Brunswick Street
Private Robert Hatch
Robert Hatch was born in Ealing in Greater London, England on March 22, 1873. He immigrated to Canada with his wife Elizabeth and was employed as a laborer. They had six children, three boys and three girls .He had served with the 12th Suffolk Regiment in England. Robert was 41 years old when he enlisted with the 125th Battalion in Paris. Strangely, on his attestation paper, he gives an address on Brunswick Street in Stratford. He was a member of the 9th Platoon that embarked aboard the S.S Scandinavia on February 12, 1916. The 9th and 10th Platoons were the first contingent of soldiers from Paris, nearly 100 men, to go overseas.
On July 20, 1916, he was examined at Camp Borden and declared medically unfit due to liver damage. He was discharged on July 27. He was living in Stratford before Paris, and on January 23, 1915, he enlisted in Stratford with the 34th Battalion and sailed with them to England on October 23, 1915. He was transferred to the 1st Construction Battalion on August 3, 1916. There is a duplicate copy of his attestation paper stamped with the 1st Construction Battalion. There is also a duplicate attestation with 34th battalion written across it. He was serving with the 1st Railway Troops on August 4, 1917 when he was diagnosed with Myalgia and discharged to the base depot in Etaples.
On December 23, 1917, he sailed to Canada from Liverpool aboard the S.S. Metagama. Robert Hatch died on February 14, 1956.