From Private to Patient ONE SOLDIER’S STORY

Craigdarroch Military Hospital patient Private Ralph Forrester, Regimental No. 524673, came to my attention through an email from his grandson, Dr. Hugh Whitney, chief veterinary officer for Newfoundland and Labrador. Dr. Whitney’s mother, Mary Whitney, visited the Castle in 2004 and shared her father’s story. A few years later, Dr. Whitney shared his research on his grandfather Forrester. His research and his mother’s recollections inform the following paragraphs.

Though born in Mexico, Ralph Forrester emigrated to Canada from Oldham, Lancashire in 1911. His wife, Violet, and young daughter, Edith joined him in New Westminster three months later. They moved to Qualicum Beach two years later, where Forrester pursued his trade as a master painter. Two more children had been born by the time the First World War started.

Forrester joined the Canadian Army Medical Corps January Militia