Leonard George (1) Woodhurst


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Brief biography

Leonard George (1) Woodhurst was born at Leicester on January 19th 1894 to parents George Richard Guy Woodhurst and his wife Elizabeth Ellen Lewey [Birth Index: Leicester 7a 243, 1894 (March)]. He was baptised three years later, at St. Paul's Church on Bow Common on February 7th 1897, together with his brother Richard William (4) and his half-brother Edgar Guy Collins [St. Paul's Baptisms Register], the family's address being recorded as 50, Rowsell Street (in Mile End Old Town).

The 1901 Census finds him at age 7 living in the household of his step-father Eustace Charles Collins at 56, Ropery Street in Mile End Old Town.

His descendants report the following. He was born on January 19th 1894 at New Park Cottages, Nottingham Road in N. Evington, Leicester. Around 1905 he arrived in Canada in the course of his mother's emigration there with her second husband Eustace Charles Collins, and soon after was living in Montreal. At age 11 he began work as a mail-boy in the offices of the Canadian National Railways. He served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force in the Great War and was wounded twice, at Ypres and at Vimy. In 1920 he received from England a birthday gift in the form of an autograph book - which still survives - containing the signatures of various Woodhurst relations, in particular some of his aunts and uncles; it was sent by his cousins Blanche (2) and Winifred (1). In June 1928 (or possibly 1929) he married Sarah McClelland. She was born on January 25th 1907 at Dunmurry, a few miles south-west of Belfast in Northern Ireland.

His Attestation Paper states that he enlisted with the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force on September 21st 1915 and describes him as having dark complexion, dark hair and hazel eyes. His religious denomination was Methodist and he was occupied as a clerk. His mother was living at 868 St Catherine "West" [sic - Street], in Montreal.

He was hospitalized around 1952 and died in Montreal on January 4th 1955, and his wife Sarah died at Barrie, Ontario on February 10th 1995.

His children by Sarah McClelland

  1. Richard William (5) Woodhurst - born April 1st 1930
  2. Alice Grace Woodhurst - born August 16th 1932
  3. George Brian Woodhurst - born May 20th 1944

All three children listed above were born in Montreal.

In late 1986 Richard William (5) was found murdered in Montreal. A brief report on this appeared in The Gazette, issue of December 2nd 1986, as follows:

Earlier in the day police found Richard Woodhurst 56, beaten and stabbed to death in his home at 8401 Neuville St in Anjou. The victim's body was found shortly after noon when police went to his house to ask why his car, which was slightly damaged, was illegally parked on Koy St in Montreal. Police said it appeared that Woodhurst was killed and robbed and the robber or robbers drove away in his car which they abandoned.

George Brian married twice, in the second instance to Anne-Marie Dorothy Moses on June 12th 1982 in Montreal.