in Toronto, Ontario on 21 March 1885. He served three years with The Queen’s Own Rifles militia battalion before enlisting in the 3rd Battalion, CEF, on 22 September 1914.

After training in England and service with the 3rd Battalion in France and Belgium, he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in November 1916, and awarded the Military Cross for actions that same month:

“For conspicuous gallantry in action. He established posts, making his reconnaissance and posting the men himself, and crossing 250 yards of fire-swept ground three times. He displayed great courage and initiative throughout.”

He was then posted to the 12th Brigade Headquarters until January 1918 when he was seconded to the War Office on a “secret mission” known as the Dunsterforce. He returned to England in 1919 and was discharged on mobilization on 26 November 1919.

He married in 1927 and had one son born in 1932. After the war, he took over the Roberts Art Gallery in Toronto from his father, and after retirement, seems to have had some success as an artist in his own right.  After moving to the west coast, Roberts died in hospital on 5 January 1969, in Port Alberni, British Columbia.

Telling Our Stories