| Description | File of correspondence regarding Gunner Robert Hector Hamilton who is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial, France. Main topics include: early correspondence regarding the wounding and subsequent transport of Gunner Hamilton to an Advanced Dressing Station at Domart until being reported as missing; correspondence from Henry C. Hamilton, father of that casualty, regarding the identification and burial location of Gunner Hamilton’s remains; correspondence regarding exhumations carried out on behalf of Henry C. Hamilton, including St. Sever Cemetery Extension, Drury Hospital Cemetery, Mont Huon Cemetery, Bouchoir New British Cemetery, and Longueau British Cemetery; enquiry from the Overseas Military Forces of Canada, Canadian Record Office, American Fund for French Wounded and American Red Cross, to the Directorate of Graves Registration and Enquiries (DGRE) into the burial location of Gunner Hamilton; correspondence between Sir Fabian Ware and Henry C. Hamilton regarding requests to exhume graves in Longueau British Cemetery, and to re-open the grave of Corporal Wheeler W.H. Morell, which had already been exhumed at an earlier date; correspondence from Mrs. G.F. Hamilton, mother of Gunner Hamilton, requesting a copy of the Commission’s official report of the exhumation of Cpl. Morell’s grave. |
| Content Note | Includes: Copy letter from C.C. Thompson, cousin of Gunner Hamilton and partner of Banigan, Mathers & Thompson Architect Firm, providing a detailed account of the wounding and subsequent transport of Gunner Hamilton to an Advanced Dressing Station at Domart until he was reported missing, dated 27 December 1918; correspondence concerning the visit of Henry C. Hamilton and Lieut. Thompson, CEF, Ottawa, to Rouen Cemetery for the purpose of exhuming and identifying the remains of an unidentified soldier, dated 19 June 1919; correspondence from Henry C. Hamilton to the DGRE requesting photographs and descriptions of unidentified soldiers taken at No.47 Casualty Clearing, dated 29 September 1919; newspaper clipping reporting on the unsolved disappearance of Gunner Hamilton, undated; Correspondence relating to the exhumation of an unknown soldier in Mont Huon Cemetery, Le Treport; copy letter from Henry C. Hamilton to the Director of Records, Department Militia and Defence, Ottawa, requesting the exhumation and examination of an unidentified soldier in New Bouchoir British Cemetery, dated 11 July 1921; photograph of a deceased soldier sent to Henry C. Hamilton for identification; Enquiries with the American Graves Registration Service in Europe regarding the location of the grave of Gunner R.H. Hamilton; extract from copy of nominal roll of patients who died in No.1 Canadian Field Ambulance between 8 to 10 August 1918; newspaper clipping from The London Evening Advertiser (Western Ontario) reporting on the unsolved disappearance of Gunner R.H. Hamilton, undated; correspondence regarding the approval of Henry C. Hamilton’s request to exhume all unknown German soldiers buried in Longueau British Cemetery, and arrangements for his travel to examine the remains; copies of the Special Exhumation Reports and report written by Mr. Langdale rendered in connection with the case of Gunner R.H. Hamilton and all unknown German graves in Longueau British Cemetery; Correspondence regarding the proposed exhumation of Cpl. W.H. Morell’s grave, who was similar in appearance to Gunner Hamilton and reported as being found with a card bearing Gunner Hamilton’s particulars; correspondence concerning the exhumation of all Germans buried in Longueau British Cemetery; correspondence between Fabian Ware and Henry C. Hamilton regarding the Gunner Hamilton case and exhumation of 11 graves in Longueau British Cemetery. |