Tribute Page: WW1 Paybook Canadian Soldier

Hubs and I found a WW1 Canadian soldier's paybook recently. It showed the soldier owning it was W. A. McCutcheon, Regimental Number 335209

To honour this soldier and his defense of freedom, I decided to research him. Here is my tribute to William Albert McCutcheon born 23 August 1893 in Eramosa Township, Wellington County Ontario.

William enlisted in Guelph on 11 October 1917. He gave his residence as the Homewood Sanitorium in Guelph and his mother Isabel as his next-of-kin. His occupation was as a chauffeur. [Source: Front page of William's Attestation Papers on the CEF Database online at http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/cef/001042-119.02-e.php?image_url=http://data2.archives.ca/cef/gat4/136740a.gif&id_nbr=141784]

William's Paybook provides his father's name - William A. McCutcheon of RR1 Guelph and assigns his pay to him. Written in pencil on the third page is the notation that he went overseas on 4 April 1918 and returned to Canada on 26 August 1919. So we know he survived the war.

Passenger List for Saxonia

A stamped note at the back of the book shows that he sailed from London England on August 13, 1918 and landed in Halifax Nova Scotia on August 23rd. Using Ancestry.com I found William on board the Saxonia.

His Miitary Will was noted as having been copied from an older paybook and forwarded to an office in Ottawa Ontario.

There is a record of his pay and also some loose papers tucked inside. One is a Pass giving William permission to go to London England from August 2 to August 4, 1919. It is stapled to a form for reduced fare on train travel.

A second loose paper is a complimentary ticket from the Royal Agricultural Society of England for the Cardiff Show in June 1919. It is signed by William so it appears he hoped to go.

It appears that William lied about his age for his birth registration on Ancestry.com shows him being born in Wellington County in 1891 not 1893 to William McCutcheon and Isabella Matilda Loree. The 1901 Census for Erin, Wellington County shows that William was 9 years old and the eldest of several children: Clara, Melvin, Sarah and Thomas. His father William was born 1860 in Ontario and his mother Isabelle was born 1865 in Ontario.

Isabelle McCutcheon's Death Registration for May 28, 1920 in Erin gives her father's name as Washington Loree and her mother as Ellen Marie Mack. Her husband was the informant.

I could not find a death or marriage record for our soldier William A. McCutcheon so do not know what happened to him after his return to Canada in 1919.