Roy J. Adams (b. 1940) is an academic with interests in the area of labour issues. He has lectured and held positions around the world. In 2003 he convened the Hamilton Civic Coalition, an organization of top civic leaders dedicated to improving the quality of life in Hamilton
Albert Ernest Adams was born in Toronto on 12 July 1898. His father was Ernest Albert Adams, a bread wagon driver, and his mother was Sarah Heighes. Lying about his age in order to fight in the First World War, Adams volunteered with the 134th Battalion on 27 January 1916, after seven months served already as a private with the 48th Highlanders. By June 1916, while training at Camp Niagara, he received word that his parents had separated. Subsequently, after a short period at Camp Borden, Adams departed for England, arriving by the beginning of August 1916.
He trained at Aldershot and was then assigned to Camp Witley in Surrey as an instructor in musketry, earning the nickname "Babe" for being the youngest sergeant. Later, in March 1917, he took a machine gun course. One year later, in March 1918, he was transferred to 3rd Canadian Machine Gun Battalion, No. 1 Company, training briefly at the Canadian depot at Searford before shipping off to France within the month. He survived the battle of Amiens in August, but on 24 September 1918 a German aircraft dropped a bomb on the A and C batteries of No. 1 Company, killing over 30 men including Adams. He was buried in Wanquetin Communal Cemetery Extension at Pas de Calais, France.
Jane Abbott was an American visitor to Vienna in 1914 when Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife, Sophie, were assassinated in Sarajevo, leading to the outbreak of the First World War. Abbott travelled to Europe in April 1914, with her husband, Dr. Donald Putnam Abbott, a recent graduate of Rush Medical College in Chicago. Dr. Abbott was intending to further his medical training in Vienna, but this plan was abandoned following the assassinations. The Abbotts left Austria at the end of August, travelling by train across Europe to England. They returned to the United States at the end of September.
The battalion was originally raised at Exhibition Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on 6 November 1914. As part of the 4th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division, the 19th went from its station in Toronto, Canada, to West Sandling Camp, Shorncliffe, England, 23 May 1915. It disembarked in France on 15 September 1915, where it fought as part of the 4th Infantry Brigade, 2nd Canadian Division in France and Flanders until the end of the war and disbanded on 15 September 1920. It is perpetuated by The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders of Canada (Princess Louise's).
