The Search

This site came about following my discovery in 1995 that a relative of mine, Frank Forsdike (my great-grandfather’s brother), had lost his life in the First World War whilst serving with the 4th CMR. This discovery affected me deeply, more so when I found out that this was a Canadian regiment. Like Frank, I was British born and bred and Canada was a long way from the Suffolk fields of the east coast of England that Frank grew up in.

What moved me further was that we knew Frank had married a young lady called Myrtle Cole and that the couple had a daughter, Florence, who was just 2 years old when Frank was killed in 1916. I was then saddened to discover that his medals were still in the vaults in Ottawa, unclaimed because his wife and daughter could not be traced in 1920.

Although I searched for any clues that Frank's family had perpetuated through Myrtle and Florence, none were to be found and after many false leads and dead ends I had essentially given up on the search by 2006. However, the quest had put me in contact with a good many people whose relatives had served in the Regiment, so I decided to create a website in the May of 2006, that would be a point of mutual contact for those people; the focus being on ensuring in a dignified and respectful way that the men of the 4CMR were not forgotten. Also, I realised, it would be there should the family of Frank Forsdike, if it had been perpetuated, should ever go looking for details on their relative.

Contact!

On November 11th, 2007, most poignantly, I was sifting through 4CMR contact emails when my eye caught one in particular. I read it in increasing amazement, as this was in fact the email that I had been waiting for. Bert Layton was asking if I was a cousin because his grandfather was none other than Frank Forsdike, Corporal of the 4th CMR. In a spare moment between teaching sessions, he had stumbled across this website whilst he looked for sources that might lead to an understanding of his grandfather's history. Not only did 4cmr.com have details about the regiment his grandfather had served with, it also had a page dedicated to his grandfather, which included images he and the family themselves, in Nova Scotia, did not have!

After pretty much picking himself up off of the floor, Bert made contact! What a day that was! I recall calling to my wife, shouting "It's Frank's family! It's Frank's family!". I just couldn't believe it. There were tears both sides of the Atlantic that evening, it has to be said. Please do take a look at Frank Forsdike's page to read Frank's biography and to see what happened next, especially concerning the subsequent and long overdue memorial ceremony, covered coast to coast in Canada and to a much lesser degree in the UK, on May 10th, 2008.

Frank's medals finally came home when they were presented to his daughter, Florence, alive and well at 95. It was a further validation of the work started here exactly two years earlier, and as a direct result of the medals ceremony, that Frank's name was consequently honoured under Resolution 2609, in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly a few days later.

This website, then, was instrumental in Frank's grandson, Bert, finding out about his grandfather, and for Florence to learn about the father she never knew (she was 2 years old when he was killed in the Battle for Mount Sorrel - June 2nd, 1916).

The Journey

Indeed, the site continues to help people find out about relatives who served in the 4CMR, as in one of those odd coincidences, a photograph I had of Frank as a Corporal, with 7 men of his Section, was buzzed down the line from the UK to aid a young lady in Ontario to see what the 4CMR uniform looked like, only for her to discover her grandfather was in the picture!! It is a small world sometimes.

The legacy of this site is that as contacts are made, names are added to the Wall on the In Memoriam page and branches of families, long gone their own ways, are brought back together again. It is heart-warming every time it happens. Whilst some people find each other in the process of researching a common relation, yet others discover important details about their own roots, about who and where they themselves came from, as indeed did I when I started out on this voyage of discovery.

So, please, do explore the website and let the journey continue....