Sergeant Ralph Shields

Ralph Shields was born October 8, 1884 in Great Lumley, County Durham, England and married Maude Curl in 1905. In 1911 they were living in Chopwell, County Durham, England where he worked in a mine as a coal hewer. They had three children in England and then immigrated to Paris in 1913 where they had two more. Like so many others, the family emigrated to Paris for employment with Penmans where he worked as a boarder.

Ralph was a member of the 25^th Brant Dragoons and enlisted in Paris on May 26, 1916, in the 125^th Battalion as a private. He sailed for England on the S.S. Olympic on April 29, 1917, and arrived in England on May 7^th. On June 13, 1917, he underwent a medical exam in which he was found to be in good physical condition but “undersized”. His height was 5’ 1”. He was put into Category “B”. This is likely the reason he was never sent from England to France. On January 4, 2018. he earned the rank as Acting Corporal; on July 6, 2018, he was appointed Acting Sergeant. He was discharged due to demobilization on August 26, 1919, as a Sergeant.

In the 1921 Canadian census Ralph was employed as a scourer at a woollen factory. The family lived at 41 Catherine Street and were owners of the property. By the time of the 1931 census, the family was living on Queen Street in Paris as owners of the property. Ralph was the boss scourer at a textile manufacturer, probably Penmans.

Ralph’s wife, Maude, died November 17, 1950, and he remarried on December 5, 1951, to Clara Ball, a widow. They lived at 39 Catherine Street. Sergeant Ralph Shields died August 30, 1971, at the Willett Hospital in Paris, and is buried in the Paris Cemetery with his first wife.