Buckley, Douglas George, 1891-1967

Douglas George Buckley was born on January 16, 1891, in Guysborough, Nova Scotia. His parents were George Edward Buckley and Cecil Mary Pearson. After completing high school, Douglas left Nova Scotia for Toronto where he worked as a cashier for the Sun Life Assurance Company. When war broke out, Douglas enlisted with the rest of his Argonaut Rowing Club. He was stationed in Flanders, Belgium, with the 19th Battalion in 1915 until he was badly injured early in 1916. In the trenches, part of a sandbag wall fell on him causing severe damage to his left wrist. The injury became badly infected, leaving his left wrist and hand mostly immobilised. This was later diagnosed as septic arthritis. He was medically discharged from the army because of the injury, although he did spend nearly the full year in France and England in various hospitals convalescing. Douglas returned to Canada in December 1916 and was officially medically discharged form the army on October 31, 1917. He was able to return to in employment at Sun Life Assurance in Toronto, but never regained full use of his wrist. In December 1917, he married Mabel Louise Hall, and the couple went onto have three children. Both their twins, Margaret and Elizabeth, and son, Douglas George Jr., served in the Second World War. Douglas passed away in 1967, ten years after his wife Mabel.

2023-11-29 Jasmine MacNeil

Contents of fonds
“The War Time Letters of Private Douglas George Buckley 55154, A Company 19th Battalion 4th Infantry Brigade 2nd Canadian Contingent 1914-1917”, edited by Mark Stiles & indexed by Janet Thompson
LAC, First World War, Personnel Records- RG 150, Accession 1992-93/166, Box 1240 - 27