Withrow, William James

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: William Rawling, “WITHROW, WILLIAM JAMES,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/withrow_william_james_14E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Engineer, civil servant, militiaman, and officer; b. 28 Oct. 1868 in Hamilton, Ont., one of the two sons of William Henry Withrow and Sarah Anne Smith; nephew of John Jacob Withrow; m. first 7 Sept. 1896 Edith Mary Burns in Toronto, and they had one son; m. secondly 16 June 1908 Margaret Eleanor Guinevere MacCarthy in Ottawa, and they had two daughters; d. 4 May 1917 in Mont-Saint-Eloi, France.
    • Sometime after 1901, when his wife died, Withrow and his young son moved to Ottawa, and by the outbreak of World War I he was a patent examiner in the Department of Agriculture. In 1914 he joined the 3rd (Ottawa) Field Engineer Company, a militia unit that did not go overseas; once again, it seems, he served in the ranks. On 4 Dec. 1915 Withrow was taken on strength, with the rank of lieutenant, by the 2nd Pioneer Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. By this time he had remarried and was the father of three children; his son Wilfrid Forbes, who served in France with the 21st Battalion, would be wounded and receive the Military Medal just before his father’s death.
    • On 9 Jan. 1917 Withrow went to Corps headquarters, taking command of the Topographical Section. There he oversaw the production of large-scale speciality maps, such as plans of redoubts, batteries, and other defensive positions or units. Reproduction equipment was rudimentary and many maps would have been issued in manuscript form. He continued in command through the battle of Vimy Ridge in April and was thus responsible for many of the specialized sketches and drawings produced for that operation.
    • In early May Withrow was appointed quartermaster of the 2nd Pioneer Battalion, but while watching a baseball game on the 4th, he fell from his horse and died. An autopsy concluded that he had succumbed to “Acute Dilatation due to overexertion and excessive heat,” or heart failure. Though Withrow had been considered physically fit at the age of 48, the post-mortem revealed much fatty tissue in the right ventricle; however, the link had not yet been made between a fatty diet and heart disease.
    • William James Withrow never reached the upper echelons of the public service or the militia. His significance is not in his rank but in what he exemplifies: those who had entered the professions at the end of the 19th century and whose lives took an entirely different course as a result of World War I.
  • Great Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=12033
  • Find a GRAVE: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56391005/william-james-withrow