14 August 2014

First Canadian WW1 death: Harry B Little

Private Harry Benjamin Little, who died at age 26 on the 14th of August 1914, was the first WW1 Canadian forces serviceman death.
A member of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry he is listed as the son of the late David Benjamin Little and Fanny Wilkes Little, of 3, Fair View, Horns Rd., Stroud, Gloucestershire, England.
He had enrolled with the British forces, 14th Hussars, in 1906 but was discharged after 88 days as unlikely to become an efficient soldier. In the 1911 census he was in Stroud working as a jobbing gardener, then traveled to Canada the following year.
He died from heart failure at Hughenden, Alberta, on an Edmonton troop train carrying the second contingent from the city on it's way east. His body was removed at Hardesty to the care of the Royal North West Mounted Police. He was buried at Czar Lutheran Cemetery, Provost, Alberta. There is a CWGC marker.

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