Maurice Samwell was born September 10, 1895 in Wales, Ontario (a town which no longer exists as it was flooded by the creation of the Seaway in the 1950’s) to Anglican Church Minister, Reverend Robert Samwell and his wife Jane. With two twin brothers, Cameron and Evan, and a sister Mary, he was the oldest of the four children.

In 1901, Reverend Samwell was transferred from the parish of Wales (near Cornwall) to St. Matthew’s Anglican Church in the Glebe, with his family moving 100 kms north to Ottawa. Unfortunately for the young family, Reverend Samwell contracted typhoid fever the following spring and died after a fifteen-week illness on August 24, 1902 at age 36. In 1905, his mother Jane married Reverend G. C. Clarke, living at 123 3rd Avenue until circa 1911 when they left for Pakenham and then Fitzroy Harbour in 1914.

Maurice, 19 years old, enlisted (#113) in the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on December 4, 1914 in Toronto while he was living in Fitzroy Harbour, just months after the start of World War 1. His occupation listed as a Clerk but later amended to include railway lineman experience, he was assigned to the 2nd Division Cyclist Company. Following 5 months of training, his unit was deployed to England on May 16, 1915 on the SS Corinthian and arrived eleven days later. Following further training, Private Samwell was finally shipped to France on September 15. In February 1916, Private Samwell was sent to Trench Warfare School Wiring Class and remained with the newly renamed Canadian Corps Cyclists Battalion.

The Battle of the Somme, one of the most infamous engagements of the War, began on July 1, 1916, a day remembered by the loss of more than 57,000 British troops, including the decimation of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment with 90 per cent losses. With this heavy fighting now taking place, just two weeks later on July 17, 1916, Private Samwell requested and was granted a transfer to the 21st Battalion Machine Gun Section, Eastern Ontario Regiment, and “taken on strength” just three days later. His mates were in this outfit and he wanted to be with them, according the reasons documented for this transfer.

During the summer/autumn of 1916, the Battle of the Somme was in full force, a conflict which eventually cost more than one million lives. One of the few allied victories during this horrific five-month engagement was when Canadian forces attacked the German stronghold at Courcelette on September 15, 1916. Canada suffered thousands of casualties in this Battle of Courcelette, which lasted for seven days. Designed to punch a hole in German lines for Cavalry to penetrate, the Battle was remembered both for the introduction of armoured tanks in modern day warfare as well as the formal debut of both the Canadian Corps and the New Zealand Division in World War 1.

The fighting was launched at 06:20 hrs on September 15 and the Canadians advanced, taking multiple objectives but at a huge cost. Total Allied casualties numbered more than 29,300 in this one-week conflict, with the three Divisions of the Canadian Corps suffering 7,230 casualties in this one week of fighting alone. British Army Commander, General Douglas Haig wrote that the Canadian achievement ‘…was a gain more considerable than any which had attended our arms in the course of a single operation since the commencement of the (Somme) offensive.”

And unfortunately, on this very first day of battle, Canadian casualties included Private Maurice Samwell (#113) who was killed in action on September 15, 1916, just five days after celebrating his 21st birthday. His body was never found.

Canada’s Vimy War Memorial commemorates those servicemen who were killed in action in the Great War, but whose bodies were never found. His name, M. O. SAMWELL, along with 11,284 others, is inscribed on the wall of the Vimy Memorial in the Pas de Calais region in NW France.

He is remembered today at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church.