Private Charles Frederick Harrigan

Private Charles Frederick Harrigan (Regimental No. 2368456) was born on 8 November 1850 in Huntingdon, Quebec to Charles Frederick Harrigan and Mary Jane Dundas who had immigrated to the area from Ireland. A veteran long before the First World War, Harrigan had served in both the 1866 and 1870 Fenian Raids with the 50th Huntingdon Borderers. In 1885 he was granted 48 acres in Godmanchester, Quebec, possibly because of his Borderers service. Circa 1886 he married Margaret Jane Cavers from Ormstown, Quebec. He eventually, like many from the area, migrated west, and raised a family in British Columbia.

In May 1917, aged  66 years and 6 months, he again volunteered for overseas service, attesting at Revelstoke, British Columbia on 16 May 1917. At enlistment, he gave his date of birth as 1869 but did give his Borders experience as previous military service (presumably as a 1-year-old). He described his civilian occupation as bushman, useful for enlisting in the Forestry Reinforcements, Revelstoke Forestry Company, although his obituary lists his occupation as miner.

He embarked from Halifax on 22 June 1917 aboard SS Justicia, arriving in Liverpool on 5 July 1917 where he was posted to the Canadian Forestry Corps base at Sunningdale, England, and on 12 August 1917 landed at Le Havre, France, joining the 72nd Company, Canadian Forestry Corps, near Nance, France.

While serving with the Forestry Corps—a dangerous but essential formation that kept the Western Front supplied with timber for trenches, railways, and construction—Harrigan’s health began to fail. He was first hospitalized on 15 September 1917, rejoining his unit the same day. On 5 October 1917, while helping construct a sawmill, he fell from a scaffolding, injuring his right shoulder. He was admitted to Marseilles General Hospital, transferred to No. 8 General Hospital on 15 October, and evacuated to England on 19 October 1917. By 29 October 1917, he was diagnosed with contusions and a fractured 5th rib.

His condition deteriorated rapidly. On 12 February 1918, Captain J.A. Stewart noted he was “feeling sick… breathing very laboured and wheezy” with significant right‐side pain. A major medical board on 1 June 1918 described him as emaciated, with advanced emphysema, chronic respiratory difficulty, arteriosclerosis, neurological issues, and impaired vision. He was invalided back to Canada on the Hospital Ship Neuralia, departing Avonmouth, England on 3 June 1918, and admitted to military hospital in Vancouver on 22 June 1918 with chronic bronchitis and debility.

On 12 August 1918, he was described as resembling “a man close on 70,” weighing 40 pounds less than at enlistment, suffering severe respiratory disease, heart enlargement, chronic cough, and widespread muscular pain. No longer fit for military work, he was discharged at Victoria, B.C. on 13 September 1918 as medically unfit and overage.

Despite discharge, his health continued to decline. On 9 October 1920, he died at the Grand Forks General Hospital at 18:30. His death certificate lists emphysema and cardiac weakness (eight-day duration), with chronic bronchitis of four years’ duration as a contributing factor. His service medical file makes clear these conditions were contracted and aggravated during overseas service, including the documented bronchitis, emphysema, debility, and injury.

Harrigan is commemorated locally on the Grand Forks Cenotaph and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery (Plan 3, Block 50, Plot 4).

His story is one of extraordinary dedication: an elderly veteran who volunteered for overseas duty, served in France, suffered injuries and debilitating illness in service, and ultimately died from those conditions.