838794 Pte. Roy Eccles was born to Major and Isabella Eccles in the small farming community of Dromore, Grey County, Ontario, on September 8th, 1894.
The eldest son of the seven children born to the couple, Roy attested to the 147th Battalion on February 1st, 1916, and was assigned to "C" Company under the command of Captain Dobie.
Billeted locally over the winter the unit left for training at Camp Niagara in the Spring of 1916. As the conditions in the Camp were wanting the unit moved to the new training facility of Camp Borden in late June. In September the unit received their orders to proceed overseas, but due to an outbreak of diphtheria they were detained in Amherst, Nova Scotia for over a month. The unit finally sailed for Great Britain, on November 14th 1916.
On January 1st, 1917, the 147th Battalion ceased to exist when it became the nucleus for the 8th Reserve Battalion, whose task it was to supply reinforcements to the 58th Battalion and the 4th C.M.R. Roy was taken on strength of the 4th C.M.R. on February 17th, 1917, in the build up for the Battle of Arras, which saw the Canadian Corps storm Vimy Ridge on April 9th, 1917.
At some point during his service Roy was wounded and evacuated through the medical system to No. 5 General Hospital in Rouen, France. Here he succumbed to his wounds on November 30th, 1917, and lies at rest in St. Sever Cemetery Extension (Rouen).
Remembered locally, Private Roy Eccles loss is remembered on the Holstein Cenotaph, Ontario.
Credit and thanks go to George Auer for the above biography.