Home Boys go to war

The First World War took place during a period of time when a migration scheme was in place between Canada and the United Kingdom to bring children living in poverty from Britain to Canada where they would live and work on the farm until their families got back on their feet. While these families believed their children were coming to Canada to live a better life, many were used as farm labour and experienced situations of neglect and abuse. Being torn from their families at such a young age, many of the Home Boys took a chance to go to war in hopes of seeing any family that they might have left back in Europe and like all brave men and women, they believed in fighting for the good of their country.

One of these young men went by the name of John Owen Hughes.

Allan Rowell, of the Bury Legion, came across the story of Mr. Hughes after going through his mother’s archives. She was a correspondent for the Sherbrooke Record for the Bury region. Rowell found a list his mother had put together of the names of those in the First World War. After looking at the names on the cenotaph dedicated to the soldiers of Bury located just outside of the Legion, he realized something was off. “I looked at the names on the cenotaph and realized the list and what was on the cenotaph wasn’t the same.”

In fact, Mr. Hughes name was missing.

The Cenotaph inscribes the names of those from Bury who served in the war or who were killed in action. There was no certainty that Hughes lived in Bury and he was listed as having died after the war. “He got lost in the shuffle, they knew he existed but didn’t know he was killed in action.” After coming across his name, Allan decided to do some digging and started to piece his story together with the help of the Sherbrooke Record archives and Library Archives Canada.

According to what he found, John Owen Hughes was born in 1895 in Neston, Cheshire, England and he was sent to Sherbrooke in 1911 by Church of England Waifs & Strays at the young age of 15. “He was a home boy and he came to the Gibbs Home in Sherbrooke. He came over with a friend named Sharpe. He came from Liverpool in 1911 and they called him Owen John Hughes.”

After coming to Sherbrooke, he then went to work on different farms in the Townships for about three years. “He worked in Melbourne on a farm for a little bit but then he went to Canterbury to work for Cecil Lefebvre but I’m not sure when.”

Mrs. Lefebvre was the last person he worked for before enlisting in the First Word War with the 41st Battalion on August 21, 1915 in Bury. He would eventually be transferred to the 3rd Battalion in 1916 and then to the 10th Battalion in France.

Mr. Hughes was one of many who fought in the Battle of Vimy Ridge. “He was in the trenches in Vimy Ridge. He battled through quite the conditions.”

After looking through his service records, Allan came to find that he had been injured during his time on the battlefield after being shot in the left shoulder. He was sent to Casualty Clearing Station Number 12 to be provided medical care and he was released only a few days later.

His service records also confirmed that Hughes was killed in action on April 9, 1917 and that he had lived and worked in Bury. “I went through his service records and saw that his paycheck was being sent to a woman in Bury.”

With the puzzle pieces slowly starting to come together, Allan made the Legion aware of what he had found and they took a further look into things.

“I put the connection together that he joined the war in Bury and that he lived and worked in Bury which gave, in my opinion, the Bury legion the right to put his name on the cenotaph. It was all about the resources available to me. Resources are now available to people like me who weren’t available to people like my mom.”

The Legion most certainly agreed and now when you visit the Bury cenotaph, you’ll have a unique story to put with the name John Owen Hughes.

Many Home Boys risked their lives to fight for their country in both the First and Second World Wars and this is only one of the many ways they contributed to Canada’s nation building. On this Remembrance Day, we recognize their sacrifice.