Thanks to Nancy Cook, we have the Memorial Cross awarded to Private Wellington Cassidy 470569, 64th Battalion, Canadain Infantry who died 22 December, 1915. Son of Ruby S. Cassidy, of 121 Cornhill St., Moncton, NB and the late Henry Cassidy. Remembered with honor Clairville Cemetery.
Note
Wellington's service record is available on the main Cassidy History website at www.cassidys.ca/history/pages/memorabilia.html. He joined the service at age 21 on Sept. 27, 1915. He died Dec. 22, 1915 in Halifax, NS.
The service record lists his mother as Peenby S. Cassidy. We think that is a typo and should be Ruby S. Cassidy.
Note
One of the military service papers shows that Wellington’s service was overseas but that seems unlikely since he died in Halifax in December of 1915 and his unit (64th Battalion) did not sail to Europe until March of 1916. Checking out the 64th Battalion in Wikipedia, this unit was formed in April 1915 and recruited in NB, NS and PEI. They trained in Halifax before sailing to Europe in March 1916. So it seems unlikely that Wellington served overseas given is very brief time in the army; just a few months. If he did die overseas, they would not have returned the body and Halifax appears to be the place of death. It seems most likely that he was killed in a training exercise or died of a disease in Halifax while the 64 battalion was training for eventual participation in the war. Maybe Halifax newspapers or even the Kings County record might provide more information on what happened to Wellington. /Brian Cassidy 2019
Note
Wellington is buried in Saint Matthews United Church Cemetery, Clairville, NB. Clairville is just east of Coal Branch (north of Moncton and west of Bouctouche). /Brian Cassidy 2021
Note
Brian Cassidy - May 28, 2021. An extensive search of the Halifax Herald and Kings County Record, December 1915, revealed no mention of Wellington Cassidy. The Halifax Herald did however, report deaths, in Halifax, of soldiers in the 64th Battalion. Most common cause of death was from measles and pneumonia. The papers mentioned two hospitals: Military Hospital and Infectious Diseases Hospital. The current speculation is that Wellington met a similar fate.
Update May 29, 2021 - At an NBGS meeting today, I asked about Wellington’s possible cause of death and the suggestion was to check NS Vital Statistics. A statistics image image was provided by Daphne Wetmore. Wellington died of a combination of measles and broncho pneumonia. Length of illness was 5 days. On this single page, 4 of 6 deaths are soldiers from the 64th battalion and all from the same cause. Length of the illness was the same for 3 of them (5 days). So death from this condition was obviously common among the soldiers in Halifax at the time but I don’t have statistics on how many soldiers died overall or whether it was also a problem among the general population in Halifax. We know that 1918 was the start of the great influenza. The outbreak in Halifax may be related to the 1918 case.
View Notes for ...
Sources
There are no Source citations for this individual.
Individuals
50
5 months
