Source: Per news clipping post by David Archer at 18th Battalion Facebook Page (not group).
Family Search: When Private Harry Augustus Lilly was born on 6 February 1898, in London, England, United Kingdom, his father, Sergeant Gustavius Henry Lilly, was 29 and his mother, Ellen Wiley, was 29. He had at least 4 daughters with Jennie Viola Hoar. He immigrated to Quebec, Quebec, Canada in 1910 and lived in Saint George the Martyr Holborn, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom in 1901 and Toronto, York, Ontario, Canada for about 10 years. He registered for military service in 1916. In 1921, at the age of 23, his occupation is listed as telephone mechanic, bell canada in Lindsay, Victoria, Ontario, Canada. He died on 22 December 1979, at the age of 81, and was buried in Brampton Cemetery, Brampton, Peel, Ontario, Canada.
PRINTED ON SHIPBOARD
WAS NEWSPAPER “PEEL”
Official Organ of 126th Peel Came Out During Voyage of Regiment on Empress of Britain.
Mrs. H. J. Lilly, of 371 Clinton street, has only the memory of her brave husband, Sergt. A. H. Lilly of the 4th Battalion, who was killed at Festubert. Since his death both their sons have left for the front, and only herself and daughter remain in the home. Her younger son, Pte. Harry Lilly, who is but seventeen, is with the 234th Battalion, while the elder, Pte. Harry Lilly, is a member of the 126th Peel. The latter regiment, it will be remembered, left Toronto only recently, but is now safely across the sea in the English Camp Borden.
Describing the voyage in the Empress of Britain, the 19-year-old soldier wrote when in mid-ocean:
LITTLE SEA-SICKNESS.
“There has been hardly any seasickness so far, and the water is calmer than Lake Ontario. The other battalions on board are the 117th, from Quebec province, the 120th, from the city of Hamilton, the 121st, who came all the way from Vancouver, and the 126th Peel. When we got up Friday, the 18th August, there was a heavy fog on the sea. It lifted about noon, and we saw the other ten ships (one a Swedish) that had passed us a mile ahead.
“The following Sunday was a fine day. We had a short service in the morning. We had rabbit for dinner, and now all the fellows are barking like dogs and mewing like cats, as they say it was these animals we had eaten.
“Monday, Aug. 21, was a very rough and stormy day, and everybody was seasick. Tuesday the sea ran though the wind was stronger. About 7 o’clock Wednesday we saw the shores of England, and as we sailed up the River Mersey to Liverpool all the boats on the river were blowing their whistles and horns. I am so hoarse with cheering that I can’t talk.”
PRINTED ON SHIPBOARD.
Pte. Lilly enclosed a little paper, “The Peel,” which was printed on shipboard. The tiny but well-written newspaper is the official organ of the 126th (Peel) battalion, and is, so the title page informs the reader, “Printed every once in a while.”
An editorial says: “Somewhere in mid-ocean we survey in retrospect the history of the 126th Battalion,” and the writer mentions among the experiences “The perpetual soaking at Niagara, the baking and sand papering at Borden. But through the tincture of variegated experience a thread has run — the fine line of progress.”
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 