November 2023 issue online

25
ARTHUR — CANADA’S MOST
PATRIOTIC VILLAGE
In November 1942, the Toronto Star ran a
front-page headline that read “Arthur Village
Gives Sons and Money to Aid the War”, and
recognized Arthur as the Most Patriotic Village
in Canada, as one out of every seven Arthur
residents fought in the Second World War.
At that time, 126 residents had enlisted from the
population of 890. It was the highest ratio in
comparison to villages of comparable sizes in
Canada. By the end of the war, 338 Arthur
residents had enlisted, and 25 were killed in
action.
Photo courtesy of Vivian Swift
During the first war bond campaign of World
War II, the village of Arthur was the first community in Ontario to reach its quota, which it did within
a few minutes. Arthur also led the communities in Wellington for every other war and victory bond
campaign and surpassed all objectives that had been set. By the end of the fourth campaign, Arthur
had raised a total of $250,000 which was an amount equal to 64% of the assessed value of the
village’s taxable property.
In 2002, David Tilson, MPP for Dufferin-Peel-Wellington-Grey, stated in the Ontario legislature
that because of the village of Arthur’s extraordinary World War II record, the community was now
being recognized as “Canada's Most Patriotic Village”.
The sacrifice of these soldiers is honoured by the Cenotaph of Arthur, located in the heart of the
village. The monument was unveiled on August 6, 1923, by Mrs. David Brocklebank, whose son was
killed at the end of World War I, before the largest crowd ever assembled in Arthur village. After the
unveiling, the Toronto Star described the cenotaph as “a war memorial whose design and beauty
cannot be equaled as yet in the Province.” On the cenotaph are engraved the names of the 193 men
who enlisted in World War I (including the 40 who were KIA), as well as the 363 men and women
who enlisted in World War II, among whom 25 made the ultimate sacrifice. One unique feature of the
cenotaph was that, when it was being designed, a decision was made to build the monument with
stones gathered from local farms. It was
later discovered that the memorial was
the first fieldstone Cenotaph Memorial
built in the province.
Some of the men that enlisted from
the Arthur area were British Home
Children that were sent here from
orphanages in the UK. Between 1869
and 1948, over 118,000 orphaned and
abandoned children up to the age of 16
were sent to Canada to work as farm
hands and domestic servants.
Courtesy of the Wellington Advertiser
The Sentinel - November 2023