A 108-year-old wartime mystery that might have connections to Harvey Road in St. John’s is puzzling researchers as they attempt to identify the remains of a soldier found in northern France nine years ago.
They’re desperately trying to locate the descendants of a missing soldier — Pte. George Patrick Kirk, or a variation of that name — with Newfoundland and Labrador roots in hopes of solving the mystery.
“We would love to be able to give [this unknown soldier] his name back. He’s been unknown for a long time,” said Alexandra McKinnon, a Department of National Defence historian with the casualty identification program.
In April 2016, specialists were conducting a cautionary search for explosives in advance of a construction project near Loos, a suburb of Lille. Such searches are common because Loos was the site of fierce fighting between the Canadian and German armies as the First World War raged in the summer of 1917.
During the excavation, a full set of human remains were found in what used to be a German position known as Humbug Trench.
Included with the remains were the solder’s boots, British and German coins, and some very personal items such as a comb and a nail file. But the key artifacts were uniform collar badges that identified the soldier as a member of the 13th Battalion (Royal Highlanders of Canada).
The remains are those of a man between the ages of 20 and 24, and a height of between 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-8-and-a-half.
No other remains were found during the search.
Soldier died during Battle of Hill 70
For years, McKinnon and other members of the casualty identification program have been carrying out historical and forensic research in an effort to identify the remains.
The initial list of potential candidates was 46, because that’s how many members of the Quebec-based 13th Battalion are missing from what’s known as the Battle of Hill 70.
But that number has gradually shrunk as researchers ruled out one potential unknown soldier after another, both by studying the bones and, in some cases, comparing the DNA of the unknown soldier with surviving family members of those missing soldiers from the 13th Battalion.
McKinnon said she’s tracked down family members of those missing soldiers from all over Canada, Scotland and the United States.
“We’ve been able to eliminate most of those candidates,” said McKinnon.
In search of solder’s family members
Now the researchers are seized on one name in particular — Pte. George Patrick Kirk, or possibly Patrick Quirk — because he matches the age and height of the discovered remains.
But there’s a problem: McKinnon has been unable to locate any family members in order to collect a comparative DNA sample, and their research has raised even more questions about Kirk’s actual identity.
“I feel comfortable saying there’s a chance” the remains could be those of Pte. Kirk, said McKinnon.
Thousands of Newfoundlanders fought for Canada
Newfoundland was a self-governing Dominion of the British Empire when war broke out, and roughly 12,000 Newfoundlanders served in the First World War, mostly with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.
But roughly 3,200 Newfoundlanders enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force, and Pte. Kirk was one of them.
He enlisted with the Canadian army at Valcartier, Quebec on Sept. 26, 1914, and described himself as a miner from Stellarton, Pictou County, Nova Scotia.
His records do not contain any photographs.
Pte. Kirk was killed on Aug. 15, 1917 on the first day of the Battle of Hill 70, and is one of the 27,000 Canadians and Newfoundlanders and Labradorians listed as missing from the First World War, Second World War and Korean Conflict.
Kirk, Quirk or Quick?
According to his attestation papers, Pte. George Patrick Kirk was born in St. John’s on March 17, 1894, “Mrs. Thomas Quirk” is named as his next-of-kin, and his religious denomination is Catholic.
Kirk’s mother is named elsewhere in his service file as “Annie,” she’s described as a widow, and her surname is written variously as “Quick”, “Quirk” and “Kirk.”
She also shows up in the 1921 Census of Canada as “Annette Quirk,” said McKinnon, though efforts to find a death certificate have been unsuccessful.
There’s also no information about “Thomas Quirk,” added McKinnon.
“And with those different surnames, there’s a question as to whether Thomas Quirk was Pte. Kirk’s stepfather or if he simply decided to go by a variation on his surname during his war surface,” she said.
Church records raise new questions
The mystery does not end there. Despite an extensive search of their baptismal records, said McKinnon, archivists with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John’s were unable to find any record that George Patrick Kirk was born in March 1894.
However, added McKinnon, there is a baptismal record of a Patrick Quirk, who was born a year later on March 10, 1895.
Historians believe human remains discovered in northern France could be those of a Newfoundlander who fought for Canada in the First World War. The CBC’s Terry Roberts has the story.
“In this instance, Patrick Quirk and George Patrick Kirk seem to possibly be the same person,” she said, adding that Patrick Quirk was “illegitimate” because he was born to parents — George Humphries and Anne Quirk, who were living on Harvey Road in St. John’s — who were not married to each other.
“We still have no guarantee that George Patrick Kirk and Patrick Quirk are the same person, so we wanted to put this call out to anyone who knows anything about any of these names. If any of these stories sound familiar, the story of a great uncle or grandparent’s cousin, we would love to hear from you if you know anything about the Quirk family.”
Descendants of missing soldiers encouraged to register
The casualty identification program currently has 42 active cases of unidentified soldiers’ remains, and most are from the Battle of Hill 70, where Canadian casualties numbered in the thousands and roughly 1,200 soldiers were never identified because of the intensity of the artillery bombardments and the heavy use by both sides of poison gas.
The acknowledgement by McKinnon that the remains of the 13th Battalion soldier might be a Newfoundlander comes just days after it was revealed that the unidentified remains of four Royal Newfoundland Regiment soldiers were discovered recently on the former Western Front.
The casualty identification program is building a database of family members of missing soldiers to help with the identification process, and descendants are asked to fill out this registration form. The data is protected by rigorous privacy laws, said McKinnon, and those who agree to provide a DNA sample will be supplied with a cheek swab kit.
“It’s completely voluntary, and it’s completely free,” she said.
McKinnon said her office received more than 100 registration forms from descendants after CBC News reported that four missing Royal Newfoundland Regiment soldiers had been recovered. She said it was an overwhelming response, since 800 Newfoundlanders are listed as missing from the First World War.
“We really want to give families the answers they’re looking for,” she said.
Eventually, a funeral service with full military honours will be held for the 13th Battalion soldier at the Loos British Cemetery, which serves as the final resting place for nearly 3,000 First World War casualties, two-thirds of which lie in graves marked “Known Unto God.”
It’s McKinnon’s hope that before that happens, the identity of the soldier can be confirmed, and members of his family can be present for the funeral.
“The ultimate purpose of this program is for the dead to be buried with their name, by their regiment, and in the presence of their family,” she said.
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