Corporal Frederick Bernard Daniells
681305
Born: 1895 Manchester, England
Lived in Toronto, ON
Killed in Action June 18, 1917 – Vimy Sector
It must have been the dilemma of a lifetime. Viewed from the lens of 2021, it would be expected that he would, just simply, stand down. Maybe that perspective is blurred by contemporary societal expectations. If tragedy struck a soldier’s family today it would most certainly result in the branch of the Army of which he served giving him (or her) one option…they would be expected and urged to stay home and look after their child. However, in the year 1916 when war was raging in France and Belgium societal expectations were different. It was expected that all men of military age serve…to fight and risk their lives to protect those left back at home, including their own children. Thus, on the eve of departing to France, one man, Manchester-born, Tilsbury native Frederick Bernard Daniells was saddled with making the hardest decision a man, a father could ever make.
It was that same summer in 1916 when tragedy struck his family. While out shopping with her son Douglass, and whilst certainly masking her pain and illness, Frederick’s wife Annie with all the suddenness that one can imagine…died. I imagine there is an even more complicated story behind it, however the diagnosis concluded that she died of syphilitic meningitis. This left the 37 yr old soldier, a rising star in the 170th Battalion with an arduous decision. The Private who was quickly promoted to Corporal and then to Sergeant was also a father…father of a ten year old boy.
Frederick was a father in an age where the mother stayed home and raised the children while the father went to work to make it so. Frederick and his wife Annie emigrated from England to Canada to give their son a chance at growing up in a place far from the congested, polluted, harsh confines of their industrial hometown of Manchester England. The family settled in the quaint town of Tilbury Ontario. This was about as opposite one can get from their former setting. Frederick rose to become a foreman at the F.S. Carr Rubber Company, an organization that manufactured fittings for the growing automobile manufacturing industry. With the success he was able to attain, he elected to move his family Toronto. However, soon after, the first decision of many difficult ones had to be made. Having a background in military service from the 2 years he spent with the 4th Manchester Battalion prior to emigrating to Canada, made the decision rather straightforward. Hence, in February of 1916 he enlisted with the 170th Mississauga Horse Battalion.
With the sudden death of his wife and mother of his son, Daniells was left with a most challenging decision. With no apparent family in Canada at the time, his ultimate decision would be considered unthinkable today. He placed his son, Douglass Bernard in an orphanage so he could go off to war. Daniels choose to maintain his commitment to king and country and asked the Oddfellows Orphanage to look after his son and give him a safe, loving home until he returned from the war. If.
In the short time prior to leaving, in October of 1916 Sergeant Daniells would be given one final leave. One final chance to give his boy a hug. One last time to hold him in his arms. On Oct 25th, he set off to England with the battalion. Upon arrival in England, his unit was absorbed into the other Toronto-based battalion, the 169th. Members of the 169th were then broken up with some being absorbed into the 116th. Daniels joined the 116th on Jan 25th 1917.
During the month of May and June, the 116th would go back and forth from manning quiet areas of the Vimy Ridge trenches to the rear where they conducted an intensive degree of training. It was late in the evening on June 18th after 5 days serving in the front-line trenches when Daniells platoon received word that they were being relieved. Men from the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles arrived marking the time when Corporal Daniells could lead him men to the trenches in the rear. It was during this transition when another random inbound chunk of iron from the sky exploded in the wrong place at the wrong time. Out of the platoon of men, one jagged scrap hit Daniells in the head…killing him instantly.
Which leads us to the young orphan, Douglass Bernard Daniells…what happened to him? My research on his life and experiences are yet to be completed…however I was able to confirm that he went back and forth to England three times in his early twenties. He took up a career as a bookkeeper and appeared to get married in 1930. There was the chance that he himself became a father. Yet, as one contemplates the memory that Douglass might have had of his father they need to consider the prospect of hope. Hope that he eventually came to understand why he made that decision…the most difficult decision that any father could ever make. This, on this Father’s Day weekend, I am hopeful that if he every felt any animosity towards his dad that he came to forgive him. And I am more hopeful that he grew up proud of his old man. Proud that his dad fought and died for his freedom. Proud that he kept his promise…to give him a better life and a chance to be as successful as he could possible be.
Happy Father’s Day Frederick! You did your best…and thank you for keeping your promise.