By Michael O'Leary; The Regimental Rogue
Updated: 19 Sep 2022
"The first Book of Remembrance created, and the largest of the Books, is the First World War Book of Remembrance. It contains more than 66,000 names." - History of the Books of Remembrance.
Research into a soldier of the First World War can often start with inquiries into how an ancestor died, and where he is buried. These inquiries, which can also lead to searching for their service records, will often begin with the various records for casualties, the dead, of the Great War.
The official recording of Canada's war dead is the Books of Remembrance which in the Memorial Chamber in the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill. Because not all Canadians, or descendants of these soldiers' families, have the opportunity to view the Books of Remembrance in person, we are fortunate that they have been digitized and images of the pages placed on line.
Part of a single page in the 1916 Book of Remembrance for the First World War.
But the Books of Remembrance are not the most efficient starting point when using the Internet as our research tool. The best starting point will be the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
Home page for the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
The CVWM home page also has the search form for their database. When completing the search form, start with just the surname, then add forenames or initials to reduce the number of results. Keep in mind the database record may not have the forenames stored the way you know them, and the search won't find "close" matches. Filter results by unit, war, cenetery, etc., to narrow the search results for common surnames. When using the "Unit" dropdown list, keep in mind that some unit titles were entered in different forms for different wars.
Search form for the Canadian Virtual War Memorial.
As with searches for service records, searches for common names can result in a large number of similar results. The immediately visible details can include given names and date of death, but to investigate further will requre opening each entry to confirm details of unit, date of death and other entered information.
CVWM search results for the surname Lowe.
Adding details to the surname search can possibly narrow your results to the single desired result. Fuiltering searches by unit and dates can be used, for example, to find all the soldiers of a unit who died in the same action.
CVWM search results for the surname Lowe, and forename Walter.
Each record in the Canadian Virtual War Memorial opens to a new page, providing a number of details on each soldier as they have been recorded in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission database, and then shared with the CVWM. Details in each record can include any of the following:
The CVWM for 477550 Sergeant Walter Lowe, The Royal Canadian Regiment."
If you find discrepancies between the information posted on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial and your other research, and you can provide evidence that the CVWM is incorrect, use the Contact page to send your information to Veterans Affairs. They are always willing to examine such evidence and make corrections where needed.
Aother source of information on the deaths of Canadian soldiers in the First World War are in a little known collection of files called the Particulars of Death forms. Filed separately from the service records, these are best accessed by finding a researcher in Ottawa who is familiar with them and can find and copy or photograph the particular page. The Particulars of Death forms can be a gamble, some will provide details not found in any other records, others will be cryptic and offer no extra information. Also note that volumes containing names beginning with "Sip" to "Z" have not survived.
In late 2011, these records were made available on line in a digitized form - Circumstances of Death Registers, First World War. These documents are assembled in collections of images by file contents. Each collection of images has many alphabetized individual records. Some experimention within the structure of the image collection will be needed to find the right binder (check the names on the first page) and then you will need to move back and form among the pages using the navigation means at the bottom of the display to get to the right page (make large jumps using the page number box to get close to your objective). See the table below the following figures for the first surname in each file.
Index page for the Circumstances of Death Registers, First World War. Each link leads to a virtual stack of hundreds, up to a thousand or more, of individual page images.
The Circumstances of Death Register sheet for Sgt Walter Lowe, MM, The Royal Canadian Regiment. Note the Page Navigation options at the lower left and right of the image. Don't forget to check the following image (i.e., the back of the sheet).
Excerpt of Particulars of Death form for 477501 Private Henry William Krimmell. This example provides good detail on the death of Private Krimmel.
Excerpt of Particulars of Death form for 477550 Sergeant Walter Lowe,
The following table shows the first surname in each of the 94 Circumstances of Death Register document sets on line with the Library and Archives Canada. Note that alphabetization by last name and full first name may not be exact, in some cases names might be mispelled and later corrected, or short forms or initial may be used in place of full frst names. Also, names with spaces will be found files as if they had no spaced (e.g., "de Salis" filed as "Desalis"). Consider speling with "Mac" and "Mc" interchangable to searching purposes.
The LAC's newer introduction page for the Circumstances of Death Records can be found here.
Also newly digitized by Library and Archives Canada are their collection of First World War Commonwealth War Graves Registers. With a display organized similar to the Circumstances of Death records, these can provide further information on the burials of individual soldiers.
Index page for the Commonwealth War Graves Registers. Each link leads to a virtual stack of hundreds, up to a thousand or more, of individual page images.
The Commonwealth War Graves Register sheet for Sgt Walter Lowe, MM, The Royal Canadian Regiment. Note the Page Navigation options at the lower left and right of the image. Don't forget to check the following image (i.e., the back of the sheet). Note also that the image of the page is cropped in this captured image, the full sheet is observable in the LAC image collection.
The following tables show the first surname in each of the 106 Commonwealth War Graves Registers document sets on line with the Library and Archives Canada. Note that alphabetization by last name and full first name may not be exact, in some cases names might be mispelled and later corrected, or short forms or initial may be used in place of full frst names. Also, names with spaces will be found files as if they had no spaced (e.g., "de Salis" filed as "Desalis"). Consider speling with "Mac" and "Mc" interchangable to searching purposes.
Surnames | Location of Grave | Microform Sequence | Volume Number | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
Aaron to Allan | France, Belgium, etc. | 1 | 31830_B016669 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 39 |
Allanso to Angst | France, Belgium, etc. | 2 | 31830_B016673 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 40 |
Angus to Astley | France, Belgium, etc. | 3 | 31830_B016674 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 41 |
Aston to Baker | France, Belgium, etc. | 4 | 31830_B016672 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 42 |
Baky to Barrow | France, Belgium, etc. | 5 | 31830_B016677 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 43 |
Barry to Beebe | France, Belgium, etc. | 6 | 31830_B016663 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 44 |
Beech to Berner | France, Belgium, etc. | 7 | 31830_B034750 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 45 |
Bernhart to Bittle | France, Belgium, etc. | 8 | 31830_B016668 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 46 |
Bjarnason to Bolger | France, Belgium, etc. | 9 | 31830_B016662 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 47 |
Bolin to Bowes | France, Belgium, etc. | 10 | 31830_B016667 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 48 |
Bowhay to Briden | France, Belgium, etc. | 11 | 31830_B016666 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 49 |
Bridge to Brown, I.F. | France, Belgium, etc. | 12 | 31830_B016665 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 50 |
Brown, J. to Buist | France, Belgium, etc. | 13 | 31830_B016671 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 51 |
Bulbick to Bytheway | France, Belgium, etc. | 14 | 31830_B016670 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 52 |
Cabana to Canning | France, Belgium, etc. | 15 | 31830_B016591 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 53 |
Cannon to Cave | France, Belgium, etc. | 16 | 31830_B016590 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 54 |
Cavelle to Christmas | France, Belgium, etc. | 17 | 31830_B016589 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 55 |
Christo to Cabley | France, Belgium, etc. | 18 | 31830_B016594 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 56 |
Coburn to Coogan | France, Belgium, etc. | 19 | 31830_B016593 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 57 |
Cook to Cotton | France, Belgium, etc. | 20 | 31830_B016592 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 58 |
Cottrell to Crewe | France, Belgium, etc. | 21 | 31830_B016595 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 59 |
Cribbes to Cyrs | France, Belgium, etc. | 22 | 31830_B016596 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 60 |
Dabate to Dawson | France, Belgium, etc. | 23 | 31830_B016600 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 61 |
Day to Dickie | France, Belgium, etc. | 24 | 31830_B016597 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 62 |
Dickens to Dostie | France, Belgium, etc. | 25 | 31830_B016599 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 63 |
Doty to Dunbar | France, Belgium, etc. | 26 | 31830_B016598 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 64 |
Duncan to Edwards | France, Belgium, etc. | 27 | 31830_B016602 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 65 |
Edworthy to Ezric | France, Belgium, etc. | 28 | 31830_B016601 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 66 |
Faber to Fincham | France, Belgium, etc. | 29 | 31830_B016606 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 67 |
Finder to Ford | France, Belgium, etc. | 30 | 31830_B016605 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 68 |
Fordham to Freymuth | France, Belgium, etc. | 31 | 31830_B034751 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 69 |
Fricker to Gaston | France, Belgium, etc. | 32 | 31830_B016604 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 70 |
Gate to Gingras | France, Belgium, etc. | 33 | 31830_B016609 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 71 |
Ginn to Gotze | France, Belgium, etc. | 34 | 31830_B016608 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 72 |
Goucher to Green | France, Belgium, etc. | 35 | 31830_B016607 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 73 |
Greenaway to Gysin | France, Belgium, etc. | 36 | 31830_B016611 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 74 |
Haas to Hancox | France, Belgium, etc. | 37 | 31830_B016610 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 75 |
Hand to Harty | France, Belgium, etc. | 38 | 31830_B016675 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 76 |
Harvey to Helms | France, Belgium, etc. | 39 | 31830_B016676 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 77 |
Helps to Hildreth | France, Belgium, etc. | 40 | 31830_B016680 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 78 |
Hill to Holmden | France, Belgium, etc. | 41 | 31830_B034451 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 79 |
Holmes to Howles | France, Belgium, etc. | 42 | 31830_B016679 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 80 |
Howlett to Hutson | France, Belgium, etc. | 43 | 31830_B016678 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 81 |
Hutt to James | France, Belgium, etc. | 44 | 31830_B034447 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 82 |
Jameson to Johnsson | France, Belgium, etc. | 45 | 31830_B016681 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 83 |
Johnston to Juteau | France, Belgium, etc. | 46 | 31830_B034450 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 84 |
Kaar to Kernick | France, Belgium, etc. | 47 | 31830_B034449 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 85 |
Kerr to Knibbs | France, Belgium, etc. | 48 | 31830_B016682 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 86 |
Knight to Landymore | France, Belgium, etc. | 49 | 31830_B034448 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 87 |
Lane to Leach | France, Belgium, etc. | 50 | 31830_B034452 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 88 |
Leachman to Levine | France, Belgium, etc. | 51 | 31830_B016603 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 89 |
Levings to Lockie | France, Belgium, etc. | 52 | 31830_B016614 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 90 |
Lockley to Lyttle | France, Belgium, etc. | 53 | 31830_B016613 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 91 |
Mabee to Marsden | France, Belgium, etc. | 54 | 31830_B016612 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 92 |
Marsh to May | France, Belgium, etc. | 55 | 31830_B016617 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 93 |
Mayall to Millens | France, Belgium, etc. | 56 | 31830_B016616 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 94 |
Miller to Moir | France, Belgium, etc. | 57 | 31830_B016615 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 95 |
Moisley to Morley | France, Belgium, etc. | 58 | 31830_B016620 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 96 |
Morphew to Muir | France, Belgium, etc. | 59 | 31830_B016619 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 97 |
Muirhead to Myson | France, Belgium, etc. | 60 | 31830_B016621 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 98 |
McAdam to McCoubry | France, Belgium, etc. | 61 | 31830_B034752 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 99 |
McCourt to McDonaugh | France, Belgium, etc. | 62 | 31830_B016618 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 100 |
McDonnell to McIntre | France, Belgium, etc. | 63 | 31830_B016622 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 101 |
McIntosh to Mackenzie | France, Belgium, etc. | 64 | 31830_B016626 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 102 |
McKeough to McLeman | France, Belgium, etc. | 65 | 31830_B016625 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 103 |
McLennan to McNaughton | France, Belgium, etc. | 66 | 31830_B016624 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 104 |
McNaul to McWilliams | France, Belgium, etc. | 67 | 31830_B016623 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 105 |
Nadeau to Nicoletti | France, Belgium, etc. | 68 | 31830_B016630 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 106 |
Nicoll to Olivier | France, Belgium, etc. | 69 | 31830_B016629 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 107 |
Oliff to Papworth | France, Belgium, etc. | 70 | 31830_B016628 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 108 |
Paquet to Pattison | France, Belgium, etc. | 71 | 31830_B016627 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 109 |
Patton to Perry | France, Belgium, etc. | 72 | 31830_B016633 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 110 |
Perryman to Plow | France, Belgium, etc. | 73 | 31830_B016632 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 111 |
Plowman to Price | France, Belgium, etc. | 74 | 31830_B016631 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 112 |
Prickett to Ramsey | France, Belgium, etc. | 75 | 31830_B016635 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 113 |
Rance to Reid | France, Belgium, etc. | 76 | 31830_B016634 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 114 |
Reiley to Rizza | France, Belgium, etc. | 77 | 31830_B016638 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 115 |
Roach to Roffey | France, Belgium, etc. | 78 | 31830_B016637 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 116 |
Roger to Roy | France, Belgium, etc. | 79 | 31830_B016636 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 117 |
Royal to Saunders | France, Belgium, etc. | 80 | 31830_B016641 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 118 |
Sauvage to Selfe | France, Belgium, etc. | 81 | 31830_B016640 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 119 |
Selkirk to Sholds | France, Belgium, etc. | 82 | 31830_B034455 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 120 |
Scholert to Smales | France, Belgium, etc. | 83 | 31830_B016644 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 121 |
Small to Smith, P.M. | France, Belgium, etc. | 84 | 31830_B016643 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 122 |
Smith, R. to Spence | France, Belgium, etc. | 85 | 31830_B034454 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 123 |
Spencer to Steven | France, Belgium, etc. | 86 | 31830_B016642 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 124 |
Stevens to St. Pierre | France, Belgium, etc. | 87 | 31830_B016647 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 125 |
Stracey to Syvret | France, Belgium, etc. | 88 | 31830_B016646 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 126 |
Tabbener to Thom | France, Belgium, etc. | 89 | 31830_B016645 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 127 |
Thomas to Tizzard | France, Belgium, etc. | 90 | 31830_B016639 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 128 |
Tobias to Turnbull | France, Belgium, etc. | 91 | 31830_B034453 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 129 |
Turner to Vyse | France, Belgium, etc. | 92 | 31830_B016649 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 130 |
Wabanosse to Warby | France, Belgium, etc. | 93 | 31830_B016656 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 131 |
Ward to Webb | France, Belgium, etc. | 94 | 31830_B016651 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 132 |
Webber to Whitcutt | France, Belgium, etc. | 95 | 31830_B016653 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 133 |
White to Wiley | France, Belgium, etc. | 96 | 31830_B016654 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 134 |
Williams to Wilson | France, Belgium, etc. | 97 | 31830_B016655 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 135 |
Wilton to Worsley | France, Belgium, etc. | 98 | 31830_B016658 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 136 |
Worster to Zykoski | France, Belgium, etc. | 99 | 31830_B016652 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 137 |
Surnames | Location of Grave | Microform Sequence | Volume Number | Reference |
---|---|---|---|---|
Abbot to Byrt | United Kingdom | 100 | 31830_B016657 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 138 |
Cadieux to Ewens | United Kingdom | 101 | 31830_B016650 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 139 |
Fagg to Holmes | United Kingdom | 102 | 31830_B016661 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 140 |
Holtum to Meads | United Kingdom | 103 | 31830_B016648 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 141 |
Meehen to Ozanne | United Kingdom | 104 | 31830_B016660 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 142 |
Packham to Smith | United Kingdom | 105 | 31830_B016659 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 143 |
Smollet to Zinck | United Kingdom | 106 | 31830_B016664 | RG150, 1992-93/314, 144 |
The grave photo of 479082 Pte Henry James Jarvis in the Anneux British Cemetery, Department of the Nord, France.
Part 6 - Researching Honours and Awards.