Manitoba's WWI Fallen: Carl Mather, Valour Road's forgotten hero.

To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of the First World War, I am working on a series of blog posts and radio shows that will tell the story of some of the Manitobans who died in action. For more about this project and links to other posts, follow this link.

The most famous group of First World War soldiers from Winnipeg are likely the "Pine Street Boys." Frederick Hall, Leo Clarke and Robert Shankland, all lived at one time in the 700 block of Pine Street, now Valour Road, and remarkably all received Victoria Crosses. Only Shankland returned alive.

There is another young man from just a few houses down - at 669 Valour - who also made the ultimate sacrifice. He did not win a VC and his death has been forgotten.

Source

Carl Mather was born in Morden, Manitoba in 1895. By 1914, he lived at 669 Pine Street with his parents, Thomas and Bertha, his uncle Jack, and four siblings.

Thomas Mather was a civil servant with the provincial agriculture department at the time.

 

Carl was entering his third year of law studies at the University of Manitoba when he took leave in October to enlist with the 61st Battalion, which at the time was stationed at Camp Sewell, (later known as Camp Hughes.)

In all, 1,160 students and 14 faculty and staff from the U of M also served in the forces during the war. 123 of them never returned, including Carl.

On July 26, 1916, Carl's mother received a telegram stating that her son was "dangerously wounded." He had received gunshot wounds to the face and shoulder and sent to the 3rd Casualty Clearing Station where he died on August 2, 1916 at the age of 21. He is buried at Lijssenthoek Military Cemetery, Belgium.

The family remained at the home until the late 1930s. The address changed to 669 Valour Road in 1925.

Sources:
Canadian Virtual War Memorial Veterans Affairs Canada

Attestation Papers Soldiers of World War I Library and Archives Canada

University of Manitoba Roll of Honour 1914 - 1918

This soldier's history has been pieced together using a number of sources. If you have additional information or would like to point out a factual error, please do so in the comments below or by email at cassidy-at-mts.net.

© Christian Cassidy 2014