| | LEVEL OF DESCRIPTION: | Fonds | | No.: | PR0711 | | TITLE: | G.W.E. (Bill) Smith fonds | | CREATOR: | Smith, G.W.E. (Bill) | | DATE RANGE: | Copied 1971-1997 | | EXTENT: | 0.06 m of textual records. – 185 photographs | | ADMINISTRATIVE | | HISTORY/BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH: | George William Edward (Bill) Smith was born in North Wales in 1896. He enlisted in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers on August 4, 1914 and was wounded in action during the Gallipoli campaign. He was hospitalized in Egypt then England and when he recovered he joined the 1st King’s Regiment in France, where he served until demobilization in 1919. At this time he immigrated to Alberta. He found work with the Central Canadian Railway and the Edmonton, Dunvegan, and British Columbia Railway (later Northern Alberta Railway) in 1924 in the mechanical department. He was stationed in Mclennen and it was here that he met his wife, Luella English. They were married in 1928 and together they had three daughters, Joyce, Muriel , and Leona, and one son, Ted. In 1928 Smith moved to Edmonton and was stationed at the Dunvegan Yard. He retired in November of 1959 and joined the Corps of Commissionaires, assigned to the Interprovincial Pipeline Limited where he remained until retiring in 1970. Smith was also a member of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch No. 24 Montgomery, the Retired Railway Veterans Organization, the West Edmonton Lodge No. 101, and a Life member of the Army, Navy, and Air Force Veteran’s Association. Smith died on August 15, 1987. | | CUSTODIAL HISTORY: | Mr. G.W.E. (Bill) Smith deposited accessions PR1976.0106 and PR1976.0298 in the Provincial Archives of Alberta in 1976. Charles Denney deposited accession PR1987.0280 in the Archives in 1987; this accession included the first 34 pages of a scrapbook; the remainder of the scrapbook was deposited with the Alberta Genealogical Society. Pat Pettitt, Archivist for the Alberta Genealogical Society, Edmonton Branch, deposited accession PR1997.0310 in the Archives in 1997; this accession included a photocopy of the remaining scrapbook. | | SCOPE AND CONTENT: | Fonds consists of a scrapbooks containing correspondence, poems, inquest transcripts, invitations, photographs, funeral announcements, and newspaper clippings of obituaries, retirements and appointments of Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) employees. One scrapbook also includes newspaper clippings regarding railroad safety, accidents, expansions, schedules and steam engines. Fonds also includes a postcard of the early dormitories of the University of Alberta, and photographs of the steamship D.A.Thomas circa (ca.) 1920, and the Northern Alberta Railway dating 1928-1935. | | RELATED RECORDS: | An oral interview of G.W.E. (Bill) Smith can be found in accession PR1987.0234. | | GENERAL NOTE: | Information for the biographical sketch was taken from the records. |
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