FWW Names – G

Regimental Number: 790949
Enlistment Date / Location / Unit: 19 April 1916/ New Westminster/131st Overseas Battalion, CEF
Birth Date / Location: 6 August 1883 / Chilliwack, BC
Parents: Robert Craig Garner (1832-1912) and Alice (Stó:lō Nation) (1850-1903)
Occupation on Enlistment: Logger
Date of Death / Location: 18 December 1917 / No. 22 Casualty Clearing Station, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France
Age at Death: 34
Unit on Date of Death, or on Demobilization: 47th Battalion, CEF
Circumstances of Death: Died of multiple gunshot wounds incurred on 17 December 1917 in action
Cemetery or Memorial: Bruay Communal Cemetery Extension. Bruay-la-Buissiere, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, L. 28
Medals / Awards: British War Medal, Victory Medal
Where commemorated: Aboriginal Veterans Tribute Honour List (remembered as Roy Cromarty aka Sam Roy Garner); Canadian Virtual War Memorial, Veterans Affairs Canada (remembered as both Sam Roy Garner and Roy Cromarty); Chilliwack War Memorial; Chilliwack War Memorial World War One Roll of Honour (remembered as S.R. Garner); First World War Book of Remembrance page 223, Memorial Chamber, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, ON (remembered as Roy Cromarty); Maple Ridge Cenotaph, Maple Ridge, BC (remembered as R. Cromarty); Maple Ridge Legion Branch #88 Memorial Plaque (remembered as R. Cromarty); Municipality of Maple Ridge Honour Roll, St John the Divine Anglican Church, Maple Ridge, BC (remembered as S. Garner); The Gold Stripe Roll of Honour, Maple Ridge, page 89 (remembered as Roy Cromarty); Whonnock Lake Centre plaque, Maple Ridge, BC (remembered as S. Garner)

Sam Roy Garner was born 6 August 1883, the son of Robert Craig Garner, an American who arrived in Chilliwack, BC in 1864 and his wife, Alice of the Stó:lō Nation. Sam, under his own name, enlisted in the 158th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force on 7 April 1916 and was given Regimental No. 646125. He listed his present address as Whonnock, B.C. and his next of kin as his sister-in-law Mrs. Barbara Garner. Barbara Christine née Robertson was the widow of William Henry Garner, Sam’s oldest brother and the daughter of Robert Robertson and Tselatsetenate.

On 18 April 1916, Sam was discharged as “not likely to be an efficient soldier”. The next day, 19 April 1916, Sam re-enlisted at New Westminster, BC in the 131st Battalion CEF under the name “Roy Cromarty”. His nephew Samuel E. Cromarty, the son of Sam’s older sister Caroline Garner and her husband Samuel E. Cromarty, had enlisted in the 131st Battalion CEF on 13 April 1916. Sam and his nephew Samuel appear together in a photograph of No. 1 Platoon of the 131st Overseas Battalion taken in 1916. Upon enlistment, Sam was 1.63 meters (5 feet 4¼ inches) in height, weighed 67 kilograms (148 pounds), had dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair. He listed his occupation as Logger.

Effective 1 November 1916, the day Sam embarked overseas from Halifax, he assigned his monthly pay of $20 to Mrs. W.H. Garner of Whonnock, BC. On 27 November 1916, Sam was transferred to the 47th Battalion and sent to France. Charlie Owen (1895-1993) another Maple Ridge First World War Soldier recounted this interaction with Sam:

“Shortly after Charlie arrived German artillery shells began to explode around the trenches. The ditches were dug in a zigzag pattern so that bursting shrapnel could travel only a short distance. When an artillery shell exploded near him Charlie’s first instinct was to run down the trench in the other direction. He rounded a bend and came face to face with a soldier from Whonnock named Cromarty who was calmly sitting on a bench smoking a pipe. A piece of corrugated tin above his head protected him from being splattered by mud. Cromarty removed the pipe from his mouth and said quietly, ‘There’s no point running from ‘em, Charlie. You’ll just as soon run into one as away from one.’ He was right, I soon got used to it. But Cromarty was killed later on. His name is on the cenotaph down in Haney.” - All Our Yesterdays: Stories from Maple Ridge, Villiers, E. (2005).

Sam sustained multiple gunshot wounds on 17 December 1917 in action in Hersin-Coupigny, Pas-de-Calais, France. He was considered dangerously ill and admitted to the No. 22 Casualty Clearing Station CEF where he died of his wounds on 18 December 1917. He is buried in the Bruay Communal Cemetery Extension, located in Bruay-la-Buissiere, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.

Sam’s brother Joseph Garner (1880-1946) Regimental No. 63390 lived in “Warnock, BC” upon enlistment and also assigned his pay to sister-in-law Mrs. W.H. Garner. Sam’s nephew: Samuel E. Cromarty (1895-1968), born in Whonnock, BC, son of older sister Caroline Garner (1876-1954) and Samuel E. Cromarty (1869-1923) Regimental No. 790920 also enlisted.

R. Cromarty’s name was on the Maple Ridge Cenotaph when it was unveiled in 1923.

Read more: Braches, Fred. “The Case of Private Cromarty: A Soldier from Whonnock”, Whonnock Notes No. 14

(Updated 31-Jan-2024)

Regimental Number: 35218
Enlistment Date / Location / Unit: 8 December 1914 / Toronto, ON / Canadian Postal Corp
Birth Date / Location: 1 May 1890 / Isle of Wight, Hampshire, England
Parents: Benjamin Goffin and Lizzie Rebecca Durrant
Spouse: Violet Ethel Fanning
Occupation on Enlistment: Mail Clerk
Date of Death / Location: 25 April 1922 / Point Grey (Vancouver) BC
Age at Death: 31
Unit on Date of Death, or on Demobilization: Canadian Postal Corp
Where & when demobilized: Victoria, BC / 13 May 1918
Circumstances of Death: Nephritis
Cemetery or Memorial: Mountain View Cemetery, Vancouver, BC
Medals / Awards: 1914-1915 Star, Victory Medal, British War Medal
Where commemorated: First World War Book of Remembrance, page 561, Memorial Chamber, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario; Honouring Our Own, page 80, Van-Fraser Heritage Club, Vancouver, BC; Maple Ridge Cenotaph, Maple Ridge, BC; Maple Ridge Legion Branch #88 Memorial Plaque; Memorial Plaque, St John the Divine Anglican Church, Maple Ridge, BC; Municipality of Maple Ridge Honour Roll, St John the Divine Anglican Church, Maple Ridge, BC; The Gold Stripe Roll of Honour, Maple Ridge, page 89

Arthur Frederick Goffin was born on the Isle of Wight in May 1890 to Benjamin Goffin and his wife Lizzie Rebecca (nee Durrant). He came to Canada on the Empress of Britain with his family in August 1910, landing at the Port of Quebec. By 1911, the family was living in Maple Ridge near Webster’s Corners.

The 30 September 1915 Vancouver Daily World stated that Arthur was one of the men who enlisted from “F” Company of the 104th Regiment in Maple Ridge. In December 1914, Arthur enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in a cyclist battalion in Toronto, where he worked as a mail clerk, but he soon transferred to the Canadian Postal Corp in February 1915. At the time he enlisted he was 24 years old, 1.70 meters (5 feet 7 inches) tall with a fair complexion, light brown hair and blue eyes.

He proceeded to France in June 1915 and was transferred to the General Headquarters, 3rd Echelon, in Rouen, France, which was “the agency responsible for all personnel movements in France”. He also was in and out of hospitals in France and England due to his battle with albuminuria, a sign of kidney disease. He was later diagnosed with nephritis.

Arthur returned to Canada on the Grampian at St. John, NB, on 17 March 1918. He married Violet Ethel Fanning a few days later in the Holy Trinity Church in Quebec on 21 March 1918. He was discharged in Victoria, BC in May 1918, as being physically unfit for further service. He ended his service as Acting Sergeant with Corporal pay.

He returned to work as a mail clerk with the Canadian Pacific Railway but he died of chronic nephritis in April 1922 at age 31 and is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Vancouver. He was survived by his wife, Violet, parents Benjamin and Lizzie, younger brother Robert and sister Patience.
He is commemorated on our local cenotaph here in Maple Ridge and by the Van Fraser Postal Heritage Club in Vancouver.

Brother Reginald Goffin, Regimental No. 75917, joined the 29th Battalion in 1914 and died in August 1918 in battle of Amiens, during the attack on the town of Rosieires.

Arthur’s name was not on the Cenotaph when it was unveiled in 1923 but the 24 November 1927 Weekly Gazette reported that his name was included in the honor roll read at the 1927 Armistice Day ceremony. A.F. Goffin appears at the bottom of the Cenotaph by the 1920s based on photo P01201.
(Updated 03-Jan-2024)

Regimental Number: 75917
Enlistment Date / Location / Unit: 9 November 1914 / Vancouver, BC / 29th Battalion
Birth Date / Location: 15 May 1895 / Toddington, Bedfordshire, England
Parents: Benjamin Goffin and Lizzie Rebecca Durrant
Occupation on Enlistment: Farmer
Date of Death / Location: 9 August 1918 / Rosieres, Somme, France
Age at Death: 23
Unit on Date of Death, or on Demobilization: 29th Battalion, Tobin’s Tigers
Circumstances of Death: Killed in Action. “Whilst taking part in the attack on Rosieres on the afternoon of August 9, 1918, and after he had reached the far side of the town, he was instantly killed by an enemy bullet, which entered his neck.”
Cemetery or Memorial: Rosieres Communal Cemetery Extension, Somme, France, I.B. 22
Medals / Awards: 1914-1915 Star
Where commemorated: First World War Book of Remembrance, page 415, Memorial Chamber, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, Ontario; Maple Ridge Cenotaph, Maple Ridge, BC; Maple Ridge Legion Branch #88 Maple Ridge; Memorial Plaque, St John the Divine Anglican Church, Maple Ridge, BC; Municipality of Maple Ridge Honour Roll, St John the Divine Anglican Church, Maple Ridge, BC ; The Gold Stripe Roll of Honour, Maple Ridge, page 89;

Reginald George Goffin was born in May 1895 in Toddington, Bedfordshire, England to Benjamin Goffin and his wife Lizzie Rebecca (nee Durrant). His family came to Canada on the Empress of Britain in 1910 and were headed to Vancouver, BC. By the spring of 1911, the Goffin family was living in Maple Ridge. “Red” Goffin was a member of the Port Haney Basketball Club and a player who made “the opposing forwards hustle” according to the 17 February 1917 Vancouver Daily World.

Reginald was one of the many young men who formed the Maple Ridge Home Guard in August 1914. These young men wanted to ready themselves for war, so that when called upon they “are found fit to fulfill military requirements.”

He was 19 years old, 1.79 meters (5 feet 10 ½ inches) tall with a fair complexion, sandy hair, and blue eyes on his attestation paper when he enlisted with the 29th Battalion on 9 November 1914 in Vancouver.

Goffin, along with several young men from Maple Ridge, enlisted in the 29th Battalion when it was formed in November 1914. They trained at Hastings Park in Vancouver for six months, which included daily physical activities and marching between New Westminster and back was “an ordinary day’s march.”

They left Vancouver on 14 May 1915 and headed overseas from Montreal on the ship Missanabie to continue their training in England. They landed at Devonport, in southern England and boarded the train to Shorncliffe, a camp near Folkestone, Kent. The battalion became known as the Tobin’s Tigers after its Commanding Officer Lieutenant–Colonel. H.S. Tobin.

He rose through the ranks to attain his lieutenancy by early 1918. Reginald was killed in action during the battle of Amiens, “whilst taking part in the attack on Rosieres on the afternoon of August 9, 1918, and after he had reached the far side of the town, he was instantly killed by an enemy bullet, which entered his neck.” He is buried at the Rosieres Communal Cemetery in Somme, France, where he lost his life. He was only 23 years old. Reginald is commemorated on the Maple Ridge Cenotaph and the Memorial Plaque at St. John the Divine Church.

Reginald’s brother Arthur Goffin, Regimental No. 35218, served with the Canadian Postal Corp during the war. He returned home in 1918, but died of nephritis in 1922, which was attributed to his war service. R.G. Goffin’s name was on the Cenotaph when it was unveiled in 1923.
(Updated 18-Feb-2024)

L. Griffin was listed on Cenotaph when it was unveiled in 1923 but further research is needed to determine his identity.