Robert Henry Ralph was born in Ottawa on March 6, 1888, son of flour merchant Joseph and his wife, Isabella Ralph. The second youngest of 6 children, the family lived at 235 Holmwood Avenue, facing the western end of Brown’s Inlet.In 1913/14, Robert initially served for a year in the 43rd Regiment, Duke of Cornwall’s Own Rifles out of the Cartier drill hall on Elgin Street. By 1915, he was a book binder by trade, living at 201 Rideau Street and dating Annie Gillam. The following year, on May 24, 1916, Robert and Annie were married at St. Matthew’s Church and set up their home at 223 Paterson Ave, just a mere 200 meters away.

With World War 1 now well underway, and Allied casualties mounting, just twelve days after their wedding, on June 5, 1916, Robert enlisted in the Canadian Field Artillery and was assigned to the Canadian Garrison Artillery, 1st Siege Battery. Gunner Robert Ralph (#343827) was one of 216 soldiers of the newly re-named No. 1 Canadian Siege Artillery. Following 7 months of training, his unit departed for England in January 1917, leaving behind his newly married wife, Annie.

No. 1 Canadian Siege Artillery was soon deployed to the Western Front and took part in the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917, in support of the troops of the 1st Canadian Division, his unit firing three hundred pound shells from their 9.2 inch heavy British howitzer guns. Artillery was a vital element of all battle planning of the war and quickly became the most feared aspect of life in the trenches, on both sides of the wire. At the same time, serving in any artillery unit was a most difficult and dangerous assignment as they were themselves a highly valued target of enemy shelling. It is estimated that nearly three quarters of all casualties in World War 1 was caused by artillery fire.

And yet, despite all of this, Gunner Robert Ralph survived the next 20 months to see out the end of the war and the signing of the Armistice on November 11, 1918 bringing all hostilities to a close. Unfortunately, it was also at this time in the second half of 1918, that the influenza pandemic was spreading like wildfire through allied troops on the western front, as well as populations the world over. The most terrible disease ever, it resulted in a minimum of 50 million deaths worldwide. Pneumonia affected more than 4,700 Canadian soldiers, resulting in 1,261 deaths.

In December 1918, still in Belgium and prior to his unit returning home to Canada, Gunner Robert Ralph was infected by this influenza and was taken to the nearby No. 51 Casualty Clearing Station at Tournai Hainaut, a town which had remained under German occupation for the entire war, liberated just 3 days before the Armistice on November 8, 1918. Anti-biotics had yet to be developed, meaning an infection of this nature was always a significant danger to one’s health.

On December 13, 1918, just 32 days after the end of the war, Gunner Robert Ralph, # 343827, after surviving all of those major battles of 1917/18, succumbed to a deadly combination of influenza and broncho-pneumonia and passed away. Fifteen other Canadian soldiers also died the same day from either pneumonia or wounds suffered earlier in the war, this rate of daily death amongst Canadian troops continuing for many weeks after the war.

Remembered at St. Matthew’s, thirty years young, Gunner Robert Ralph, 1st Siege Battery, Canadian Garrison Artillery, was buried at Tournay Communal Cemetery, Allied Extension, in Belgium, along with 688 other Commonwealth soldiers. Robert Ralph was the last of the sixteen soldiers from St. Matthew’s to perish in World War 1, never again seeing his wife Annie. Of interest, his older sister Florence, born in 1884, lived until 1995, passing away at age 111. He rests in Belgium and is remembered at St. Matthew’s Church.