Duncan Cenotaph
As part of our project to document the names on the Duncan Cenotaph in Charles Hoey Park, here is a page about Private Lionel Richard Fawkes, who died 3 June 1915 while serving with the Canadian 7th Battalion near Ypres. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Menin Gate, Ypres, Belgium.
Here is the local Cowichan Leader newspaper report of the death of Private Lionel Richard Fawkes:
“The name of Private Lionel Fawkes, 7th Battalion, wounded (June 9 list) was inadvertently omitted last week. he was born in India some 25 years ago, and is the son of Colonel Fawkes, White Lodge, Parkstone, Dorset, late of the Indian Army, and is the nephew of Admiral Sir Wilmot Fawkes, K.C.R., K.C.V.O., who is now occupying an important post at the Admiralty.
Private Fawkes was educated at Haileybury and had been in Canada some six years, following many pursuits, including working on surveys. he was in partnership with Private E.C. Brooke-Smith in a tobacco business in Duncan and, like his partner, shone in “soccer” circles. He has two brothers in the army, Charles, who left a post with the C.P.R. telegraphs on the prairies to take a commission in England, and Cecil, who passed through Sandhurst.”
(Source: Cowichan Leader, 24 June 1915, from Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives collection)
Here are some websites with more information on Lionel Richard Fawkes:
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