The 100th anniversary of the First World War is now finished but the records will continue to be preserved at the Archives and accessible to current and future generations who want to know more about the time period. In addition, this blog will remain on our website as an additional resource.

From April 2016 to April 2017, this blog featured the First World War letters of one Manitoba soldier, George Battershill, of East Kildonan. Most of the letters were written to his mother or to his father. The blog follows the letters that George wrote in the same week, one hundred years ago.

2016 Blog Posts

January 2016

•   4 January: Come Celebrate the 100^th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage in Manitoba!
• 11 January: The 100^th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage: Newspapers From the Day
• 18 January: The 100^th Anniversary of Women's Suffrage: Manitoba Women are First in Canada to Get the Provincial Vote

April 2016

• 20 April: One Manitoba Soldier: The letters of George Battershill
• 25 April: One Manitoba Soldier: George Battershill arrives in England

May 2016

•   2 May: One Manitoba Soldier: Back from London and on to Shorncliffe
•   9 May: One Manitoba Soldier: At Shorncliffe
• 12 May: The Panoramic Record: Wide-Angle Photographs from the time of the First World War
• 16 May: One Manitoba Soldier: Letters to Mother and to Dad
• 24 May: One Manitoba Soldier: More from Shorncliffe
• 30 May: One Manitoba Soldier: “By the time you get this, I'll be in France”

June 2016

•   6 June: One Manitoba Soldier: Somewhere in France
• 13 June: One Manitoba Soldier: “Not in the trenches yet”
• 20 June: One Manitoba Soldier: Somewhere in Belgium
• 27 June: One Manitoba Soldier: Nine days in the trenches

July 2016

•   4 July: One Manitoba Soldier: Writing letters and waiting for more
• 11 July: Panoramic photo of the 61^st Battalion: Where's George Battershill?
• 18 July: One Manitoba Soldier: Out of the trenches
• 25 July: One Manitoba Soldier: Friends at the front

August 2016

•   2 August: One Manitoba Soldier: I remain, as B4, GeoB
•   8 August: One Manitoba Soldier: “It is great fun in one of these holes”
• 15 August: One Manitoba Soldier: Visiting friends at the 78^th Battalion, the Winnipeg Grenadiers
• 22 August: One Manitoba Soldier: “I think it will be over pretty soon…”
• 29 August: One Manitoba Soldier: Writing from a farm house

September 2016

•   6 September: One Manitoba Soldier: Back to the Machine Gun Section
• 12 September: One Manitoba Soldier: Wounded
• 19 September: One Manitoba Soldier: Back at the Front
• 26 September: One Manitoba Soldier: Out of Money

October 2016

• 11 October: One Manitoba Soldier: A “whiz bang” to mother
• 17 October: One Manitoba Soldier: Too many letters to answer
• 24 October: One Manitoba Soldier: Tanks!
• 31 October: One Manitoba Soldier: One quick letter to Mother

November 2016

•   7 November: One Manitoba Soldier: Remembering
• 14 November: One Manitoba Soldier: Dear Kid
• 21 November: One Manitoba Soldier: Family connections
• 28 November: One Manitoba Soldier: Looking forward to Christmas

December 2016

•   5 December: One Manitoba Soldier: “I hope we are home for next Christmas”
• 12 December: One Manitoba Soldier: Letters and parcels
• 19 December: One Manitoba Soldier: Christmas Eve at the front
• 28 December: One Manitoba Soldier: Christmas Day truce