One Family. One War. 2 Lives

 

On October 26th, 1918 the Toronto Star carried a brief article about a newspaper reporter from Stratford who died in action with the 18th Battalion on October 10, 1918:

Lavelle Killed in Action.

Pte. Leonard S. Lavelle, formerly sporting editor of the Stratford Herald, was killed in action. He went overseas in the spring with the W.O.R. [Western Ontario Regiment] Pte. Lavelle was widely known in Western Ontario hockey circles, playing for the junior, intermediate, and senior Stratford O.H.A. teams. He was regarded as one of the most aggressive men turned out in recent years in Stratford. He came of a family of athletes. Harry and Will being former well-known professional lacrosse players, Harry having played for Ottawa and Will for the Torontos. Two other brothers are overseas.

He was a member of the West All-Star junior hockey team that played the East at the Arena two winters ago.

His father, James Lavelle, is a well-known Grand Trunk Railway official in Western Ontario, and is more than having his share of trouble as it was only a week ago to-day that Charlie, his second oldest son, was buried at Stratford after succumbing to an attack of influenza, which developed into pneumonia. Charlie was a well-known lacrosse player for Durham, his home town, some years ago.

This short article did not begin to illustrate the nature of Private Leonard Stanslau Lavelle and his life and family.

The Lavelle family, originally from Durham, Ontario, was a family that was known for its involvement in sports. The obituary from the Toronto Star, dated October 26, 1918, indicates the influence this family had on sports in Durham and Stratford, Ontario.

The Lavelle family was large. The head of the family was James Lavelle, a widower who had the following children according to the 1901 Census, Perth North District, Stratford Sub district.

Last Name, First Name	Sex	Relation	Status	Month/Day	Year	Age
Lavelle, James	M	Head	Widowed	Nov 23	1856	44.0
Lavelle, John J	M	Son	Single	Jun 28	1878	22.0
Lavelle, Charles R	M	Son	Single	Oct 1	1880	20.0
Lavelle, Lottie C	F	Daughter	Single	Aug 17	1882	18.0
Lavelle, James L	M	Son	Single	Aug 5	1883	17.0
Lavelle, Wm Anthony	M	Son	Single	Jan 26	1887	14.0
Lavelle, Henry Eroy	M	Son	Single	Aug 10	1888	12.0
Lavelle, Louis Edward	M	Son	Single	Dec 1	1892	8.0
Lavelle, Leonard S	M	Son	Single	Jun 30	1894	6.0
Lavelle, Russell V	M	Son	Single	May 3	1896	4.0
Lavelle, Robert Boyd	M	Son	Single	Jul 9	1900	9.5

 Source for above

There were six Lavelle brothers mentioned in the Toronto Star article: Charlie, Harry, Will, Russell, Leonard, and Lewis. It appears that all of them were athletes of some local repute. Four of the family members served in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces in World War 1:

	Lavelle, Russell George	Lavelle, Leonard Stanslau	Lavelle, Lewis Edward
Service No.	126224	3131642	3132249
Unit	71st Battalion	1st Depot Battalion, W.O.R.	1st Depot Battalion, W.O.R.
D.O.B.	May 3, 1896	June 30, 1894	December 1, 1892
Born	Durham, Ontario	Durham, Ontario	Durham, Ontario
Address at Enlistment	240 Ontario Street Stratford, Ontario	240 Ontario Street Stratford, Ontario	St. Mary’s, Ontario
Trade	Stenographer	Reporter	Bookkeeper & Stenographer
Marital Status	Single	Single	Single
Military Experience	None	None	None
Apparent Age	19 years, 4 month	23 years, 6 months	25 years, 3 months
Height	5’ 5.25”	5’ 3.5”	5’ 5”
Chest Measurement	35.5”	36”	32”
Chest Expansion	2.5”	3”	3”
Complexion	Medium	Fair	Ruddy
Eyes	Blue	Blue	Blue
Hair	Light	Fair	D. Brown
Distinctive Marks	None	½” scar 2” above left knee
Religious Denom.	Roman Catholic	Roman Catholic	Roman Catholic
Sight		20/20 L 20/20 R	20/20 L 20/20 R
Hearing		Normal	Normal
Attested	Stratford, Ontario	Stratford, Ontario	London, Ontario
Date	September 7, 1915	October 4, 1917	October 4, 1917

After the publication of this post further information came forward and another brother, William Anthony also served in the Canadian Army. He was older than his other brothers and his call to duty was 7 months later than Leonard and Lewis. Sadly I do not have room to include him in the table above but his vital statistics are as follows:

	Lavelle, William Anthony
Service No.	3135300
Unit	1st Depot Battalion, W.O.R.
D.O.B.	January 25, 1887
Born	Durham, Ontario
Address at Enlistment	Ontario Street, Stratford, Ontario
Trade	Clerk
Marital Status	Single
Military Experience	None
Apparent Age	31 years, 4 month
Height	5’ 3.5”
Chest Measurement	35.5”
Chest Expansion	2.5”
Complexion	Fair
Eyes	Blue
Hair	Med. Brown
Distinctive Marks	None
Religious Denom.	Roman Catholic
Sight	20/20 L 20/20 R
Hearing	Normal
Attested	London, Ontario
Date	May 10, 1918

George enlisted first and perhaps his letters or the news from the Front discouraged the other brothers from joining the conflict but the inception of the Military Service Act, 1917 changed the range of choices for Canadian men of service age. The war and its effects on the availability of recruits to feed the war machine of the Western Front were not being fulfilled by the active volunteering of recruits after the initial enthusiasm of 1914/15 when the 1^st and 2^nd Contingents embarked for France.

Currently we have some background of Lewis Lavelle’s service:

Lewis Edward Lavelle was born on Decembet [December] 1, 1892 in Durham, Ontario. He signed his Particulars of a Recruit Drafted Under Military Act, 1917 Paper on October 4, 1917 at No. 1 Military District Depot in London, Ontario, naming his father, James Lavelle of Stratford, Ontario as his next-of-kin, stating that he had no previous military service, that he was single and that his trade was that of Bookkeeper and Stenographer. Lavelle embarked Canada on April 16, 1918, arriving in England on the 28th. Upon arrival, he was transferred to the 4th Canadian Reserve Battalion at Whitley. After five months of training and orientation, he was struck off strength to the 18th Infantry Battalion on September 4, 1918, arriving at the Canadian Corps Reinforcement Camp on the 9th. Two days later, he was transferred to the 3rd Infantry Battalion on the 11th, taken on strength in the field at Etaples, France on the 12th. Lavelle served six months in the French theatre and upon the ceasing of hostilities, he proceeded to England on March 22, 1919. He was struck off strength to Canada at Bramshott on April 14th, proceeding to Canada on the 15th aboard the S.S. Olympic on the 16th. Lavelle was discharged upon demobilization at No. 2 District Depot in Toronto, Ontario on April 24, 1919, with his proposed residence stated as Stratford.

Source

The act stated:

“All the male inhabitants of Canada, of the age of eighteen years and upwards, and under sixty, not exempt or disqualified by law, and being British subjects, shall be liable to service in the Militia: Provided that the Governor General may require all the male inhabitants of Canada, capable of bearing arms, to serve in the case of a levée en masse;“

…and further outlined the specifics of the enforcement of the act and other particulars pertaining to it. Of the approximately 100,000 conscripts, less than half served overseas.

Russell was attested to the 71^st Battalion which was used to reinforce the 44^th, 54^th, and 74^th Battalions so there is little likelihood that he served in the 18^th. Both Lewis and Leonard would be conscripted on the same day and would eventually end up in the 18^th Battalion together. For the Lavelle’s 2 of the 3 sons would come home. Sadly, Private Leonard Stanslau Lavelle would be killed on October 10, 1918 by a German machinegun bullet “through the body” near the commune of Iwuy, France.

This loss was not the end of the family’s tragedy as the family was to lose a son, Charlie, to pneumonia probably brought on by the Spanish Flu pandemic. The article states that Charlie is the oldest so one would have to surmise that John J. Lavelle had passed some time previous to the article.

Lewis (Lou) Lavelle was to stay in St. Mary’s after the war and worked for the St. Mary’s Cement Company:

50 years ago — 1962

Recently, the last of the “originals” has retired from the St. Marys Cement Co., Louis “Lou” Lavelle.

Retirement for Lou Lavelle means the end of 50 years of service with the St. Marys Cement Co. Lou was on the job one month before the plant was turned over to the Company by the engineering firm which built it.

Source