Percy Carthy

Other Events:

• Interesting: tragedy, accident
• Military: WW1
• Misfortune: killed in war
• Residence: , England
• Residence: Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Residence: 39 Waterloo St., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-58379
• Residence: 1814, WW1; WW1, Private, 18th Battalion
• Military: 1914, WW1; WW1, 18th Regiment, Service #54210

Notes:

Unimaginable grief' when two mothers lose four sons

Ten local soldiers were killed 100 years ago, capturing a ruined French village on the Western Front.

It was among the bloodiest days this community endured in the First World War and it happened Sept. 15, 1916, at the Somme battlefield.

The telegrams reached home three weeks later. Two mothers suffered the most.

Harriet Carthy learned that her son Percy was killed in action. That's after his brother Eric was killed in an earlier skirmish. Annie McNicol learned that her son James was killed in action. That's after his brother Alexander died of his wounds following an earlier skirmish.

Percy and James climbed out of the trenches at 6: 24 a.m. They were in the first wave to attack the German front line, aiming for the ruins of Courcelette.

The men of their 18th infantry battalion advanced under shrapnel and bullets, inching forward on their bellies, using corpses as cover, after the enemy caught them in the open in no man's land. Percy, James, and more than 90 comrades were killed.

James, 22, checked train cars before he enlisted. He was a cheerful man who played in the battalion band. "I knew there was something wrong," Annie said, absorbing the terrible news. She hadn't received a letter from her son in three weeks.

Percy, 21, was a labourer. The Kitchener News Record consoled his mother by lauding her dead sons as heroes: "Their example inculcated by the spirit of manhood will not die."

Later, a stranger wrote to say that Percy saved her brother's life in a different battle. "I hope Mrs. Carthy that you, your husband and your family in your great loss will find a little consolation in knowing what a great hero your son was."...

'Unimaginable grief' when two mothers lose four sons. (2016). Therecord.com. Retrieved 15 September 2016, from https://www.therecord.com/news-story/6858427--unimaginable-grief-when-two-mothers-lose-four-sons/

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-72956

Joseph — Harriet Beethby. Harriet was born Abt 1864; died Yes, date unknown. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Harriet Beethby Carthy
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-58382
• Residence: 1915, 39 Waterloo St., Kitchener, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada