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ARCHIVED - Microform Digitization
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Veterans Death Cards: First World War
When Veterans Affairs was notified of the death of a First World War veteran, a death card was created and those cards are now in the custody of Library and Archives Canada and are used as a finding aid to the personnel records of the First World War. These cards are the extent of this set of records; there are no files relating to the notification of death.
There are approximately 130,000 cards, which are arranged alphabetically in 99 cabinet drawers. The contents of each drawer were digitized as a batch of approximately 1300 cards each. The name on the first card in a drawer is the title of that group of cards.
You can move through the images one by one, or skip ahead by entering a new page (image) number in the page navigation box.
What is in these records?
This collection includes death cards up until the early 1960s for:
- Many veterans of the Canadian Expeditionary Force who died after discharge or who died in Canada during the war
- Some veterans of the British Forces who died in Canada after the war
- Some members of the militia who died in Canada during or after the war
- Some navy veterans who died after the war
- A few veterans of the Newfoundland Forces who died after the war
- A few veterans of Allied Forces (e.g. Indian, French and American armies) who died in Canada after the war
- A few veterans of the North West Mounted Police who had military service
- A few veterans of the South African War and the North West Field Force (1885 Rebellion)
It does not include cards for:
Members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force who died overseas during the war. For those individuals, please see our War Graves page.
Each death card includes some or all of the following details:
- Regimental service number
- Rank
- Unit, Battalion or Regiment
- Date and place of death
- Cause of death
- Place of burial
- Name and address of next-of-kin
What does it mean?
Dates were written in a standardized format: day-month-year
C.P.C.: Canadian Pension Commission
Death Not Due / Death Not Related: death was not attributed to illness or injury contracted while in service
Death Was Due / Death Related: death was attributed to illness or injury contracted while in service
Farm Records: these records were once stored in a building at the Experimental Farm
Imp.: Imperial (British) Forces
HQ: Headquarters
M.D.: Military District
N/K: next-of-kin
Rk.: Rank
w.: wife / widow
Other RecordsService files for members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force:
Soldiers of the First World War database
Earlier and later military records
Civil Registration (Provincial death records)
