Boulton, Leslie Ernest: Service no. 53542 (Military Medal)

Digitized Service Record

Source: Duty Nobly Done, page 173

Later a lieutenant.

Find-A-Grave

Family Search: Lieutenant Leslie Ernest Boulton was born on 22 September 1886, in Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada as the son of Richard Boulton and Elizabeth Irwin. He married Bessie Scroggie on 20 November 1919, in Lambton, Ontario, Canada. He immigrated to Canada in 1913 and lived in Sarnia, Lambton, Ontario, Canada in 1922. He registered for military service in 1914. In 1914, at the age of 28, his occupation is listed as carpenter. He died in 1968, at the age of 82, and was buried in Lakeview Cemetery, Sarnia, Lambton, Ontario, Canada.

Biography

Leslie Ernest Boulton was born in Oil Springs, Ontario on September 22, 1886. At the age of twenty eight and single, Leslie Boulton enlisted in Sarnia on October 27, 1914. He recorded his occupation as carpenter, and his next of kin as his mother, Mrs. Richard Boulton, of 304 Front Street, Sarnia (her address later changed to 365 Maria Street, then 168 Napier Street, Sarnia). Private Leslie Ernest Boulton embarked from Halifax on April 18,1915, bound England as a member of the 18th Battalion, Canadian Infantry. Following is a portion of a letter that

Leslie wrote to his mother and sister in Sarnia in mid-June 1915, while he was training in England:

We have a big English instructor for an hour every day and believe me when he gets through with us we are all sweating. Then we have bayonet drill every day. We have spring bayonets, pads, masks and gloves and go for each other like a German and a Britisher, lots of fun and you can’t get hurt. I had two goes today with Stan Musselman, my chum. We have lots of hard work but the officers are a good sort and give us lots of fun.

Private Leslie Boulton of the 18th Battalion, “C” Company, was promoted to Lance Corporal on September 11, 1915, and four days later, he arrived in Boulogne, France. Leslie Ernest Boulton was promoted in rank a number of times during his service: on March 4, 1916, he was promoted to Corporal; and later on the same day, was appointed Lance Sergeant, in the field. Three months later, on June 6, 1916, he was promoted to Sergeant, again in the field (when their Sergeant was killed). Sergeant Leslie Ernest Boulton received the Military Medal for bravery in the field, awarded July 9, 1917.

On September 15, 1916, Sergeant Leslie Boulton was wounded in action–a bomb wound to the right eye. He was initially treated at No. 4 Canadian Field Ambulance, and the next day at 1st Australian General Hospital in Rouen (recorded as “gunshot wound eye”). Four days later, on September 20, he arrived at Canadian Convalescent Base Camp in France. While recovering from his wound at the Base Camp, he wrote a letter to his mother, Mrs. Richard Boulton in Sarnia. Following is a portion of that letter:

Dear Mother,

I have just been discharged from Hospital. I was wounded by a piece of a bomb on the 15th, and was in hospital three days, so you know the wound wasn’t very bad. I expect to be back with the battalion in the course of a few days. The piece of bomb hit me just over the right eye. Old Hienie thought he’d play a prank on us and waltzed over and took our front line. Well, we just kicked him out and went right back and took two of his. We sure had some fun. Four of his bombs hit within ten feet of me and a little piece of the last one got me, but it’s not very bad.… I wish they would sell all the big guns on both sides and let us go at it with rifle and bayonet. It would soon be over… Funny thing that I was wounded on the anniversary of my landing in France. Well, such was the case. Was a year in France all but two hours, when I was wounded. I am fit as a fiddle string, only my eye is a little sore… Write soon and let me know all the news. With love, “LESS”

After recovering, Leslie was discharged to the Base Depot in Harfleur, and rejoined his unit in the field on October 1, 1916. Seven months later, on May 7, 1917, Leslie Boulton was despatched back to England to undergo training for commission in the Canadian Infantry. He completed his Officers Training Course at Bramshott in early September 1917, and was taken on strength into the 4th Reserve Battalion, assigned to be Temporary Lieutenant. He then proceeded to Bramshott, and returned to France on November 23, 1917, and four days later, re-joined the 18^th Battalion.

Seven months later, on June 29, 1918, he was admitted into hospital due to influenza. Three weeks later, on July 18, 1918, he was transferred to No. 20 General Hospital, Camiers, where he remained in hospital into early August. He was discharged to the Medical Board Depot, and rejoined his unit in the field on August 7, 1918.

Leslie Boulton survived the war, returning to England on April 4, 1919. One month later, on May 13, 1919, he sailed from Liverpool and returned to Canada. On May 25, 1919, Lieutenant Leslie Boulton of the 18th Battalion, was discharged in London, Ontario, struck off strength on demobilization. Leslie Boulton returned to his home in Sarnia. He passed away in 1968 at the age of eighty-one, and is buried in Lakeview Cemetery, Sarnia.

Source

Letter written by Private Boulton to his mother and sister dated June 14, 1915.

We have a big English instructor for an hour every day and believe me when he gets through with us we are all sweating. The we have bayonet drill every day. We have spring bayonets, pads, masks and gloves and go for each other like a German and a Britisher, lots of fun and you can’t get hurt. I had two goes today with Stan Musselman, my chum. We have lots of hard work but the officers are a good sort and gives us lots of fun.

NOTE: This edition indicates the soldier’s surname as Bouton.

Antal, S., & Shackleton, K. (2006). Arrival in England. In Duty nobly done: The official history of the Essex and Kent Scottish Regiment (1st ed., p. 173). Windsor, ON: Walkerville Pub.