113084 Pte. Irving Belaire was born in Pemrbooke, Ontario, on October 18th, 1893.


On signing on, on December 30th, 1914, Irving was an unmarried man, aged 21 years, standing 5'10" tall. He walked into a recruiting station in Ottawa, Ontario, and at the time of his attestation, Irving had previously been a member of 5th Princess Louise Dragoon Guards, B squadron, for 1 year.


Originally assigned to the 8th Canadian Mounted Rifles, Irving left to go overseas. In January 1916 the 8th CMR was absorbed by the 4th CMR and Irving as duly transferred on January 29th, 1916.


On June 2nd, 1916, Irving was located with his regiment alongside the 1st CMR, the RCR, the PPCLI and the 5th BN, defending a section of the Ypres salient known as Mount Sorrel, when the German attack came.


Somewhere that day Irving fell in battle to disappear into the mud of Belgium as so many thousand others had done before and afterwards. One estimate was that he died in the detonation of mines under the 4th CMR position.


Pte. Irving Belaire's name appears on Tablet B, Panel 32, on the Menin Gate Memorial, Ieper, Belgium.




Biography and image with thanks to Chris Jones and Patricia Jones.


Image of Tablet B, Panel 32, Menin Gate Memorial supplied by 4cmr.com