A Church at War: MacKay Presbyterian Church, New Edinburgh, and the First World War
One hundred and forty-one people from MacKay Presbyterian Church, in Ottawa, served in the First World War. This is an astonishing record, but one that was by no means uncommon in Canada.

Why did these men, their families, and their church enlist in this great war for “justice, truth, and righteousness, and for the Glory of God”? What was the impact of war on the surviving soldiers as they and their families adjusted to a changed world, to permanent injuries and to painful memories?

This study of the experience of one church at war weaves together the stories of soldiers on the battlefields of Europe with those of the families who waited and prayed, enduring privation, fear, loneliness, and grief.

It centres on the 19 men who fell in the war — some as heroes in desperate battles, others with tragic randomness or from illness, several with no known graves — and the widows they left to cope as best they could, the children who grew up without fathers, and the families who mourned their loss even as they took pride in their sacrifice.

Using new methods including online research and the tools of genealogical study to bring to life people who did not leave a rich legacy of information on their lives and families, this study of a church at war deepens our understanding of the social history of Canada’s participation in the First World War, and provides a model for research on churches, communities, and institutions.

1143957136
A Church at War: MacKay Presbyterian Church, New Edinburgh, and the First World War
One hundred and forty-one people from MacKay Presbyterian Church, in Ottawa, served in the First World War. This is an astonishing record, but one that was by no means uncommon in Canada.

Why did these men, their families, and their church enlist in this great war for “justice, truth, and righteousness, and for the Glory of God”? What was the impact of war on the surviving soldiers as they and their families adjusted to a changed world, to permanent injuries and to painful memories?

This study of the experience of one church at war weaves together the stories of soldiers on the battlefields of Europe with those of the families who waited and prayed, enduring privation, fear, loneliness, and grief.

It centres on the 19 men who fell in the war — some as heroes in desperate battles, others with tragic randomness or from illness, several with no known graves — and the widows they left to cope as best they could, the children who grew up without fathers, and the families who mourned their loss even as they took pride in their sacrifice.

Using new methods including online research and the tools of genealogical study to bring to life people who did not leave a rich legacy of information on their lives and families, this study of a church at war deepens our understanding of the social history of Canada’s participation in the First World War, and provides a model for research on churches, communities, and institutions.

44.95 In Stock
A Church at War: MacKay Presbyterian Church, New Edinburgh, and the First World War

A Church at War: MacKay Presbyterian Church, New Edinburgh, and the First World War

by Alan Bowker PhD Canadian History
A Church at War: MacKay Presbyterian Church, New Edinburgh, and the First World War

A Church at War: MacKay Presbyterian Church, New Edinburgh, and the First World War

by Alan Bowker PhD Canadian History

Paperback

$44.95 
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Overview

One hundred and forty-one people from MacKay Presbyterian Church, in Ottawa, served in the First World War. This is an astonishing record, but one that was by no means uncommon in Canada.

Why did these men, their families, and their church enlist in this great war for “justice, truth, and righteousness, and for the Glory of God”? What was the impact of war on the surviving soldiers as they and their families adjusted to a changed world, to permanent injuries and to painful memories?

This study of the experience of one church at war weaves together the stories of soldiers on the battlefields of Europe with those of the families who waited and prayed, enduring privation, fear, loneliness, and grief.

It centres on the 19 men who fell in the war — some as heroes in desperate battles, others with tragic randomness or from illness, several with no known graves — and the widows they left to cope as best they could, the children who grew up without fathers, and the families who mourned their loss even as they took pride in their sacrifice.

Using new methods including online research and the tools of genealogical study to bring to life people who did not leave a rich legacy of information on their lives and families, this study of a church at war deepens our understanding of the social history of Canada’s participation in the First World War, and provides a model for research on churches, communities, and institutions.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780776642154
Publisher: Les Presses de l'Université d'Ottawa/University of Ottawa Press
Publication date: 03/26/2024
Series: Mercury
Pages: 428
Product dimensions: 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Alan Bowker was born in Medicine Hat and educated in Winnipeg, Toronto, Chatham, N.J., and Oakville, Ont. He holds a BA in history and English and an MA and PhD in Canadian history, all from the University of Toronto. He is the author of A Time Such as There Never Was Before: Canada After the Great War, he edited two collections of essays by Stephen Leacock, and has written many essays and articles.

His academic studies, his teaching experience, and his career in foreign affairs have all reinforced his conviction that Canadians need to know their history if we are to understand who we are and why our experience matters in the world.

Read an Excerpt

141 people from MacKay Presbyterian Church served in the First World War, and their church and their families at home steadfastly supported the war through four years of privation, suffering, and grief. MacKay church served New Edinburgh, a community with roots in the lumber industries at the Rideau Falls, which contained Rideau Hall and was home to a growing number of public servants and a large German-speaking minority, and had a rich tradition of athletics and militia service.

MacKay church embraced the conviction that an immanent God was working in history, and that Christians had a duty to realize the Kingdom of God on Earth through evangelism and social and moral reform. They regarded the British Empire as the apogee of Christian civilization bringing peace and progress to the world. They were thus convinced that in defending their country and Empire against German aggression and autocracy they were fighting for “justice, truth, and righteousness, and for the Glory of God”. This study weaves together the stories of the men who served, their families at home, and their church as they responded to a terrible war.

It focusses particularly on the nineteen men who fell in the war—some as heroes in desperate battles; others with tragic randomness or from illness; several with no known graves—as well as their siblings who also served, the widows they left to cope as best they could, the children who would grow up without fathers, and the families whose pride in their sacrifice was mixed with heartbreak at their loss; and it uses these stories to illustrate and develop the main themes of the book. Final chapters describe the return of the survivors and their adjustment, with their families, to a changed world, as they launched new careers or returned to old jobs, started new families, and in some cases struggled with permanent injuries and painful memories. MacKay Presbyterian Church became MacKay United Church, re-affirming its Christian faith and remembering those who had made the Supreme Sacrifice.

This study of a church at war deepens our understanding of the social history of Canada’s response to the First World War, using new methods, including on-line research and the tools of genealogical study, to bring to life, however imperfectly, people who did not leave a rich legacy of information on their lives and families.

Table of Contents

Land Acknowledgement/Reconnaissance territoriale
Abstract
Résumé
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Introduction

Chapter 1
New Edinburgh

Chapter 2
MacKay Presbyterian Church

Chapter 3
A Church at War: 1914–1915

Chapter 4
Charles Albert Wendt: A German-Canadian Patriot

Chapter 5
A Church at War: 1916

Chapter 6
Victor and Theresa Coker: A Good Man, a Christian Woman, and Her Two Sons at the Front

Chapter 7
The Bothwell Family: War Claims Lives and Destroys Families

Chapter 8
Charles Edward Trotter and the Jackson Family: “Lovable Disposition and Fine Character”

Chapter 9
The Robertson Family: “There Is no Other Woman in Ottawa Who Has Given so Gloriously to the Cause”

Chapter 10
Gordon Maynard Porteous: “Quite a Few Homes … Will be Sad After This”

Chapter 11
Henry James Mayo: A “Home Boy” Serves His Country

Chapter 12
A Church at War: 1917

Chapter 13
The Stalker Family and the Many Faces of Courage

Chapter 14
The Ryan Family: “Who Played the Game Through”

Chapter 15
Reginald Isambard Brunel: Engineer and Artilleryman

Chapter 16
The Tubman Families: “Conspicuous Gallantry and Devotion to Duty”

Chapter 17
Erland Dauria Perney: “Sorrow Which Is Almost Intolerable”

Chapter 18
A Church at War: 1918

Chapter 19
John Marshall: A Chauffeur in Egypt

Chapter 20
Homère Joliat: “A Brave Soldier, Having Won the Military Medal”

Chapter 21
Irwin Kelly: “Blessed Are Those that Have Not Seen, and Yet Have Believed”

Chapter 22
The McKenzie Brothers: Service and Sacrifice

Chapter 23
Arthur Frank Hawke and the War Against TB

Chapter 24
1919: The Men Come Home

Chapter 25
Aftermath

Epilogue
Bibliography
Notes
Index

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