Reginald George Woods, 29th Battalion, CEF

By Chris Woods, Watton, Norfolk, United Kingdom

My father (and I) were born and brought up in Brighton, on the English Channel coast of Sussex. My grandfather was a shoemaker from Northamptonshire and moved to Brighton around 1885, where he continued making and selling his boots and shoes. My grandparents had eight children of whom two died in early childhood, two died in World War I and the others lived a normal lifespan.

Three children left England for much of their life, one to live in Africa, another to serve with the Indian Army and Reginald, who left at age fourteen. He sailed on SS Lake Manitoba for Canada in the company of some neighbours who were bakers and confectioners and who were immigrating to Prince Albert in Saskatchewan. They sailed in March 1907; his boarding pass shows that he was classed as an adult, a labourer, and his passenger record shows him as a schoolboy with five dollars.

I lost track of Reginald after they landed in St. John’s, New Brunswick, and I could not find him in the 1911 census. He reappears in his 1914 attestation paper, which records he joined the 72nd Battalion Seaforth Highlanders in Vancouver 1912. At that time this was a militia unit and maybe at only five feet five he was their mascot!

On November 14, 1914, Reginald joined the 29th Vancouver Infantry Battalion, British Columbia Regiment. I am guessing but at that time the 72nd Battalion appears to have been designated for homeland security while the 29th was preparing to join the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Reginald may have seen this as a way of returning to Europe and possibly seeing his family in Brighton. In this, it appears he was successful.

On March 14, 1915, Private Woods 76088 (possibly serving as a batman) and his battalion entrained from Vancouver on May 14, 1915, sailed from Montreal on RMS Missanabie and disembarked at Devonport on May 30. They travelled by train to Shorncliffe in Kent near Folkestone for training. Reginald went on for training with grenades and Lewis gun in 1916. He was missed in Brighton and my father, aged twelve, wrote to his older brother’s commanding officer asking if he could come home for Christmas. Reginald was granted leave in England from December 22, 1916, to January 5, 1917.

Reginald Woods served with Tobin’s Tigers, Vancouver’s 29th Battalion. Courtesy of Chris Woods

Reginald Woods’ grave at Etaples, France. Courtesy of Chris Woods

This was the last time the family was to see Reginald. He received a good conduct badge in February, the same month his brother—a lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery—was killed in action in France. Reginald was wounded in action during the attack on Hill 70, Lens (Vimy Ridge), on August 21, taken to No. 18 General Hospital (Camiers) and died September 3, 1917, at the base hospital in Etaples.

He was buried at Etaples cemetery and later his mother was sent the Canadian Memorial Cross.

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