3136830 SAPPER CHARLES EMERSON McCALLUM
CANADIAN ENGINEERS
by
Ó Lieutenant Colonel Edward De Santis, 1999.
The photograph of Sapper McCallum’s grave was taken by E. Hilton, Photographer, of 2 Russell Street in Brighton.
Sapper McCallum was the son of Charles McCallum and Edith Bennett McCallum of Rodney, Ontario. He was mobilized for service in the Great War of 1914-1918 at the 1st Depot Battalion of the Western Ontario Regiment, Military District 1, in London, Ontario. He was sent to England where he joined the 3rd Canadian Engineer Reserve Battalion at Seaford, Sussex. In 1918 Seaford was the home of the Canadian Engineer Training Centre in England. The C.E.T.C. consisted of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Canadian Engineer Reserve Battalions.
The 3rd Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel J.B.P. Dunbar, C.E., was not actually formed until the 6th of August 1918. Sapper McCallum could not have been in the unit more than about two and a half months before he died of disease (probably influenza) on the 22nd of October 1918.
Although the Commonwealth War Graves
Commission Register indicates that Sapper McCallum was serving
with the 3rd Canadian Engineers Reserve Battalion, it is
interesting to note that his grave marker indicates that his unit
was "2 Res Eng". There is no known explanation for this
discrepancy other than an error on the part of the individual who
made the cross.
Commemorative Information
Cemetery: SEAFORD CEMETERY, Sussex, United Kingdom
Grave Reference/Panel Number: A. 607.
Location: Seaford Cemetery, on the Alfriston road, belongs to the Urban District Council. It contains 253 War Graves, including 191 Canadian and 19 of the British West Indies Regiment. Almost all are in four of the plots on the north side, and a Cross of Sacrifice is erected on that side, close to the Chapel.
Historical Information: SEAFORD CEMETERY, on the Alfriston road, was opened in 1897, and belongs to the Urban District Council. It contains 253 War Graves, including 191 Canadian and 19 of the British West Indies Regiment; almost all are in four of the plots on the North side, and a War Cross is erected on that side, close to the Chapel. The 36th (Ulster) Division was at Seaford in July and August, 1915; the B.W.I.R. was encamped here; the 10th Canadian Stationary Hospital was at Seaford in November, 1916-January, 1917, and the place then became one of the main Canadian Training Centres.
REFERENCES:
1. Commonwealth
War Graves Commission Register for Seaford Cemetery, Sussex.
2. WIGNEY, E.H. Serial Numbers of the C.E.F. E.H. Wigney, Nepean,
Ontario, 1996, p. 23.
3. WIGNEY, E.H. The C.E.F. Roll of Honour. Eugene Ursual, Ottawa,
1996, p. 481.
4. KERRY, A.J. & McDILL, W.A. The History of the Corps of
Royal Canadian Engineers, Volume I, 1749-1939. The Military
Engineers Association, Ottawa, 1962, p. 84.