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Wartime Heritage
ASSOCIATION
Remembering World War I
Yarmouth Connections
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Roy Ferguson Gavel
Roy Ferguson Gavel
282973
Private
219th Battalion; 85th Battalion
December 23, 1890
Kelley’s Cove, Yarmouth Co., Nova Scotia
March 16, 1916
Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
Kelley’s Cove, Yarmouth Co., Nova Scotia
25
5 feet, 6 inches
Light
Blue
Light
Married
Fisherman
Baptist
Mildred Estella Gavel
June 24, 1919 (Halifax)
July 30, 1988
97
Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Normandy Section
Roy Ferguson Gavel was the son of John Hardy Gavel (1851-1931) and Agnes E. (Hurlburt) Gavel (1860-
1918) and husband of Mildred Estella (Huskins) Gavel (b.1894). He was the brother of Frank Lee Gavel
(1882-1966), Blanche Mary Gavel (1887–1944), George William Gavel (1888-1968), Fred Bragg Gavel
(1892–1971), John [Jack] Noble Gavel (1893–1973), and Isabell Gavel (1896–1983). His brother George
William Gavel also served during WWI (Service No. 282973).
Roy enlisted with the 219th Battalion and trained in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He embarked Canada on October
12, 1916, sailing on the SS Oylmpic, and disembarked at Liverpool, England on October 18, 1916. In
November 1916, Roy was admitted to hospital at Bramshott Military Hospital with pleurisy and discharged
on recovery to the 17th Reserve Battalion at Bramshott on January 1, 1917. He proceeded overseas to
France for service with the 85th Battalion, arriving in the field of action on June 29, 1917.
On August 16, 1917 he suffered gas poisoning and was invalided to England on August 21, 1917. On
January 4, 1918, he was transferred to the 17th Reserve Battalion. On March 27, 1918 he was awarded
the good conduct badge. He was struck off strength to Canada on December 5, 1918, and taken on
strength to No. 6 District Depot at Halifax and on December 14, 1918, was posted to the Casualty Company
and discharged at Halifax on June 24, 1919.
Post WWI, Roy moved to Vancouver, British Columbia.
On September 5, 1931, Roy married Edith Kate Fowkes (1889-1975) in Vancouver, British Columbia. His
son, by the second marriage, Clifford Ray Gavel served during WWII and was killed while in post-war
service in 1947. Roy was the great uncle of Arthur Douglas Gavel who was also a WWII casualty.
Following the death of Roy’s second wife in 1975, he married Lucy Leoara (Lake) Gavel (1915-2001) born
in Moose Brook, Hants Co., Nova Scotia.
During the First World War, Roy’s second wife, Edith
Fowkes worked for the VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) of
the BEF (British Expeditionary Force). She was born in
Ibstock, Derbyshire, England, and emigrated to Canada in
1920. Her brother, Private Forester Albert Fowkes, (b.
1896) served with the Leicestershire Regiment and was
killed in action at Ypres on September 27, 1917.
