FWW Names – N

Regimental Number: 790340 / Lieutenant
Enlistment Date / Location / Unit: 8 January 1916 / New Westminster / 131st Battalion
Birth Date / Location: 5 December 1896 / Vancouver, BC
Parents: Walter Gordon Newitt and Emma Ida (nee Tidy) Newitt
Occupation on Enlistment: Farmer
Date of Death / Location: 1 November 1918 / Valenciennes, France
Age at Death: 21 years
Unit on Date of Death, or on Demobilization: 47th Battalion
Circumstances of Death: Killed in action while advancing at Valenciennes, France
Cemetery or Memorial: Aulnoy Communal Cemetery, Aulnoy-lez-Valenciennes, Nord, France, A.2.20
Medals / Awards: Military Medal 13 March 1918; Military Cross 15 February 1919
Where commemorated: Canadian Virtual War Memorial, Veterans Affairs Canada; First World War Book of Remembrance page 477, Memorial Chamber, Parliament Buildings, Ottawa, ON; Maple Ridge Cenotaph, Maple Ridge, BC; Distinguished Service or Gallantry Awards Plaque, Memorial Peace Park, Maple Ridge, BC; Maple Ridge Legion Branch #88 Memorial Plaque; St John the Divine Anglican Church Memorial Plaque, 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; The Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church Second Tablet of Fame

Thomas Gordon Newitt was born in Vancouver, BC on 5 December 1896 to Walter Gordon Newitt and Emma Ida (nee Tidy) Newitt. His father had emigrated from England in 1880 working his way across Canada before settling with his family as a dairy farmer in Albion Flats, Port Haney, BC.
Thomas and his older brother, Melvin followed the military tradition of their father and enlisted in the 104th Regiment shortly before war was declared. Thomas enlisted in New Westminster on 8 January 1916 and was assigned to the 131st Battalion. He was 1.7 meters (5 feet 7-3/4 inches) tall and weighed 63.5 kilograms (140 pounds), he had grey eyes and dark brown hair. On 1 November 1916 he embarked at Halifax and arrived at Liverpool ten days later.

He was drafted to the 47th Battalion on 27 November 1916 and arrived in France on 28 November 1916. By 5 May 1917 he was appointed Acting Corporal and 13 October 1917 he was confirmed as Sargeant.

On 13 March 1918 Thomas was awarded the Military Medal for his “conspicuous gallantry and good leadership during the operations in front of Cambrai”. Thomas led his company across the Canal du Nord to complete their objective when his company commander became a casualty. He was raised to the rank of Lieutenant on 6 August 1918.

Captain Keith Campbell Macgowan wrote in a letter to his mother in 1918. “Last night I got word of the Battalion. It went through a show a few days after I left and one of my favorite young officers a chap named Newitt who came out with the 131st as a private, was killed. He was with me in quite a few nasty spots and he was really a wonder, didn’t know what fear was.”

On the morning of 1 November 1918 Thomas was the only officer killed in action at Valenciennes, France, though Canadian losses numbered 80 with over 300 wounded. After leading his men through the main attack, Thomas was cleaning some snipers out of a house when he was instantly killed by a machine gun bullet. He was awarded the Military Cross posthumously on 15 February 1919.

Private Walter Melbourne “Melvin” Newitt Regimental No. 76036 was wounded twice before he was assigned to do staff duty in England until the end of the First World War. Thomas’ family owned the farm in Albion until his youngest brother, Charles’ death in 1981. Walter, Emma, and Charles are buried in the Maple Ridge Cemetery.

TG Newitt’s name was on the Cenotaph when it was unveiled in 1923.
(Updated 01-Feb-2024)

Regimental Number: 1374
Enlistment Date / Location / Unit: 15 November 1914, Esquimalt, BC; Canadian Army Medical Corps; 4th Field Ambulance
Birth Date / Location: 20 March 1883 / Skinburness, Silloth, Cumberland, England
Parents: William Armstrong Nichol and Agnes (nee Mitchell) Nichol
Occupation on Enlistment: Gardener
Date of Death / Location: 03 July1916 / Verbrandmolen, Belgium
Age at Death: 33 years
Unit on Date of Death, or on Demobilization: Canadian Army Medical Corps; 4th Field Ambulance
Circumstances of Death: Killed in action
Cemetery or Memorial: Maple Ridge Cenotaph, Maple Ridge, BC; Municipality of Maple Ridge Honor Roll, St John the Divine Anglican Church, Maple Ridge, BC; Maple Ridge Legion Branch #88 Memorial Plaque; The Gold Stripe Roll of Honour, Maple Ridge, page 89; Mt Pleasant Presbyterian Church Honor Roll, Vancouver, BC; Silloth War Memorial, Silloth, Cumberland, England

William NICHOL was born in Skinburness, Silloth, Cumberland, England in 1893 to William Armstrong Nichol and Agnes Mitchell.

William immigrated to Canada in 1907. In 1913, his younger brother Thomas immigrated to Canada; he listed Port Hammond as his destination. Both William and Thomas were fruit farmers in Port Hammond, Maple Ridge.

Both William and Thomas are listed as members of the “Loyal Maple Ridge” who enlisted from “F” Company with the 104th Regiment (Westminster Fusiliers of Canada) in the 30 September 1915 Vancouver Daily World, however, William’s attestation paper did not note that he was an active member of the militia. They listed their occupation as gardener on their enlistment papers. Upon enlistment at age 31, William was 1.7 meters (5 feet 6 inches) in height, weighed 67 kilograms (148 pounds), had brown eyes, black hair, and a scar above right ring finger. Due to their faith as Wesleyan and thus pacifists they signed up in Esquimalt with the Canadian Army Medical Corps. Field ambulance units removed casualties from dressing stations and regimental aid posts to casualty clearing stations where urgent surgery was performed.

William and Tom sailed together to England on the S.S. Northland. William landed in France on 13 September 1915 and was killed in action on 03 July 1916, “by a shell making a direct hit on the dug-out used as a Regimental Aid Post at Verbrandmolen – where he was on duty.” The entry in the war diary for the 4th Canadian Field Ambulance notes that his funeral was held at 2:00 pm the next day with “all available officers, NCOs and men of the Unit” attending.

His brother Thomas Nichol survived the war and settled in Oliver, BC in 1923. He was an early Oliver fruit farmer.

William’s sisters Agnes Mitchell Nichol and Margaret Mitchell Nichol were Red Cross Volunteers during the First World War. Agnes as part of the Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps Regiment at Aldershot’s military hospital. Margaret served as a nurse with the Queen Alexandra Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve for two and a half years in France, Italy, and Greece. Both sisters settled in Oliver, BC after the war.

William Nichol’s name was inscribed on the Cenotaph when it was unveiled in 1923 as W. Nicholl.

(Updated 18-July-2024)