A Church at War

MacKay Presbyterian Church, New Edinburgh, and the First World War

Alan Bowker, Pierre Desrosiers

• Publisher: University of Ottawa Press
• Year: 2024
• eBook ISBN: 9780776642161
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Denominations

One hundred and forty-one people from MacKay Presbyterian Church, in Ottawa, served in the First World War. This is an astonishing record, but one that was by no means uncommon in Canada.
Why did these men, their families, and their church enlist in this great war for "justice, truth, and righteousness, and for the Glory of God"? What was the impact of war on the surviving soldiers as they and their families adjusted to a changed world, to permanent injuries and to painful memories?
This study of the experience of one church at war weaves together the stories of soldiers on the battlefields of Europe with those of the families who waited and prayed, enduring privation, fear, loneliness, and grief.
It centres on the 19 men who fell in the war — some as heroes in desperate battles, others with tragic randomness or from illness, several with no known graves — and the widows they left to cope as best they could, the children who grew up without fathers, and the families who mourned their loss even as they took pride in their sacrifice.
Using new methods including online research and the tools of genealogical study to bring to life people who did not leave a rich legacy of information on their lives and families, this study of a church at war deepens our understanding of the social history of Canada's participation in the First World War, and provides a model for research on churches, communities, and institutions.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Land Acknowledgement/Reconnaissance territoriale
• Abstract
• Résumé
• Table of Contents
• List of Figures
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: New Edinburgh
• Chapter 2: MacKay Presbyterian Church
• Chapter 3: A Church at War: 1914–1915
• Chapter 4: Charles Albert Wendt: A German-Canadian Patriot
• Chapter 5: A Church at War: 1916
• Chapter 6: Victor and Theresa Coker: A Good Man, a Christian Woman, and Her Two Sons at the Front
• Chapter 7: The Bothwell Family: War Claims Lives and Destroys Families
• Chapter 8: Charles Edward Trotter and the Jackson Family: “Lovable Disposition and Fine Character”
• Chapter 9: The Robertson Family: “There Is no Other Woman in Ottawa Who Has Given so Gloriously to the Cause”
• Chapter 10: Gordon Maynard Porteous: “Quite a Few Homes … Will be Sad After This”
• Chapter 11: Henry James Mayo: A “Home Boy” Serves His Country
• Chapter 12: A Church at War: 1917
• Chapter 13: The Stalker Family and the Many Faces of Courage
• Chapter 14: The Ryan Family: “Who Played the Game Through”
• Chapter 15: Reginald Isambard Brunel: Engineer and Artilleryman
• Chapter 16: The Tubman Families: “Conspicuous Gallantry and Devotion to Duty”
• Chapter 17: Erland Dauria Perney: “Sorrow Which Is Almost Intolerable”
• Chapter 18: A Church at War: 1918
• Chapter 19: John Marshall: A Chauffeur in Egypt
• Chapter 20: Homère Joliat: “A Brave Soldier, Having Won the Military Medal”
• Chapter 21: Irwin Kelly: “Blessed Are Those that Have Not Seen, and Yet Have Believed”
• Chapter 22: The McKenzie Brothers: Service and Sacrifice
• Chapter 23: Arthur Frank Hawke and the War Against TB
• Chapter 24: 1919: The Men Come Home
• Chapter 25: Aftermath
• Epilogue
• Bibliography
• Notes
• Index
• Mercury Series/Collection Mercure
• Backcover