Erskine, WR
(1884 - 1917)
Key Facts
DATE OF BIRTH:
11th September 1884
YEARS ATTENDED THE COLLEGE:
1898 - 1900
HOME ADDRESS WHEN AT THE COLLEGE:
49 Harold Road, Upper Norwood
REGIMENT
31st Battalion, Canadian Infantry
FINAL RANK:
Private
DATE OF DEATH:
9th April 1917
AGE AT DEATH:
32
WHERE HE DIED (or was wounded)
Vimy Ridge
LOCATION OF GRAVE OR MEMORIAL:
Bois-Carre British Cemetery, Thelus. I C 3/5
Private William Robert Erskine
William was born on September 11th 1884, the fourth and youngest child, yet only son, of a Sydenham-based surgeon, also named William Erskine, and his wife, Janet. Having spent two years at Dulwich he subsequently, in 1903, moved out to Canada in order to work as a farmer. For the next decade he held homesteads, at one time or another, in both Alberta and Saskatchewan; during this period he also married an American-born woman, Helen Bain.
On April 7th 1916, by now resident in the town of Oyen, Alberta, William signed up as a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, and later that year sailed to Europe to take part in the conflict. Having gone over to France for the first time in early 1917, he was involved in his first major action when, on 9th April, at Vimy Ridge, he was killed. He was survived by his widow, Helen, and their two children.
