Walter Footitt

Walter was born in Lincolnshire England in 1886 to John and Eliza. The 1891 English Census shows Walter as a “scholar” and the 1902 England Census shows young Walter, age 14, working as a “railway engine apprentice” alongside his father who was listed as a “railway labourer”. His brother Albert age 10 and his sister Annie age 6, were not yet working.

Interestingly most other people on the street also worked for the railway in some capacity. In 1912 Walter married Maude Wallbank at the Prospect Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Bradford England. He was 25 years of age and a mechanic and she was 26 years old and a dressmaker. Both of their fathers were listed as railway workers. Later, that same year finds Walter and Maud aboard the Empress of Britain arriving in New Brunswick, bound for Toronto.

Walter and Maud are living in Galt in 1917 when their son Albert Edward (Veteran WW2) is born, and by 1921 the Canadian Census shows the family renting a house in Acton and the addition of two sons George and Robert. By 1931 Walter owns his own home in Acton (89 Crescent St.), he is machinist at the “tannery” (Beardmore), earning $1500 per year and he has a daughter.

Nothing is known about Walter’s military history other than his gravestone is marked with a poppy by the Acton Branch of the Canadian Legion and Ray Arbic his long-time neighbour in the “Crescent” is aware that he served in the military. Walter died March 7, 1956, and is buried alongside his wife Maud at Fairview Cemetery in Acton.

Truly a Canadian Hero. His story lives on. Information obtained from Ancestry.ca and personal interview with Ray Arbic.

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