Prince Edward Island

Parishioners erected plaques listing those who served and died in service during the Great War.

Province House, a National Historic Site, displays a Historic Site and Monument Board of Canada plaque dedicated to Colonel John Hamilton Gray. The original was unveiled May 29, 1939, but it is unknown when the current plaque was unveiled.

Colonel John Hamilton Gray (June 1811 - August 1887), was born and educated in Charlottetown. He chose a military career and was sent to England where he was commissioned into the 15th Foot in 1831. He transferred to the 15th Light Dragoons in 1839 and eventually to the 7th Dargoon Guards in 1844. He served in India and South Africa and was decorated for his service in South Africa. In 1852, he retired with the rank of Colonel and returned to Prince Edward Island where he became involved in politics and was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1854. The outbreak of the Crimean War in the same year caused Gray to resume his military service, but after the war he continued his political endeavours, successfully winning in the elections of 1858 and 1859. Gray became the government leader in 1863 and Chairman of the 1864 Charlottetown Conference which laid the groundwork for the British North America Act. Due to his wife's failing health, he resigned shortly after the Conference but returned to the military in 1867 as Adjutant-General of PEI. John Hamilton Gray died in Charlottetown in 1887.

Colonel Gray Senior High School is named in honour of Colonel John Hamilton Gray (June 1811 - August 1887), born and educated in Charlottetown. He chose a military career and was sent to England where he was commissionedinto the 15th Foot in 1831. He transferred to the 15th Light Dragoons in 1839 and eventually to the 7th Dargoon Guards in 1844. He served in India and South Africa and was decorated for his service in South Africa. In 1852, he retired with the rank of Colonel and returned to Prince Edward Island where he became involved in politics and was appointed to the Legislative Council in 1854. The outbreak of the Crimean War in the same year caused Gray to resume his military service, but after the war he continued his political endeavours, successfully winning in the elections of 1858 and 1859. Gray became the government leader in 1863 and Chairman of the 1864 Charlottetown Conference which laid the groundwork for the British North America Act. Due to his wife's failing health, he resigned shortly after the Conference but returned to the military in 1867 as Adjutant-General of PEI. John Hamilton Gray died in Charlottetown in 1887.

Colonel Gray Senior High School is a part of the Eastern School District of Prince Edward Island, who built the school in 1968.

The Town of Stratford Cenotaph was designed by well-known Prince Edward Island Artist, and Canada Council of the Arts Board Member, Henry Purdy along with input from a special Veterans Committee. The committee was chaired by local Veteran Dr. Earl Kennedy.

Created from black granite that was mined in Nova Scotia, the cenotaph was unveiled on November 11, 2006, and dedicated to all Veterans of Stratford. Soldiers representing the three services of the Armed Forces (Air Force, Navy and Army) are depicted on the back of the cenotaph. A victory torch represents NATO efforts to victory, and a farm along with a fishing boat symbolizes what was left behind when Islanders headed off to war. 

The cenotaph is surrounded by oak and maple trees. English Oak represents Britain for the First World War as Canadians fought under the Union Jack flag. Red Maple represents Second World Veterans who were fighting under the Canadian flag. Red Tulips (Holland) represent love, worthiness, and forgiveness. Lavender (France) represents devotion and energy. Boxwood symbolizes longevity and immortality and grasses represent a better tomorrow with growth and expansion. As the grass dies in the fall, it represents rest only to rejuvenate and live again come spring.

In 2021, an Honour Roll of ten metal panels were erected along the walkway leading to the cenotaph. 

These certificates list the members of the church who enlisted in the Canadian military during the First and Second World Wars.

Erected by the Women's Auxiliary of the Prince Edward Island Artillery, this memorial is dedicated to the war dead and veterans of the Prince Edward Island Artillery during the First World War.

In October 1900, as the first Island contingent was sailing home, a group of Islanders decided there must be a monument to commemorate their heroic efforts. Prominent Charlottetown citizens struck a committee, chaired by Premier Donald Farquhar, a site was chosen on the south side of Queen Square, and in January 1901, a memorial was selected: an elaborate bronze statue with two figures to represent "Life and Death in Victory."

Subscriptions from Charlottetown citizens netted over $2,000.00 and a fund-raising campaign through Island schools raised close to $200.00. Provincial and city governments responded with a combined $900.00 in grants. A play, Zephra, was held with all proceeds going towards the statue, but all their efforts were not enough. By July 1901, the committee conceded that "life and Death in Victory" was too expensive.

By that time, the committee had received a proposal from Hamilton McCarthy, R.C.A., an Ottawa sculptor of note, whose work is found across Canada (Ottawa and Nova Scotia contain his work commemorating those who fought in South Africa). On October 11, the committee agreed on McCarthy’s submission.

The design for the statue, at a cost of $4,000, was a single figure defending a dismantled gun with his bayonet at the charge, his beardless face wearing an expression characteristic of a soldier of the Royal Canadian Regiment. The site was changed from directly in front of Province House to partway between that building and the Law Courts. Commemorative bronze tablets, designed by L. W. Watson (who also composed the music for "The Island Hymn"), were placed one the north and south sides of the pedestal, which was completed in June 1902 by local craftsman E. F. Purdy.

McCarthy was to complete the monument by July 1, 1902, but after lengthy delays at the founders, the Henry Bonnard Co. of New York, the hollow bronze statue was shipped to Prince Edward Island the following May. The Soldiers Monument was unveiled on July 6, 1903, in memory of Prince Edward Islanders killed in the South African War - Roland Taylor and Alfred Riggs.

On July 6, 2003, the monument was rededicated to all Islanders who volunteered to join the Prince Edward Island South Africa contingents and who served with the Royal Canadian Regiment from 1899 to 1902.

Hamilton P. MacCarthy was born on 28 July 1846 in London, England. He studied with his father, sculptor Hamilton Wright McCarthy and at the Royal Academy Schools. MacCarthy moved to Toronto, Ontario, in 1885. Thirteen years later he moved to Ottawa and studied at the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. MacCarthy had 15 children and his son Coeur de Lion MacCarthy was a sculptor who produced numerous commemorative works after the First World War.

Other memorials by Hamilton MacCarthy include:  South African War Memorial and Lieutenant Harold Lothrop Borden Memorial in Nova Scotia; South African War Memorial and General Isaac Brock Monument in Ontario.

This memorial, a Sherman tank, was dedicated as a memorial by the Department of National Defence through a ceremony involving Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, on 17 July 1967. It is dedicated to all of the men and women of Prince Edward Island who died in service during the Second World War.

The Soldiers’ Monument was unveiled on 16 July 1925 by Matilda McLean, wife of Senator John McLean and mother of Rena McLean, the Prince Edward Island nurse killed on the Llandovery Castle. Those who fell in the Great War and those who have returned are commemorated by a bronze group of Canadian soldiers designed by sculptor George William Hill. His name is inscribed on the base of the bronze group, under the foot of the lead soldier.

The group, headed by a sergeant, is shown advancing, each soldier with a different movement makes his way over the rifted surface. A German Pickelhaube helmet sticks out of the mud. The spirited action with the expression of determined purpose shows on every face, illustrates the great aptitude for attack, the hard fighting qualities which gained for the Canadian soldiers the highest regard of human valor.

The monument cost $16,000, of which $11,500 was paid by the city and the remainder by public donation. Additional lettering was added at a later date to recognize the Second World War and Korean War.

George William Hill was born in Shipton, Eastern Townships, in 1861. He learned to carve marble in his father’s company, after he graduated from college. Between 1889 and 1894, he left Quebec to study sculpting at the École nationale des beaux-arts and Académie Julian in Paris. When he returned to Montreal, he opened a studio and worked with architect Robert Findlay and brothers Edward and William S. Maxwell. Known for his public monuments and war memorials, he is now considered one of the most important Canadian sculptors of the early twentieth century.

Hill designed several monuments commemorating Canadians lost in the South African War, including the Strathcona and South African Soldiers' Memorial in Quebec and Boer War Soldiers Monument in Ontario. At the end of the First World War, Hill was awarded several contracts by towns and cities wishing to pay homage to citizens who had died on the battlefields. Between 1920 and 1930 he designed these monuments: Westmount Cenotaph, Magog Cenotaph, Argenteuil Cenotaph, Richmond Cenotaph, Sherbrooke War Memorial in Quebec; Pictou County War Memorial in Nova Scotia; and Soldier's Monument, The Soldier and Nurses’ Memorial in Ontario.

This memorial forest, which includes a tree planted for each of the veterans honoured, is marked by four granite shafts - one each for the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Merchant Navy - listing the names of local Second World War veterans of these services.

In 1939 the forest was used as a training facility for the 2nd and 8th Batteries then later for other regiments and units throughout the war. The monuments list the names of over 600 soldiers that didn't make it home to their families from the Navy, Airforce and Armed Forces.