113091 Pte. Francis "Frank" George Walter Blackbourn, born 26th May, 1892, in Norwich, England, was the third of five children born to William Thomas Blackbourn and Eliza Mary Dodman.
The Blackbourns moved to Canada around 1912 and settled in Asphodel, near the village of Hastings, Ontario. Frank married Harriet Marion Balfour on 12th June, 1913, in Lindsay, Ontario. The couple resided in Hastings and in later years they bought a house on Russell Street in Lindsay.
Frank and Marion had two children before the War and five more were to follow after the War.
When the call to duty came, Frank enlisted into the 8th CMR, which was absorbed into the 4th CMR in January, 1916.
It was during the opening day of the "Battle for Mount Sorrel" that Frank, and some 280 other 4th CMR men, was taken prisoner. He was not formally notified as being taken POW by the Germans until July 20th. Certainly an anxious time for all who knew him to have been missing from the 2nd. Frank spent the next 2½ years in German prison camps.
In the above POW image taken in Germany, Frank is in the back row, left most. picture.
After the War, Frank was also a member of L.O.L. No. 557, as well as the 45th Regiment. He was secretary of the Brotherhood of Railway Car Men, vice president of the local branch of the Canadian Legion and president of the Sergeants' Mess of the 45th Regiment. He was formerly employed in the car department of the Canadian National Railroad.
It was whilst helping a neighbour prepare pigs for market on November 26th, 1932, that Frank died suddenly of a heart attack, traceable to disabilities sustained during WWI.
Frank now rests beside his wife and son, John, at the Riverside Cemetery, Lindsay, Ontario.
Many thanks to John Workman for the above biography and images.