For the final day of 12 Days of PEI Postcards, we wanted to feature a detailed look into a sender of some postcards. When we spend time transcribing the backs of postcards, we begin to learn more about the Islanders who are sending the postcards. One postcard that caught our eye was from Private George Ling who was stationed in England during World War I. We worked in collaboration with Book Lives to discover more about Mr. Ling of Wheatley River, PEI.
George enlisted on March 20th, 1918, in Charlottetown, and this time he was sent to England with the 17th Reserve. On April 28th, 1918 he arrived in England aboard the S.S. Scotian. It must have been a dreadful journey as he was immediately sent to a hospital in Liverpool with rheumatic fever. He made a full recovery.
George was part of the 17th Canadian Reserve and lived in South Camp 28, Ripon, Yorkshire, England, the address where his sister Florrie sent him postcards. Although it appears that he did not face active duty, near the end of his service George’s health suffered again, this time from myalgia and pleuropneumonia, which hospitalized him for a few months during the summer of 1918.
George’s sister Florence (“Florrie”) wrote postcards to him while he was in England. Three of those postcards are part of the Robertson Library collection. Much later in life, Florence married William Nelson Moore. She lived in Greenvale PEI until her early death on January 20th, 1940. She would have been 49 years old.
George died on 26 November 1966 in Wheatley River, PEI. He is buried in the New Glasgow Cemetery.
Link to postcards: https://upei.cairnrepo.org/islandora/object/upei%3A4880, https://upei.cairnrepo.org/islandora/object/upei%3A2839
Link to full collection: http://upei.ca/peipostcards
Sources:
Census of Canada. Census Place: Lot (township/canton) 23, Queen's (west/ouest), Prince Edward Island; Page: 4; Family No: 35
1911 Census of Canada. Census Place: 7 - Part - Township 23, Queens, Prince Edward Island; Page: 11; Family No: 110
1921 Census of Canada. Reference Number: RG 31; Folder Number: 104; Census Place: Hunter River, Queens, Prince Edward Island; Page Number: 5
Canada. "Soldiers of the First World War (1914-1918)." Record Group 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 4930 - 35. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.
Canadian Expeditionary Force. CEF Personnel Files, 1914-1918. Accession 1992-93/166. Record Group 150. Volume: Box 5660 - 4. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
>Find a Grave Memorial. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175720499/george-wilfred-ling(Accessed 9 Dec 2017)