Service for orphans killed in 1917 blast

They came to the orphanage because their families could not care for them. Then, disaster struck.

The wards of the Halifax Protestant Orphanage were as young as 3 and as old as 13 when a massive explosion tore through Halifax in 1917.

Acentury later, dozens of mourners gathered at their gravesite in a cemetery in Halifax’s north end on Sunday to ensure that even though their lives were cut tragically short, the children would not be forgotten.

“The other victims that are here would have descendants; they would have families . . . who could pay homage to them and remember them,” Rev. Randy Townsend of St. John’s Anglican Church said in an interview. “The children of the orphanage wouldn’t have anyone.”

About two dozen children and three caretakers at the orphanage were among the 2,000 people killed in the 1917 Halifax Explosion, caused by a collision involving a munitions ship in Halifax harbour. They were laid to rest in St. John’s Cemetery in a plot marked with two obelisks and two gravestones.