A few months after Deborah Ross is married so is her little sister Isabella. And what a place to get married in! Her husband to be, Gordon Murray Beaton is a soldier in the Royal Canadian Regiment. The Royal Canadian Regiment is in extensive training in London Ontario before the war – from 1910 onwards. But when the Great War begins the Royal Canadian Regiment is absurdly , or luckily for them, not sent to Europe, but to Bermuda ! Nice posting or what? Here they are in Garrison Duty – meaning NOT in battle. There might have been a few German Prisoners of War there to guard, and some physical training for the action to come in Europe , but that was about it. Sending Canada’s already formed Regiment to Bermuda was apparently questioned in Canada’s parliament at the time. But it was the British who had made this request as it would enable them to get their troops, currently stationed there, back home to fight n the Great War. So, after August 1914, we find Gordon Murray Beaton posted in Hamilton Bermuda. And we also find Isabella making her way to Bermuda. Isabella and Gordon are married in Bermuda on November 17th, 1914. We don’t know precisely which church they were married in , but let’s assume it was the one below as it is the oldest Anglican Church in Hamilton, Bermuda. A beautiful church it is – constructed of Bermuda Limestone. So now you know that your great great Aunt Isabella was married in a beautiful church in Bermuda you might just have to go see it at 45 Church Street.
The men of the Royal Canadian Regiment don’t avoid the Great War forever. In August 1915 they sail from Bermuda to Halifax where they board the ship that will take them to the action in Europe. Soon after they are involved in some of the most horrific battles of the Great War. Gordon Murray Boyles will have a very hard time of it. Isabella Ross Beaton returns to Canada in July 1915. She returns on the SS Bermudian via New York City. Most likely she visits her brother George in New York City before taking the train back to London Ontario, where she will live with her sister on Central Avenue. As shown on the document below, Isabella is a pretty Irish Canadian girl from Ballinamallard, 5 foot 3 inches, 23 years old with brown hair, blue eyes, and a fair complexion. What isn’t noted in the document below is that your great great aunt Isabella is 6 months pregnant.
