Personal Profile Collections
William Mariner Laurence
Service Number 877577
Short Biography:
William “Bill” Mariner Laurence was born in the small rural community of Strathlorne, Inverness County, Cape Breton, on July 1, 1895. He was the son of William David and Sarah (McKinnon) Laurence. He was living in Inverness, not from where he was born, and working as an accountant, when he enlisted in the 185th Battalion (Cape Breton Highlanders) on March 20, 1916. His service records indicate that he had prior military experience with the 94th Victoria Regiment “Argyll Highlanders”, a local Cape Breton militia unit.
Bill joined the 185th Battalion in Broughton, an abandoned mining town near Sydney, NS, where it was in the process of recruiting and mobilizing. He trained with battalion in Broughton during the early spring of 1916, and later at Camp Aldershot, NS during the summer and fall. While at Aldershot, Bill was promoted to corporal and a short time later to sergeant. He was assigned to the machine gun section. In October, Bill sailed overseas with the battalion to England where they were stationed at Witley Camp. From the fall of 1916 to the winter of 1917-1918, the 185th Battalion continued to train in England until orders arrived that the unit was to be disbanded and its men sent as reinforcements for Canadian units already at the front. Probably to hasten his transfer to a fighting unit, on February 25, 1918, Bill, at his own request, “reverted to the ranks,” and became a private again.
On March 1, 1918, Bill crossed the English Channel to France with a draft of 100 men from the 185th Battalion, reinforcements for the Royal Canadian Regiment. They joined their new unit a few days later at Cellars Camp, a rest camp at Neuville St Vaast, not far from Vimy Ridge. They moved back into the front lines a few days later. Bill remained with the Royal Canadian Regiment during the heavy fighting through to the end of the war. He returned to Canada in early March, 1919, and was demobilized in Halifax, on March 10, 1919. His rank was private.
After the war, Bill returned to Inverness and was employed with the Inverness Railway before moving to Sydney, NS, where he took a job with a wholesale company. Bill married Jennie MacKinnon from Sydney, and they had one daughter, Mora.
When the Second World War broke out, Bill enlisted again and served with the Veterans Home Guard, a citizen militia that supported the Canadian Army by defending mainland Canada. They were comprised of First World War veterans. Bill held the rank of sergeant major and was stationed in Dartmouth, NS. On the night of September 26, 1941, Bill was on leave and visiting his wife in Great Village, NS, when he unexpectedly died of cardiac arrest. He was 46 years old.
Bill Laurence was laid to rest in Hardwood Hill Cemetery in Sydney.