Rare World War One photos and a copy of a Lambton
major’s diary written overseas in 1916 are now part of the Lambton County Archives
collection.
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| 9A-G R.B. Barnes, C.O. Fairbank, Steenvoorde France, 24 Aug 1916 |
The items, now more than 100 years old,
belonged to Major Charles Fairbank of Petrolia, who chronicled the trench
warfare in Ypres and the Somme.
His grandson, Charlie Fairbank of Oil
Springs, donated the diary and the photos, spurred by the Lambton At War exhibit now showing at the Judith & Norman Alix
Gallery in Sarnia. This material caught the attention of staff at the Lambton
Heritage Museum while they were conducting research to support this exhibit and
a lecture series about the major's participation in the First World War.
“My family has kept the diaries and photos
of my grandfather, C.O. Fairbank, a major of the 70th Battalion and
later joined the 18th Battalion at Ypres and the Somme,” said
Fairbank. “By donating these items to the Lambton County Archives, historians
and the public will gain new insights into the shelling, the horror of the
trenches, and my grandfather’s incredible sense of duty. At the age of 58, he
volunteered to go overseas on this dangerous mission, leaving behind a wife and
his four young sons.”
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| 9ED-G 70th Battalion at Sunnyside, 1915 |
One of the photos being donated shows Maj.
Fairbank with his new recruits of the 70th Battalion at the west
side of Fairbank’s mansion. It is believed this was taken in 1915.
Through some digging, the Fairbank
archivist Colleen Inglis was able to piece together the story behind a series
of three photos taken with Major Fairbank and five other officers. In one, they
are in their regular uniforms, in another they wear their helmets and in a
third, the same group are posed wearing their gas mask.
By transcribing Maj. Fairbank’s diary of
1916 to make it more accessible, she determined that the photos were taken on
Aug. 24, 1916 in Steenvorde, France. The troops had been billeted and were all
sleeping on hay in a barn. Tracking down a newspaper account of the photos in a
Forest newspaper in 1916, she was able to identify who is in the photos.
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| 9A-G R.B. Barnes, A.P. Ross, A.E. Cook, S.M. Loghrin, C.O. Fairbank, G.V. Nelson, Steenvoorde France, 24 Aug 1916 |
“Captured at a peaceful moment, the picture of the men in gas masks is simultaneously lighthearted and terrifying, and it brings the people to life in a way that words alone cannot,” says Inglis. She noted that two of the men, Major S.M. Loghrin and Lieutenant R.B. Barnes were killed less than a month later, on Sept. 15, in the Battle of Courcelette and Lieutenant G.V. Nelson was killed in 1917.
The detailed diary, she says, provide a
very vivid insight and document the first time he saw an airplane as well as
his first sighting of a tank
Major Fairbank, who was 58 when he went
overseas, returned to his family in 1916 and continued to live in the Fairbank
mansion in Petrolia until his death in 1925. Earlier, he was the mayor of
Petrolia, and the county warden. He was also a medical doctor, owned Vaughn and
Fairbank bank as well as VanTuyl and Fairbank Hardware and was an active oil
producer.
“These pictures are a unique and
fascinating snapshot of history,” says Lambton County Archivist Dana Thorne. “They
tell an important local story by featuring a prominent Lambton citizen, Charles
Oliver Fairbank, but they also tell an important international story by
situating him in France in the middle of the First World War.
“We are grateful that the Fairbank family
is willing to donate this material to the Lambton County Archives, where it can
be studied and appreciated by generations of researchers. We are also grateful
that events such as the Lambton At
War exhibit, on display at the JNAAG until February 4, help bring this
type of material to the surface where it can be discussed and appreciated.”
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| 9A-G G.V. Nelson, R.B. Barnes, A.P. Ross, A.E. Cook, S.M. Loghrin, C.O. Fairbank, Steenvoorde France, 24 Aug 1916 |
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| 9A-G R.B. Barnes, A.P. Ross, A.E. Cook, S.M. Loghrin, C.O. Fairbank, G.V. Nelson, Helmets, Steenvoorde France, 24 Aug 1916 |
Special thank you to Pat McGee for writing this blog post!
