Private Samuel James Angus McClure was born on April 27th, 1887 in Churchville to Elizabeth Ann Shields McClure and Samuel McClure. He grew up with five siblings. According to the 1911 census, the family had moved to Edmonton, Alberta, and at some point between then and when Angus enlisted in 1915, Samuel Senior died and the family moved to Kerrisdale, Vancouver, B.C (source: Ancestry.ca). At the time of his enlistment in March of 1915, Angus was a 28 year old carpenter in British Columbia. He belonged to the active militia group known as the Duke of Connaught’s Own Rifles in B.C. 

               Private McClure was 5 ft. 10 with blue eyes and grey hair; he was assigned to the 7th Battalion Canadian Infantry who fought in France. Interestingly, Angus’ much younger brother, Lawson, enlisted one month after him, stating on his enlistment papers that he, also, was born in 1887 and was 28 years old, despite the fact that he was actually born in 1899 and was only 15 years old. Lawson did manage to train in Vancouver with a regiment for seven months before being docked four days pay for an unknown issue, and immediately afterwards being discharged from the army as, “Not likely to become an efficient soldier”. Meanwhile, Angus McClure transferred units three times over a span of three months, joining his final unit in France on September 4th, 1915, and being killed in action three weeks later on September 27th (source: Library & Archives Canada). Angus was originally buried in the Rosenburg Chateau Military Cemetery, but transferred to nearby Berks Cemetery Extension with the entire rest of the Rosenburg cemetery in the 1930s when it was established that Rosenburg could not be used in perpetuity (source: www.findagrave.com). According to the cemetery website, the vast majority of those buried at Berks were killed not in major offensives like Ypres, but in day to day trench warfare and small scale attacks on the enemy (source: The Commonwealth War Graves Commission). Private McClure was posthumously awarded the Memorial Cross, the 1914/1915 Star (for those who saw frontline battle during those years), the Victory Medal, and the British War Medal (source: Library & Archives Canada).