In early 1918, Rev. Doctor Peter Strang, the chair of Usborne’s Sectional School No. 1, first raised the idea of a memorial to former students serving in the Great War and especially for those who had made the supreme sacrifice. His nephew, Private John Strang, age 20, had been killed in action in July 1917. Peter Strang was a member of the committee responsible for collecting funds and to see that the work was completed. Strang made a generous donation and school trustees canvassed former students to raise the necessary money.
James Weeks, owner of the Marble Works in Exeter, ordered the work of the carving of the statue, to be carried out in Carrara, Italy. The statue was carved from a picture of a soldier, which was taken at London, Ontario, when the 161st Battalion was training at Wolsley Barracks. James Weeks was also commissioned by the committee to prepare the marble pedestal, which measured six and a half feet high, where the statue would be placed. When the memorial was completed, it was to be placed by him in front of Usborne’s Sectional School No. 1.
In December 1918, the five feet, six inches tall soldier statue travelled from Carrara, Italy to Exeter. The soldier’s cap and uniform, puttees and shoes were carved so perfectly that the wrinkles, folds, seams, etc. flowed into the marble making the soldier seem life like. A tree stump carved behind the soldier’s right foot is symbolic of a young life cut short.
The names inscribed on the pedestal were in memory of the men of Usborne’s Sectional School No. 1 who served in the First World War along with the names of those who paid the supreme sacrifice. The cost was $250 for the carving of the statue which was completed in Italy. With the addition of the base pedestal completed by James Weeks, the total price was $700. This same design was also copied by many other municipalities.
Peter Strang was given the honour of unveiling the memorial on Monday, March 31, 1919 at Usborne’s Sectional School No. 1. A large crowd was present and due to cold weather the program, with exception of the unveiling, was carried out in the school house. One man drove 280 miles from Michigan to be present for the ceremony. This was one of the first memorials to be built and placed in Southwestern Ontario.
At the end of the Second World War a black granite base with the names of 18 Usborne men who served and one who was killed in the Second World War was added to the school monument. The unveiling of these names and the dedication took place on Sunday, November 11, 1945. In 1967, Canada's Centennial year, the cenotaph was moved as part of a centennial project, to the north west corner of the Usborne Central School property, with cooperation and help of R.E. Pooley Branch #167 of the Royal Canadian Legion. When Usborne Central School closed in 2012, the soldier cenotaph was moved again to the Hensall Union Cemetery by the Avon Maitland District School Board in the summer of 2012.
