Seeley, Le Roy Launcelot

9155 Sergeant Le Roy Launcelot Seeley was born in Toronto, Ontario on 30 December 1889, the son of Thomas Henry Seely and Susan Jane Hazlitt. He attended Brock Avenue Public School and Parkdale Collegiate Institute.

Seeley had five sisters and two brothers. One brother, William Hazlitt Clare Seeley also served with the 3rd Battalion, CEF. His father also enlisted in the 204th Battalion, CEF.

He was a member of the Order of Chosen Friends ( a fraternal benefit order that existed in North America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries)
and attended Centennial Methodist Church, Dovercourt Road, Toronto

On 17 Jan 1910, he married Olive Georgina Hudson. They had a daughter Elsie (b.1910) and a son Frank (b.1913.)

After serving 5 years with the Queen’s Own Rifles militia, he worked as a travelling representative for Messrs Ansley, Dineen & Co. when he enlisted with the 3rd Battalion, CEF on 22 September 1914.

Service Record

circa 1909 enlisted with the QOR Militia
22 Sep 1914 enlisted with 3rd Battalion CEF as Sergeant with No.1 (later “A”) Company
31 Mar 1915 appointed platoon Sergeant
Fought at St Julien, Ypres, and Festubert

Sergeant Seeley died of wounds received at Festubert on 25 May 1915, aged 25 and is buried in Hinges Military Cemetery, grave reference A.15. His widow received a war gratuity of $112.00 ($2,899.83 in 2024 dollars.)

The Toronto Star report on a letter from 3rd Battalion Sergeant Scott to his mother dated 29 May 1915:

Am writing these few lines from reserve trenches, where we are staying for a few days after coming out from another hot spot. This time it was more nerve-racking, but not so many casualties. Our battalion sure has its share of this scrap.

Our company now has only two officers, the others are sick, killed, or wounded/ Our platoon sergeant was killed, leaving me once more in charge of the platoon, as our platoon commander was wounded while coming into the trenches.

I wish you would call on the widow (who is left with two children) of our deceased platoon sergeant. She is Mrs. R.L Seeley, 20 Emerson Avenue. Tell her Roy sure was game. He was knocked unconscious by a shell earlier in the day and wanted him to go out then, but he wouldn’t. And that night he got a bullet through the lung, dying in the Hospital.

Toronto Star, June 17th, 1915