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Pte. Arthur McGinnis was born in 1895 and was recruited at Kingston to fight in the First World War in 1918.

Wallace Balfour Brett was born in Markdale, Ontario on 16 May 1895. Brett had been a farmer prior to enlisting in Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force in January 1917. Brett was a member of the 4th Company of the 8th Battalion. Brett was killed in action on 21 August 1918. He is buried in the Daours Communal Cemetery, 10 kilometers east of Amiens.

James Alexander Millen was born in Wentworth County on 11 February 1882. He enlisted with the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force in December 1915. Prior to enlistment, Millen was a member of the 77th Regiment where he had served as Lieutenant for Company E from 1902 to 1909.

The 4th Division was created in 1916.

The Council was founded in Hamilton, Ont. in November 1942. Membership was open to all labour groups.

Everett James Case was born in 1884. He grew up in St. Catharines and went on to become a successful banker in Toronto. Case later became involved with the artifact collection began by his father Charles A. Case. The initial collection was acquired through purchase and trade. The collection contains archaeological specimens from sites primarily in southern Ontario. Other areas include: Mexico, Saskatchewan, southwest British Columbia and Quebec. The collection contains 63 ethnographic items along with 810 artifacts. He bought various collections, including that of J. Hugh Hammond, Orillia barrister circa 1900-1912. When he died, the collection initially went to the small museum in Dundas, but was later sent to McMaster University via President George P. Gilmour. The Case artifact collection was donated to McMaster University in 1956. Choice items were put on display in Gilmour Hall, but in 1969 the display case was broken into, and many artifacts were stolen.

William Humphreys Dayas, pianist and composer, was born in New York of English parents in 1863 and orphaned at an early age. He studied organ and composition, and travelled to Germany in 1881 where he eventually became a pupil of Franz Liszt. Although he was a gifted pianist, he was not totally comfortable on the stage; he devoted himself to teaching. He taught at several conservatories throughout Europe and in 1896 was appointed principal professor of pianoforte at the Royal Manchester College of Music in England. He championed the music of Liszt, as well as publishing a number of his own compositions, primarily in Germany. He died in 1903 in Manchester.

Lawrence Durrell, novelist and poet, was born on 12 February 1912 in Julundur, India, the son of Lawrence Samuel Durrell, a British civil engineer. He was educated at the College of St. Joseph, Darjeeling, and St. Edmund's College in Canterbury. In 1939 under the auspices of the British Council, he taught at the British Institute in Athens. He became Foreign Press Service Officer at the British Information Office in Cairo in 1941 and press attaché with the same office in 1944. Through his contacts in the diplomatic service during the war, Durrell met Dudley and Mary Honor. His most well known work, The Alexandria Quartet, was started shortly after the war and published from 1957 to 1960. Durrell died on 7 November 1990 in Sommieres, France.

Isy Esses was a member of a Jewish family with business interests in a number of different locations. He was born in Manchester, England on 21 April 1910. Isy was the director of the Unico Trading Company in Kobe, Japan and was located there from 1934 onwards and presumably earlier than that. His brothers, Abraham (Abe/Aby) and Clement, were the directors of M.I. Esses & Sons Ltd. in Dublin, Ireland – although their joint control of this firm did not begin until later into the time period covered by this fonds. For a time Abraham lived in Palestine as did his sister Gladys. The Dublin company was named after their father, Moise Isaac Esses, who had retired. He and his wife lived in West Didsbury, near Manchester. Another sister, Rachel lived with them. The senior Esses died in September 1940 in Dublin where he and his wife had moved upon retirement. Gladys married Leon M. Safdie in 1937 while Abraham got engaged to Edith Stambouli. Isy was made a director of M.I. Esses in 1941. The brothers dealt in a variety of different goods including hairpins, buttons, jewellery, china, cotton and plywood. Unico shipped goods throughout the world – to other places in Asia, Britain, the Middle East, South America, Australia, and the United States. In May 1940 the three brothers were planning to form a new company for sundries only, named Esco Ltd. Business cards were printed. Another company, Messers. Esse & Cie was operative in Aleppo. M.I. Esses & Sons Ltd. and Esco Ltd. are still in operation today.

Running the business in Japan became more difficult as World War II went on and Isy Esses found himself under a terrific strain. It was difficult to find passage out of the Far East. In addition, he had responsibilities to the business which also delayed his departure. He did not leave Japan for good until late summer 1941 getting passage on a ship on 18 August bound for Shanghai. From there he was able to get to Bombay. He then made his way to Cape Town, South Africa, leaving there on 25 October 1941 for New York. During the period from 1934 to 1941 he had left Japan from time to time to visit relatives, including his parents in West Didsbury, and conduct business. The Unico Trading Company was not re-established; instead he started a new company, Esco. He stayed in New York until 1954 when he moved to Toronto. He married Marchelle Shalom in New York on 25 March 1946. Isy Esses died on 17 February 1991 in Toronto.

A waterworks for Hamilton was first proposed in 1836. A competition was held in 1854 for waterworks designs. The first pump went into operation in 1859. By 1916 the original engines were being used only as standby units. The engines last ran in 1939. The original waterworks has now been restored and is operated as a museum.

Richard C. Hilborn was born on 10 May 1918 in Kitchener, Ontario to Percy Richard Hilborn and Gertrude Roos Wells. He was educated at Upper Canada College, in Toronto and the Royal Military College in Kingston. He graduated from the Royal Military College in 1939, immediately joined the Toronto Scottish Regiment and then went overseas to England for the Second World War. Hilborn met John Jacob Astor (later Baron) during the Second World War and a friendship ensued between him and the Astor family. Richard married Laurette Parsons (6 June 1945) after the end of the War. Richard returned to Preston (now Cambridge), Ontario to work in his father's furniture factory, The Preston Furniture Company and Canadian Office and School Furniture Co. Laurette arrived in Canada in January 1946 and they settled in Preston. (Taken from It's Been Fun by Richard C. Hilborn.)

Harry Lyman Hooker was born in Buffalo, New York, on 16 November 1876 to Canadian parents on their way back to Canada. He grew up in Hamilton, Ontario. In 1904 he graduated from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City and went on to practice internal medicine. In 1942 he became the physician of the Waldorf Astoria hotel and remained there until his retirement in 1959. It was at the Waldorf that he met several of the letter-writers represented in this fonds. An opportune investment in International Business Machines provided the basis of Hooker's wealth. He became an extremely generous benefactor to McMaster University. He died on 10 September 1979.

Robert Hughes was a Toronto, Ontario businessman and poet. His works included Rhymes for the Times and Other Times (1950) and Some Verses for My Friends (1941).

Samuel Johnson, the English author and lexicographer, was one of the leading scholars and critics of his day.

Charles Kingsley was born on 12 June 1819 at Holne Vicarage, Devonshire. He was educated at King's College, London and Magdalene College, Cambridge. He became curate and then in 1844 rector of Eversley in Hampshire. His first novel, Yeast, was serialized in 1848 and published in book form in 1850. He later wrote Westward Ho! (1855). A popular children's book was The Water-Babies (1863). Kingsley became professor of modern history at Cambridge from 1860 to 1869 and canon of Chester and Westminster. He died at Eversley on 23 January 1875.

J.M. Moyes was with the Canadian Infantry, 13th Battalion. Originally from Dundee, Scotland, he enlisted in Quebec in 1914 as a Private. His attestation papers list his occupation as an artist. Throughout the war he continued to draw and paint, including teaching his fellow soldiers to draw while waiting to return home in 1919. By the end of the war he had attained the rank of Lieutenant and continued to paint after the war, though he is best known for his depictions of the war. At least one of his paintings is at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, and another at the Black Watch of Canada Regimental Museum in Montreal.

Sir John Coode was born at Bodmin on 11 November 1816. He was educated at Bodmin Grammar School before being articled to James Meadows Rendel of Plymouth. He went on to become probably the most distinguished harbour engineer of the nineteenth century. His greatest project was Portland harbour, begun in 1849 and completed in 1872 for which he received a knighthood. He was also involved with many harbour projects abroad including Columbo in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He became a member of the international commission for the Suez canal in 1884 and served on the commission until his death in Brighton on 2 March 1892. He was elected President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1889. His firm continued on after his death.

Angela Davis was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and educated at Brandeis University and in Paris. On her return to the United States, she became active in the civil rights campaign. After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., in 1968, she moved to Los Angeles and completed her Masters degree under Herbert Marcuse. In 1971 she was arrested and charged with kidnapping, murder and conspiracy. She was later acquitted on all charges. She published an autobiography in 1974.

The Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (Organización de Solidaridad con los Pueblos de Asia, Africa y América Latina, abbreviated OSPAAAL) was founded in Havana, Cuba in January 1966 after a meeting of the Tricontinental Conference. The leftist OSPAAAL opposes imperialism and sees itself as a defender of human rights. Its message is carried through the publication of colourful posters containing text in English, Spanish, French, and Arabic.

Alfred E. Pease, second baronet of Hutton Lowcross and Pinchinthorpe, was born in 1857, the son of Sir Joseph Whitall Pease, a prominent Quaker director of mercantile enterprise and the first Quaker baronet. The younger Pease was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. From 1885 to 1982 Sir Alfred was member of parliament for York City, and from 1879 to 1902 he represented the Cleveland division of Yorkshire. He was one of the founders, and for many years president, of the Cleveland Bay Horse Society. He died in 1939.