Ackery in the Army

When he returned to Vancouver, Ackery got a job as an elevator operator at the Hudson's Bay store. (Years later, he could still name the goods sold on each floor.) But you know the lure of battle kept calling to him.

On November 29, 1916, at the age of 17, Ivor/Ivan enlisted again, saying he was 18. He was sent to Victoria with the 143 Battalion. This was a unique collection of men called the B.C. Battling Bantams - the unit was made of men not tall enough to qualify for regular military service.

The Southland picked Ackery and his unit up in Halifax on February 17, 1917 and ten days later, the men were in Europe. Ackery was transferred to the 24th Reserve Battalion at Seaford and by April, he was with the troops on the way to Calais. Then the men were stuffed into boxcars and shipped off to the front.

“Before we left England,” Ivor/Ivan later recalled, “I had been assigned to the Fighting 47th Battalion, 10th Infantry Brigade, a great battalion from New Westminster.”

When the battalion arrived at Chateaux de la Haie, where the 4th Canadian Division was stationed, Pte Ivor Ackery was assigned the duties of a dispatcher. He would run messages from headquarters to the front and he eventually ended up at Vimy Ridge.

“The trenches at Vimy,” Ackery said, “became as familiar to me as the streets of my home town, because it was our job to know them like the backs of our hands, and to be able to move through them with speed.”

Considering that 60 percent of the battalion never came home, this was not a cushy, behind the scenes assignment. It was dangerous. Vimy Ridge is well known for its ferocity and for the valor of the Canadian soldiers. There are some who say that this battle is what made Canada a country and no longer a sleepy outpost of the British Empire.

Even though he was surrounded by blood and violence, Ivor's humanity remained.“On one occasion I was detailed to escort a German prisoner from the front line back to the battalion HQ. He was just a kid, too. He showed me his mother’s picture in a little locket he had, and started to cry. I put my arm around him to try to comfort him, then took him to the back of the line and never saw him again. We shook hands before parting, and I shall never forget him.”

A glimpse into Ackery's future career was also shown during war.“a group of soldiers from the 3rd Division who got up a troupe [to visit the troops] to do skits and songs and dances and even female impersonations . . . The troupe stayed together after the war and were well known in Canada as a touring musical-comedy show. I would play them at the Strand Theatre in Vancouver in the 1930s.” This group was known as the Dumbbells.

Ivor's mother was worried sick about her 17 year old son and she sent a copy of his birth certificate to the army who removed young Ackery from the lines. He was sent to England where he was assigned to the Young Soldiers Battalion and was with them in northern Wales when the armistice was signed. He sailed for Canada nine months later, once again aboard the Southlands. Ivor would have returned home sooner but he had to spend some time in a military prison for going AWOL. He had been partying too enthusiastically.

Thanks goes once again to The History of Metropolitan Vancouver website for the above information.

I hope you find the beauty around you.

Jonathan Rogers

I left off on Monday telling you about a building that Jonathan Rogers built on Hastings street. Four years after the construction, the Klondike Gold Rush started, thus ensuring Vancouver's growth. Rogers hired architects Parr and Fee to add a second half to the building. The addition is almost identical to the original except the windows are slightly different.

Remember how I told you that Jonathan Rogers would be unhappy with how the building is used today? Rogers was the main organizer in 1916 of the People's Prohibition Association in Vancouver and they successfully brought prohibition to the province. Roger's Block is now home to Marc Emery's Cannabis Culture Headquarters and the Amsterdam Cafe.

In 1898, Rogers acquired more land on Hastings Street and built the second Rogers Block. In 1903, he built the Royal Bank of Canada building on the adjacent corner lot to the east. This was one of the first buildings in Vancouver to use reinforced concrete. For this building, the reinforced concrete was used for the foundation and the vaults and was over a half a metre thick.

Rogers had been just as innovative in the construction of his building in 1898. Then he had erected a giant umbrella over the entire site to ensure the building would be completed by spring.

A 1931 photo taken by Frank Leonard. Looking south on Granville and you can see the top of the Rogers building.

1911 photo.Looking north from south of Dunsmuir. Bank of Montreal, centre right. Rogers Building under construction in background with CPR depot beyond.

1943. East side of the 500 block of Granville Street - Rogers Building - Bank of Montreal - Eaton's Department Store, 526 Granville Street - Fee Block, 570 Granville Street.

Jonathan continued as a contractor and builder and was soon involved in building all sorts of structures. He was responsible for office buildings, banks, hotels, manufacturing plants and even an electricity-generating station. 

In 1901, census records list the 35-year-old Jonathan Rogers as a lodger in a suite of rooms on Homer Street. His occupation is listed as painter and decorator. But a year later, Rogers took a wife. He married a young woman from Oswestry, near his ancestral home in Wales. Jonathan and Elisabeth moved into a large, elegant home at 2050 Nelson Street. They named the home Argoed which is Welsh for beside the wood. 

I would like to thank the Building Vancouver blog for the information and the Vancouver Public Library archives for the older photos.

I hope you find the beauty around you.