Sarah Dolphin, Home Child

Home Children on a Canadian Stamp

In 1901, the census tells us, William Jr. and Ida (Bulmer) Rutherford had a 14-year-old domestic servant, a girl named Sarah Dolphin who was born in England.  Further investigation at Library and Archives Canada reveals that Sarah was a Home Child.  This is what I can discover about her story.

Sarah and her family appear on the 1891 census of England, living in the St. Martin district of Liverpool, Lancashire.  Her parents are Richard Dolphin, age 34, and Rachel Dolphin, age 26.  Sarah is 4 years old on this census, and she has three siblings:  Mary A. Dolphin, age 8, Esther Dolphin, age 6, and James Dolphin, age 5 months.  They live at 13 Court (Street?), in a two-room house.  Her father is a Carter by occupation;  it is evidently a working-class neighbourhood as their fellow street-dwellers have occupations such as Fish Hawker, Clothes Gatherer, Basket Girl, Charwoman, and Dock Laborer.   The oldest girl in the Dolphin family, Mary, attends school, the others are presumably too young.  The father, Richard Dolphin, is probably illiterate as he signed his marriage record with an X (Rachel was able to sign her maiden name, Rachel Hayes Wright). The whole family, including Richard and Rachel, were born in Liverpool.  Richard and Rachel's fathers were both Carters by occupation as well.

Death records for Lancashire show that Rachel Dolphin was buried on 22 September 1896 at age 31  in Ford Cemetery. I can find no death record for Richard. 

In the 1901 census of England, James Dolphin appears living at St. George Industrial School in Everton, Lancashire.  This is an all-boys boarding school for orphans and destitute children and at ten years of age he appears to be one of the younger students.

On September 21, 1896, the day before their mother's burial, Sarah, Mary and Esther Dolphin arrived in Montreal on the ship Sardinian.  The ship had left England on September 10th.  They were with a group of 32 children going to Montreal under the protection of Miss Yates of the Liverpool Catholic Children's Protection Society.     The words "from workhouses" appears beside the children's names.  Sarah is ten years old, Esther is twelve, and Mary is fourteen.

Ship's Passenger List Recording Sarah, Mary and Esther Dolphin's Arrival in Canada.

The girls travelled to Canada together, but by 1901 they were separated;  probably they were separated shortly after their arrival.  The 1901 census finds Esther living as a domestic servant with the family of Robert and Mary Duclos and their six children, also in Westmount. Mary does not appear on the census at all.  In 1901, Sarah, although she is only 14 years old, is not attending school.  The 1901 census says that she can read, write, and can speak English and French, but at what level we don't know. By the 1911 census Sarah has left the Rutherford household and Esther has left the Duclos household.  Where did they go?

Sarah Dolphin and her sisters drop off the Montreal records after 1901.  They were three of approximately 118,000 children sent to Canada under the Child Immigration Scheme which began in 1863 and, astonishingly,  did not completely end until 1939.  Under this program British children from poor families  were brought in to Canada to serve as unpaid domestic and farm labour.   They were required to remain with the families they were placed with until they turned eighteen, while these families had no obligation to educate them or even treat them well. Historians now believe that very few of these children were true orphans, rather, their families had been either temporarily or permanently  incapacitated by poverty in a society which had no government supported social safety net as we know it today.   According to the British Home Children Advocacy and Research Association and many other sources, often British families without other resources would place their children in the care of charitable aid societies for what they hoped was a short period.  Once the children were shipped to Canada without the parent's knowledge or consent, they would be impossible for the family left behind to locate.  No effort was made to minimize the trauma of being uprooted from family by at least keeping siblings together, as evidenced by the case of the four Dolphin siblings.  It makes me truly sick to think that Sarah was the age my youngest child is right now when she crossed the ocean and entered the Rutherford household in service, all alone.  I hope they were kind to her. I wonder where she ended up.

Forest Rutherford

Forest Rutherford. Probably Graduation Photo from McGill, 1896.

Forest Rutherford was the son of  William Rutherford and Elizabeth Jackson, and brother of William Rutherford Jr.  It sounds like he inherited the family penchant for business.

From Who's Who on the Pacific Coast, 1913:

"Rutherford, Forest, Metallurgist;  born, Montreal, Canada, March 24, 1871;  son, William and Elizabeth (Jackson) R. B.S. McGill Univ., Montreal, Canada, 1896.  Unmarried.  Supt. of Reduction Works, Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Co., Member, Am. Inst. Mining Engrs., Address, Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Co, Douglas, Az."
   
Here's a fuller and later biography, from Who's Who in Arizona, Volume 1:

"FOREST RUTHERFORD, Superintendent of the Reduction Works of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company, was born in Montreal, Canada, March 24, 1871. His parents are William and Elizabeth Jackson Rutherford. Mr. Rutherford was educated in the public schools and later graduated from McGill University, Montreal, as Mining Engineer, in 1896. For two years subsequent to this he was employed by the Pueblo Smelting and Refining Company, of Pueblo, Colorado, when he went to Monterey, Mexico, in the employ of the Guggenheim interests, where he remained but one year, having been appointed at that time Chief Chemist, and six months afterwards Assistant Superintendent of their plant at Aguas Calientes, Mexico. This position he retained until 1903, when he entered the employ of the Copper Queen Consolidated Mining Company as Assistant Superintendent of Reduction Works. Here the valuable experience he had acquired in previous positions was used to so great an advantage and his unvarying application to the affairs of the Company gave him so complete a mastery of detail that his years of service as Assistant Superintendent met with the sincere approval of his employers. On July 1, 1912, he was promoted to the position of Superintendent, a most substantial testimonial of appreciation of his efforts. Mr. Rutherford is one of the best known citizens of Douglas, a man who is willing to perform his share in the affairs of his community, and a member of the Masonic order."
  
Forest was living in Douglas, Arizona in 1911 when he got caught up in a battle in the Mexican Revolution.  Here is part of an account from the New York Times of April 14, 1911.

OUR SOLDIERS STOP A FIGHT IN MEXICO

CROSS BORDER AFTER TWO AMERICANS IN DOUGLAS ARE KILLED BY STRAY BULLETS 

REBELS TAKE BORDER CITY

Augua Prieta's Small Garrison Is Taken By Surprise and Defeated After a Warm Engagement 

Augua Prieta, Mexico, April 13--During a battle which lasted all afternoon and resulted in the capture of this city by the rebels, commanded by "Red" Lopez, American troops crossed the border and stopped the fighting. The action was taken after three men had been killed and several wounded in Douglas, and the continued firing was endangering the lives of Americans on United States Territory. 

The rebels now in possession are part of the band which recently captured Arizpe and drew a large Federal force in that direction, and then threatened Cananea, and caused the concentration of Federal soldiers there, and then turned towards Fronteras and struck quickly here before the Federals could move to the border.  

Augua Prieta is the terminal of the Nacozari Railroad into Sonora and is the most important point on the border between El Paso and the Pacific Ocean.  Following are the American dead and injured....

Forest Rutherford, Assistant Superintendant of the Copper Queen smelter,  went to his home near the smelter when the battle began.  A bullet, among many which entered his home, struck him in the foot.  The injury is slight ..."

Forest married Lillian Henry in 1915.  Their marriage appears to have ended in divorce.

Here's a tidbit about Lillian, buried in a biography of her mother, Margaret Henry, on the Pueblo County, Colorado website:

"John (Thatcher) married Margaret A. Henry, the second daughter of Judge John W. Henry, on April 17, 1866, at the home of her parents on Chico Creek. Their modest wood structure home on Santa Fe Avenue consisted of five rooms. Mrs. Thatcher hired Irish servants to assist with her household duties, a practice she continued when the family moved to Rosemount. They became the parents of five children.... Lillian (1870 – 1948) was their second child. She also attended the Mountain Seminary after attending Centennial Grade School. Lillian completed her education at Mrs. Sutton's Home School for Girls in Philadelphia. She was twenty-three when she moved into Rosemount. In 1915, Lillian married Forest Rutherford, who was superintendent of the Copper Queen Smelter in Douglas, Arizona. Later she returned to Rosemount. A street merchant named Parliapiano recalled he had a small hand pushed cart that he sold vegetables from and slept underneath at night. At the end of the day, his last stop was Rosemount and he always hoped that Lillian would open the door. If he was lucky and (she) did, she would purchase what was left on the cart."

Forest appears on the 1910 census of the United States in the town of Pirtleville, Cochise, in what was then the territory of Arizona.  He is the head of a boarding house and has three boarders and a live-in housekeeper. He is a 35-year-old single man and gives his occupation as assistant supervisor of a copper smelter. His boarders include an assayer and a chief electrician of a copper smelter (presumably the same one) and the teenage daughter of his housekeeper, who lists her occupation as "soda fountain clerk."

I can't find him at all on the 1920 census. He shows up on the 1930 census of the United States as living in Manhattan in what looks like a boarding house or apartment building, divorced.  He is age 59 and one of 28 people living in the residence.

Forest  seems to have been well travelled;  I have found several ship's records that document his voyages. On December 19, 1911, he arrived in the port of New Orleans back from a trip to Bocas Del Toro and Colon, Panama.  On February 23, 1920, he and his wife Lilian arrived at the port of New York, travelling back from Hamilton, Bermuda.  This passenger list gives their address as 120 Broadway Avenue (!) and says that Forest became a naturalized American in 1917 in Tombstone, Arizona.  He also made several trips to England, in March 1929, June 1930 and April 1932.  He made these voyages on his own, and gives his address as the Engineers Club, 32 West 40th Street, New York. 

An obituary for Forest in the Ottawa Citizen:

"Ottawa Woman Bereaved By Death Of Brother:  New York, Feb. 1--Forest Rutherford, consulting engineer in mining and metallurgy, died in hospital today after a brief illness. He was a native of Montreal and was graduated from McGill University in 1895 as a bachelor of applied science in mining engineering. 
Rutherford belonged to the American Institute of  Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America, American Mining Congress, Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the Engineers Club and the Canadian Club of New York. 
Surviving are his widow, three brothers, including Stewart and Andrew Rutherford of Montreal, and two sisters, Mrs. Margaret McIntosh of Montreal and Mrs. Helen Dunlop of Ottawa." 

And another one in the New York Times, Feb. 2, 1938:

F. RUTHERFORD, 66, MINING ENGINEER

Authority on Metallurgy Is Dead--Formerly Held Posts in West and Mexico

  

"Forest Rutherford, consulting engineer in mining and metallurgy, with offices at 50 Broad Street, died yesterday at the New York Hospital after a brief illness.  His home was at 33 Fifth Avenue.  He was 66 years old.

Since 1917 Mr. Rutherford had had his offices here, but previously he had been with major mining companies in the Western United States and in Mexico.  He was a native of Montreal and was graduated as Bachelor of Applied Science in Mining Engineering from McGill University in 1896. 

In 1896 he became a chemist for the Pueblo Smelting Company at Pueblo, Col.  Next, in 1898, Mr. Rutherford obtained a similar post with La Gran Fundacion Nacional at Monterey, Mexico, and later held executive posts for the Phelps Dodge Corporation in Sonora, Mexico, and Douglas, Arizona. 

Mr. Rutherford belonged to the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America, American Mining Congress, Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the Engineers Club and the Canadian Club of New York. 

Surviving are his widow, three brothers, Stewart and Andrew Rutherford of Montreal, and Gordon Rutherford of Painesville, Ohio, and two sisters, Mrs. Margaret McIntosh of Montreal and Mrs. Helen Dunlop of Ottawa.  A funeral service will be held at 4 P.M. today at the Universal Funeral Chapel, 597 Lexington Avenue." 

It's interesting that both obituaries refer to a widow, although he seems to have been divorced and I can't find any indication of a second marriage.  He doesn't seem to have any children. He is buried in Montreal, probably in the Mount Royal cemetery.

Jackson Family Breakthrough!

Mrs. William Rutherford (Elizabeth Jackson), about 1900.

I've never been able to find out much about the ancestry of Elizabeth Jackson, wife of William Rutherford Sr.  Previously, all I'd been able to find out about Elizabeth was her father's name (Thomas Jackson), and  the fact that she had younger sisters and was born in Biggar, Scotland but grew up in Montreal.  But today I found a record which gives me a lot more information about this hard-to-find family.  It's the wedding record of Elizabeth Jackson's younger sister, Ellen, and it comes from Erskine Presbyterian Church, Montreal.

Here is a transcripton:

"At Montreal this first day of September, one thousand eight hundred and seventy years, Alexander Houston Lowden of the city of Montreal, Builder, Bachelor, son of the late Reverend Alexander Lowden of New Glasgow, and of Catherine Conigal his widow surviving, and Ellen Jackson of the same place, Spinster daughter of Thomas Jackson and of Margaret Brown his wife, both of the age of majority, was married by me...in presence of these witnesses, related to the parties as undermentioned, and have signed
 (signatures)
A.H. Lowdon
Ellen Jackson 
witnesses
Margaret Jackson, sister of the bride,
Wm. Rutherford, broth-in-law of bride, 

(?) Taylor, D.D. Min."

This exceedingly helpful record gives us the  name of Elizabeth's mother and two of her sisters, and also tells us that Ellen's new husband is a builder, which seems to be a strong theme in the Rutherford and related families.  It's interesting to note that William Rutherford and Elizabeth Jackson named one of their daughters Margaret Brown Rutherford,  in honour, it seems, of the Jackson family matriarch. 

Although so far I have found the Jackson family impossible to find on census records, the Lowdon family does appear.  The 1871 census shows an Alexander and Ellen Lowden (sic) and one servant living at 928 Dorchester Street. This census says they are of Scotch origin but both were born in Quebec, and Ellen gives her age as 21, which would put her birth year at 1850. With this information in hand I was able to go back and find Ellen's baptismal record, again at Erskine Presbyterian Church, Montreal:

"Ellen Jackson, daughter of Thomas Jackson of Montreal, Carpenter and of Margaret Brown his wife, was born on the twenty-second day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty, and was baptized this thirteenth day of May of the same.
(signed)
W. Taylor min.
Thomas Jackson
Margaret Watson 
Elizabeth Jackson." 

Sadly, this Ellen appears to have been the second child of the same name born to Thomas and Margaret.  The records of Presbyterian Erskine in the year 1849 include a death record for a three-year-old  Ellen Jackson, daughter of Thomas Jackson, carpenter, and Margaret Brown. The first Ellen died February 13, 1849.   This is the earliest record I have found for the Jackson family in Montreal, so they must have immigrated in 1849 or earlier.

Alexander and Ellen went on to have two daughters, both baptized at Presbyterian Erskine church.  In September of 1871 Helena was born, followed by Magie (sic) Lowden on November 24, 1874. 

As far as business records go, on page 122 of MacKay's  Montreal Directory for 1848 (Montreal, Lovell and Gibson) there is a Thomas Jackson listed as a carpenter, working in the "court off Bleury".  He also appears in the 1853 and 1854 editions under the same address. In the 1856-7 edition a Thos. Jackson appears with the words "planeing mill, 9 Simon".  Is this the same Thomas Jackson?  It's unclear, but there is no longer a listing for the "court off Bleury", so it's possible.

Hopefully this new information will help me find out even more about the background of Elizabeth Jackson Rutherford.

Discovered in the Vaults

From the J. Ross Robertson photographic image collection in the Baldwin Room of the Toronto Reference Library, an undated photograph of Robert Watt Elliot.  Robert Watt Elliot was the son of William Elliot and Mary Oliphant, brother of Mary (Elliot) Scott, and husband of Catherine Ann Scott (Catherine Ann was the daughter of Thomas Chalmers Scott and Ann Galloway).  Here is what the Dictionary of Canadian Biography has to say about his life:

"ELLIOT, ROBERT WATT, pharmacist and businessman; b. 26 July 1835 in Eramosa Township, Upper Canada, son of William Elliot and Mary Oliphant; m. Catherine Ann Scott (1834–1921), originally from Dundee, Scotland, and they had two sons and two daughters; d. 12 Nov. 1905 in Toronto.

Robert Watt Elliot was apprenticed as a pharmacist in his father’s practice, Elliot and Thornton, in Dundas, Upper Canada; the company operated from 1846 to 1853, until he and his father became partners in Lyman, Elliot and Company, located at the St Lawrence Market in Toronto. According to the Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal, this establishment, under his father’s “active and judicious management, became one of the largest wholesale drug businesses in the country.” The partnership with Benjamin Lyman lasted until 1870, when Robert and his father bought the wholesale drug company of Dunspaugh and Watson and founded Elliot and Company. Elliot’s father retired in 1886, leaving him the firm. The company continued to prosper under Elliot’s direction, both as a wholesaler and as a manufacturer of a wide variety of pharmaceuticals, veterinary supplies, confections, perfumes, and sundries. Both of Robert’s sons, Howard and William Scott, were to be trained as pharmacists and associated with the family business. William Scott would take control of the firm after Robert’s death.

Robert and his father played an active role in the founding and development of the early institutions of pharmacy in Ontario. Both joined the Toronto Chemists’ and Druggists’ Association in July 1867, within days of its establishment. They remained actively associated with that organization when it became the Canadian Pharmaceutical Society (August 1867) and then the Ontario College of Pharmacy (1870). The record shows that Robert took a major part in drafting the legislation that became the first Ontario Pharmacy Act (1871). The act formally established the OCP as the official provincial body of pharmacy for regulation, association, and education. The work of the Elliots and of like-minded colleagues laid a good institutional foundation, and the OCP continues, under the name Ontario College of Pharmacists (from 1975), to fulfil that function today. Robert was a member of the CPhS council (1869–70) and of the OCP council (1883–88), and he served as the latter’s vice-president (1885–87) and president (1887–88).

Elliot played an important role in the OCP over a long period of time. He helped to found and edit its publication, the Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal, established in 1868, and was the author of several articles on medical botany and related topics. The journal continues to the present time, although in the 20th century it has become the official voice of the Canadian Pharmaceutical Association (no relation to the earlier CPhS). He contributed generously to the OCP’s library and museum, sometimes donating samples of medicinal plants and oils collected during his extensive travels in Europe, and he gave one of the early prizes awarded by the society for collections of medicinal plant specimens. He also served the OCP as an examiner, helped shape its educational program (the original school, established in 1882, would become in 1953 the present faculty of pharmacy at the University of Toronto), and was involved in building the college’s first permanent home, on prestigious St James Square. Elliot’s participation in the field of professional pharmacy in Ontario prompted one colleague to write: “Mr. Elliot was so well known and his life so closely connected with the Organizations of Pharmacy in Ontario that he can be considered as one of the Fathers of the Craft, and during all the years of his business career he was one of the staunchest and truest friends of legitimate Pharmacy.”

The success of his association with Lyman, Elliot and Company and with Elliot and Company, his other interests and activities in Toronto, and the experience he gained from his travels abroad led to recognition beyond pharmaceutical circles. In public affairs no less than in the professional sphere, Elliot often joined institutions with which his father had also been connected. For instance, he was one of the first members of the Toronto Board of Trade and served as its vice-president in 1878 and president the following year. Elliot was known as “an energetic and able advocate of a policy of adequate protection for Canadian industries,” so it is not surprising that during his presidency the board promoted a change in the dominion’s tariff policy. His influence with the board continued until his final illness, likely heart disease, prevented attendance. He also led efforts to urge the government to appoint a railway commission.

Elliot’s association with railways was extensive, beginning with the Toronto and Nipissing line, of which he was president, and the Credit Valley line, which he joined following a visit to Norway in 1869, during one of his European journeys, to study and report to the government on the railway system there. He was also associated at various times in the capacity of president or as a director of the Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway, the Irondale, Bancroft and Ottawa Railway, and the Owen Sound Steamship Company.

Elliot further demonstrated public-spiritedness and broad horizons as the first president of the Canadian Manufacturers’ Association, member of the Toronto Harbour Trust, director for some years of the Toronto Industrial Exhibition, and president of the Toronto Rowing Club and of the St George’s Society. He also belonged to the National Club, a large, continuing luncheon club that was a bastion of the new Liberals (Reform party), whom he supported. “A strong believer in mutual fire insurance,” Elliot served among the officers of the Fire Insurance Exchange Corporation. He and his family were active members of Jarvis Street Baptist Church, referred to in a contemporary guide as “the chief Baptist basilica” in Toronto.

Robert Watt Elliot is exemplary of those professionals and business persons who consider it their responsibility to serve not only their families and chosen occupation but also their communities and country. The breadth of his personal involvement over a lifetime was truly remarkable."

Louisa Norton's American Sister

A little while ago I posted a copy of Louisa Norton's obituary, which stated that she died while visiting her sister in Mount Holly, Vermont, and that her body was accompanied to Aylmer by her niece and nephew Mr. and Mrs. Horton.  I have done some investigating to see if I can find any records of a woman from the Norton family of New York living in Mount Holly.

The 1850 census of New York shows that the Norton family has mostly sons, but there is one daughter besides Louisa, named Emily and born about 1835.  I can't find a marriage record for her online, but the obituary mentions that her nephew and niece are named Horton.  Using that name, I've found Emily on the 1910 American census living in Mount Holly, Vermont with her husband, Judson Horton, her daughter Amaryllis (there's that family name again) and her daughter's husband William Russel.  Emily states that she was born in New York, her father was born in New Hampshire, and her mother was born in Connecticut.  That all matches what we know of the Norton family.

Here's an interesting picture of Emily Norton's gravestone in the Hortonville Cemetery at Mount Holly.  It says that she is a member of the society of the U.S. Daughters of the War of 1812.  This implies that her father William fought in that war. I'll have to see what I can find out about that.

Emily (Norton) Horton, March 19, 1835-Sept. 25, 1930

 

William Jackson Rutherford in "The Courage of the Early Morning"

William Jackson Rutherford, our family's WWI flying ace, has two mentions in William Arthur Bishop's biography of his father, war hero Billy Bishop.  Here's the first reference:

"That evening he [Bishop] talked to the three pilots who had been assigned to his flight that day. Young had already taken them on a practice formation flight and his report of their flying abilities was highly favourable.  'They stick together well', he told Bishop, 'and they're likely-looking fighters too.

There was the small intense Spencer Horn, with sleek hair parted in the middle, a former infantryman who had fought on the same ground he would now fly over. William Mays Fry, a short man with a quick wit and a willingness to learn all his more experienced comrades could teach him about aerial fighting tactics...A fellow-Canadian completed the trio.  He was Jack Rutherford, wiry but strong. He had served with the 23rd Canadian Battalion before transferring to the RFC.  Young told Bishop that Rutherford showed an uncanny sense of timing. He had landed the Nieuport so smoothly that it was difficult to realize it was his maiden trip in the machine. 

Bishop grunted.  His own landing technique had not improved noticeably.  He took Young and his new flight members over to the mess for a drink.  Jack Scott came in and hobbled across to the bar and slapped Bishop on the back.  'Drinks are on you tonight, Bish,' the squadron commander grinned. 'Word just came in from Brigade--they've awarded you the military cross."

A short time later, Jackson took part in a risky experiment devised by Bishop:

"The unusually mild-mannered Jack Scott snorted when he read the opening sentence of Bishop's operational report on April 22, 1917.  'While leading a patrol I dived to the assistance of Major Scott who was being attacked by five enemy single-seaters two thousand feet below.'...

Bishop grinned.  It was true that Scott needed 'assistance' because he had volunteered, against his better judgment, to become the bait in a trap of Bishop's devising.  The trap required a special combination of good weather and cloud cover, which seldom arrived together in the April sky of northern France.  On this day Bishop's flight--Young, Horn, Fry, and Rutherford, with Scott tagging along--found the combination ten thousand feet above the city of Lens;  two great pillars of white cloud hovered in a clear blue sky.  Between the pillars was a snowy cavern a mile wide.  Bishop and his boys circled to the southwest over Vimy Ridge.  Jack Scott circled at eight thousand feet, waiting to be attacked. 

Soon Scott was attacked by five enemy planes whose pilots obviously hadn't been able to see Bishop and his companions lurking above.  Scott pretended not to see the Germans until they were almost upon him:

"Not until the five planes closed in on him with guns blazing did Scott turn to meet them.  Bishop had seen the German planes even before Scott.  He and his flight mates dived at full throttle into the formation.  Bishop opened fire on the nearest machine from ten yards.  Smoke spewed from it instantly and it plummeted down in a crazy spin.  Bishop turned on the plane at his right, closed to within five yards and pressed the button.  Bullets spluttered all about the pilot.  His head fell forward and the plane turned on its side and dived out of control.  Bishop had shot down two planes before his companions, who had started a few seconds behind him, could reach the scene.  The remaining Germans fled.  Young, Horn, Fry and Rutherford pursued them until they were out of sight.  Bishop pulled up beside Scott to make sure he was all right.  Scott grinned and waved his hand."

I can just imagine the adrenaline rush that must have come during an outing like this!  Bishop was obviously quite a daredevil.  It must have taken a very steady nerve to be on his flight team.

William Jackson Rutherford, Ace Pilot in the Great War

Advertising for young Canadian men to train as fighter pilots.  1918. 

Family lore has it that William Jackson Rutherford, son of William Rutherford Jr. and Ida Bulmer, was a pilot in WWI and flew with Canadian hero Billy Bishop.  My in-laws say that Jackson is the pilot who flew the longest with Bishop without actually dying.  I've decided to look into this story and see what I can discover about Jackson's military career.

Billy Bishop, who is believed to be the all-time Canadian Flying Ace, with 72 claimed victories. 

From Library and Archives Canada, here is Jackson's attestation paper.  He joined up on February 23, 1915.  He is 19 years old, and a student at McGill in applied science (engineering).

It will probably take me a few weeks to order his military record from the Canadian archives.  But interestingly, he has a British military record, which I was able to download directly from the British Archives.  It covers the period from July 2, 1918, to April 1, 1919, so not even a year.  It does provide some fascinating information.  Jackson begins this period as a Lieutenant, and is promoted to Temporary Captain and then Captain/Flight Commander fairly promptly. He is part of the Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force Unit 65 very briefly, and later Unit 60, where Bishop was also posted. Jackson seems to have had a few injuries, which are not described, but can be inferred from some periods when he is temporarily unfit for service or fit for only limited (ground) service.  My favourite part is the description of his experience, particularly the planes he has flown:  Nieuport Scout, M.F.S.H. (Maurice Farman S11 Shorehorn), M.F.L.H.  Avro, Bristol Scout, Nieuport 2 seater, Sopwith 2 seater (also known as a Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter), and the  Curtiss JN4.  Here's an example of what these kinds of planes looked like:

Sopwith 2 Seater Aircraft

As you can see, the pilot was quite exposed.  The fatality rate for pilots on active duty in these kinds of aircraft was extremely high.

Insight into an earlier period of Jackson's military service is seen on the Aerodrome website. The site has a picture of Jackson in his uniform, and a list of his eight "victories" in 1917 (a "victory" means an enemy plane shot down and destroyed during combat).  To be considered a "flying ace", you must have five or more victories, so William Jackson Rutherford is included in the number of Canadian flying aces of WWI.

William Jackson Rutherford in unifom. 

There is also a copy of Jackson's Aviator Certificate, which he earned on February 26, 1917, at the Catterick Bridge Military School.

The victories listed on this site are located at Dury (France) on June 25, 1917, Ypres-Roules (France) on September 22, 1917, Houthoulst (Belgium) on October 21, 1917, Westroosebeke (Belgium) on October 28, 1917, Moreslede (Belgium) twice (about a half hour apart ) on November 1, 1917, Zonnebeke (Belgium) on November 6, and again at Westroosebeke, on November 8, 1917.

Jackson Rutherford is mentioned several times in the book 60 Squadron R.A.F.:  A History of the Squadron from its Formation, by Group-Captain A.J.L Scott.  On page 66 Jackson is listed as one of ten men, including Billy Bishop, "distinguishing themselves and adding to the squadron's laurels" in July and August 1917.  The first descriptive mention of Jackson comes on p. 69, which says that "During the 3rd Corps attack on August 19, 1917, Lieuts. Jenkins, Steele, Rutherford, and Sergt. Bancroft did good work shooting up infantry in trenches and by harassing the troops assembling for counter-attacks.". 

Next (on p. 69-70) we hear that:

"On September 7, 1917, the squadron was moved up to the XI wing to help in the battles for the Passchendale Ridge, which were already in full swing.  Leaving the comfortable Filescamp station, and the hard tennis-court with great regret, they were moved into tents on Marie Capelle aerodrome, near Cassel, where 20 Squadron was already stationed.  The 2nd and 5th armies were then attacking almost every day, and 60, in addition to their ordinary work of offensive patrols, wireless interception etc., co-operated by low flying and firing at troops and transport on the ground.  Twenty-five pound Cooper bombs were carried at this time and dropped on suitable targets. 

Capt. Chidlaw-Roberts, Lieuts. Rutherford, Whiting, and I. Macgregor were now prominent..."

The final mention of Jackson appears on p. 73:

"During this autumn series of battles a somewhat novel system of message-dropping was tried. All scout pilots were ordered to carry cards conveniently fixed in the nacelle, on which they wrote such information as they had secured during low-flying patrols;  special attention was to be given to the massing of enemy supporting troops and to the development of counter-attacks, the symptoms of which were the approach to the "debussing" points of motor transport vehicles or trains from which troops can be seen disembarking and forming up.  These cards were slipped into a message bag and dropped in a field marked with a white cross, near Locre Chateau...The information thus given occasionally enabled our heavy artillery to direct their fire on to the targets indicated...Lieuts. F. Soden, W. Rutherford, and W. Duncan all distinguished themselves by giving accurate information during these battles..."

This book is a very readable account of the living and fighting conditions of the Squadron, full of anecdotes and interesting details which bring the world Jackson inhabited for several intense months to life.  We learn about the food which was served in the Mess Hall in France:  "Soup (mock turtle), toast;  fish (grilled sole, mustard sauce);  entree (beefsteak, pastry, boiled potatoes, green peas);  sweets (stewed prunes, cornstarch pudding);  biscuits, cheese, coffee."  Other comforts including "moving picture shows ...given every night or so in a church army hut in the camp."  There was at least one black pilot in the squadron ("The unlucky lad who drew me [as a tennis partner] is a "coloured troop" that is he hails from South Africa" writes one soldier in a letter home), but racism is very evident:

"All the heavy labour in this part of France is now being done by Chinese coolies, brought specially from China for this purpose.  They are enlisted as soldiers and wear a peculiar blue padded uniform. They are employed around the aerodrome levelling ground, putting sand- bags around the huts as a protection against bombs, making roads and paths, etc.  They are terribly interested in our phonograph [i.e. they would like to listen to the music the other soldiers enjoy], and if we leave the door open they almost come in.  To keep them out, the interpreter has painted a large sign in chinese characters, and it sticks up in front of the mess, and gives it quite an oriental appearance." 

Scott's book talks about the high mortality rate of the pilots but also about the dangers of capture.  The battles overwhelmingly tended to be over enemy airspace, and if a plane was downed any pilot or crew member that survived would probably end up in a P.O.W. camp.  It also describes pilots in damaged aircraft having gasoline leaking onto their laps or their shoes.  The overall tone of the book is actually quite cheerful and adventurous.  I'm looking forward to finding out more about Jackson and his military service.