Paddockwood Saskatchewan (sic)
A village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the rural Municipality of Paddockwood No 520. named after Paddock Wood in Kent UK. A Canadian Odyssey of Fred & Frances Pitts and the first thing you will note is that Paddockwood is one word. The story from Canada differs from UK sources and is really a mystery wrapped in enigma. The facts remain that Fred Pitts named a place in Canada after his wife’s home and is buried in Folkestone Military Cemetery.
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An article kindly shared by a resident of Golden Green, Chris Blackburn 2008 ©
He was the man who put Paddock Wood on the map. A true trailblazer and Canadian pioneer; he was Fred Pitts-man of mystery.
Fred flashed briefly across life’s stage, but left behind a lasting memorial. And that was when in 1912 he named a tiny settlement in the centre of Saskatchewan Paddockwood (sic) becoming postmaster and mailman.
It was Fred who was one of the area’s first settlers and, according to the Canadian publication Cordwood & Courage, brought order out of chaos to the vital job of delivering the mail in the province’s virgin timberlands.
In a world now awash with communication, it can be hard to imagine when only the mail kept people in touch. Receiving a letter from the old country in the sparsely populated forests became highlight life; not getting one was a terrible disappointment.
So Fred Pitt’s role in Paddockwood would have been a vital one. He was the man for whom the few settlers in the wilderness always had a welcome and an open door as he rode his delivery round.
Cordwood & Courage says: “The name Paddockwood appeared in the statistics of Saskatchewan 1912. An enterprising homesteader, Fred Pitts from Paddock Wood England, who had been mail carrier for the settlers, applied for permission to set up a post office in his log cabin situated just half a mile north of what was to be the post office’s final destination. Fred Pitts joined the armed services and was killed in action in France.”
Another account reports: “From about 1908 to 1913, the first settlers in the Paddockwood district had to go to Henribourg some six to eight miles away to pick up their mail. A Mr LeBlanc had the post office in a small shack and had a bench across one end and the mail was brought in and emptied on the floor. The settlers who had been waiting for this weekly event swarmed over the pile and everyone picked out his own. After the scramble was over Mr Le Blanc threw the mail that was left into a wooden box and anyone could walk in and help himself.”
Faced with that standard of service, it does not need much imagination to see how Fred improved lives in the Canadian north by establishing a properly run mail delivery and post office.
So what took Fred and wife Frances- both past the first flush of youth -to Canada the early years of the last century? It had to be an extraordinary event and it was- the offer of free land. When the Canadian government decided to boost immigration into what were to become its prairie provinces, it came up with the idea as the simple solution. It was an offer many from the British Isles could not refuse. A new life in a new country beckoned and all thanks to the Canadian Pacific Railway which had crossed the vast empty country in 1885.
It meant living on land for six months of the year for three years , making improvements to at least 30 acres and the building of a house. The homesteader then gained title to 130 acres. And that is what the Pitts set out to do. They were said to have had three sons in law in the area; one, Ernie Rogers, was also reported to be the postmaster of Henribourg. So on July 29th 1911 Fred became the third person to file his claim in Township 52, with his other sons- in- law Dave Hardle and William Richardson, filing next day.
So why is Frederick Stephen Pitts a man of mystery? For a start he did not come from Paddock Wood or even from Kent, being born in Bicker Lincolnshire. It was his wife Frances who in the 1901 census listed her birthplace as Paddock Wood. She was 32 with no occupation given. Fred was a railway plate layer and both lived in Edenbridge.
Jack Walkers book Beginnings and Bygones of Old Paddock Wood refers to the Canadian publication as naming Copt Grove Cottages, Church Road, opposite todays cemetery as their home. But in the 1908 Ordinance Survey Map these do not exist although a Copt Grove Barn does.
And who was Francis? The 1871 census for Paddock Wood reveals there were six girls called Frances, and who by 1901 might say they were 32. their ages ranged from six months to nine years. None of them appear on the popular websites as Fred’s wife. Likewise Fred does not appear to have married at anytime up to 1910 so who were the three sons-in -law?
However married or not, Fred and Frances’ emigration was a bold step into the unknown, going to a province which had only been carved out of the North West Territories in 1905. Although English speakers were the preferred settlers for the colonial government, the offer of free land was one that echoed throughout much of Europe.
The Canadian Pacific Railways went about things with gusto, using for example, the talents of an Austro-Hungarianwho claimed to be a Count Esterhazy. He drummed up custom in central Europe to the extent that he is said to have emptied whole villages on feudal estates to help populate the wetlands of of southern Saskatchewan. Witness the town there that bears his name.
However this was no American Wild West style land rush. The Dominion Land Survey had the village situated on the north east quarter of section 24, Township52 range 25 as the prairie provinces were surveyed on strictly geometric lines into townships. Settlers then obtained provincial patents when they filed their land claims.
What Fred & Frances thought as they undertook the apparently endless train journey to Saskatchewan which is unimaginably vast is open to conjecture. At 652,000sq km (251,254sq miles) it is larger than the largest European country today - Ukraine(603,700sq km). Likewise, Ontario is larger than France and Germany put together. The boundaries of Canada laid across Europe would stretch from Ireland to the Urals and from the Arctic Circle to Switzerland.
In the long way west, Fred would doubtless been able to compare Kents South Eastern & Chatham Railway with that of the Canadian Pacific. He would have had plenty of opportunity as it is a 2,364km(1470 mile) journey from Montreal to Regina, the Province’s capital. However if you were a homesteader the journey was free. Even when fares were introduced, travel was just one Canadian dollar for each 100 miles travelled.
But first came a character- building voyage to Montreal for a few pounds. As anyone who has experienced a storm tossed North Atlantic voyage can confirm, it was often the case that however difficult life was in the New World, immigrants would rather stay there than face the return voyage.
And although Fred and Frances may’ve been ready for the challenges ahead, nothing could prepare settlers of British stock for the rigours of a Canadian winter more similar to that of Russia than to coastal Europe. The temperatures speak for themselves. In winter around Paddockwood, the mercury falls to - 25C even before the wind chill is factored in, while in summer the humid heat can soar to more than 35C.
So what was it like in Canada’s northern timberland? Cordwood & Courage recorded memories by some of those who were either there at the time or recalled passed down in families stories about events of interest.
Life on the frontier appears to have been one of interdependence where settlers worked together, so building not only community spirit, but a community. It exemplifies what Canadians call the “can do” spirit. For example “as more people settled, a community hall of logs 30x60ft was built of spruce logs. Lumber for the floors , doors and windows was hauled in from Prince Albert, the work all being done by the settlers. Dances, church services, plays and concerts were held.
The opening dance was held on New Years Eve, 1915. On January 25th 1916 a Burns’ Night concert and dance was arranged by Charlie Keay the Justice of the Peace. Despite 2ft (60cms)of snow and -50F(-45C) people turned out to raise money for local enlisted men- £4.19s 3d being sent to Scotland.”
Because of course, life for everyone had changed forever, when on August 5th 1914 the UK declared war on Germany and Austro-Hungry, which automatically meant that the colonies were also at war.
Immediately an appeal went out to all the little Englands beyond the seas to aid the Mother Country in its hour of need. The excitement and enthusiasm for the war was reflected in Canada, then a country of eight million people (and one without a standing army), no less than in Britain, Australia, New Zealand and - of course -Germany.
In Saskatchewan, it was seen as an answer to unemployment which followed the end of the expansion of the railways.
Canada’s response was immediate. The first contingent of its mainly volunteer troops arrived in England in October, 1914 and after a miserable winter training on Salisbury Plain were deemed ready for the trenches the following spring. An indication that the war - widely predicted to be over by Christmas 1914 - was not going to be a walkover can be seen by Canada’ answer to the Allies increasing demand for more and more troops.
In 1914, Battalions 1-18 plus Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry sailed for the UK. The following spring the second contingent comprising Battalions 19-32 sailed for Europe. The third contingent consisting of Battalions 33-258 followed during the second half of 1915 and among the troops was Fred.
No longer a young man he went to the town of Prince Albert on August 5 1915 to enlist, appearing before magistrate James McDonald to swear allegiance to join the Canadian Over-seas Expeditionary Force. He listed wife Frances (sic)as next kin and said he was a farmer with militia experience. Aged 44 years he was recorded as being 5ft7ins tall of fair complexion and a Baptist.
And so Fred, who only a few years previously set out on his epic journey west, now retraced his steps as a C$1 a day private in the 65th Battalion, Canadian Infantry. It mobilised in Saskatoon and then went to the training camp at Valcartier, Quebec, before embarkation to the UK.
On September 25th, he sailed on the Allan Lines SS Corsican, a 11,500ton liner on the regular Montreal Glasgow run arriving on October 4th. Two days later the 65th was at the forward Canadian base at Shorncliffe (near Folkestone) in Kent before their transfer to France.
What can Fred’s feelings have been as he looked out the windows of his train as it went through Paddock Wood on its way to Folkestone?
However Fred’s Canadian odyssey was drawing inexorably to its close and with it was revealed his secret - he lied about his age to enlist.
Fred never got to the trenches and so did not join the 60,000 killed or 154,000 wounded among the 600,000 Canadians who served in the war. He contracted the then killer disease of influenza and died of pneumonia.
Frances who had take-over as Paddockwood’s postmistress, received two telegrams from Moore Barracks Military Hospital on February 26th , 1916. The first said her husband was seriously ill; the second that his condition was critical. A few days later she received the telegram reporting his death.
Fred lies in Folkestone’s Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery in a wooded valley high above the English Channel along with 300 of his compatriots. Surmounted by a maple leaf the headstone reads: 473168 Private FS Pitts, 65th Battalion Canadian Infantry. 1st March 1916 Age 51.
And Frances? She stayed on in Paddockwood as postmistress relinquishing the role in August 1917. She is shown in Canadian military records as moving to 414 Sulmas Street, Victoria, Vancouver, British Columbia where she died in 1952 aged 83.
Why the Canadian village is written as one word is lost in the mists of time. It may just be that the board outside Fred’s cabin was not wide enough to incorporate the two words, a capital W being too wide to fit.
Fred’s enlistment also shines a small but significant light on history. His pay of C$1 a day as a Canadian private was five times that of his British counterparts. In 1914, £1 was worth about£48, so in todays money (2008) he would have been paid £12 day against the £2.40 of a British soldier.
Sources acknowledged by author: Paddock Wood Library, Saskatchewan Cordwood & Courage, Kent Libraries and Archives, Libraries & Archives Canada, Paddock Wood Census of 1871, Saskatchewan Archives, online sources ‘Canadian Soldiers of WW1 ‘
©2008 Chris Blackburn