Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

9 April - 16 June 1917. The Arras Offensive consisted of a series of linked attacks starting with the Anglo Canadian assault on the dominant Vimy Ridge feature through the battles in the Scarpe River valley and up to the assaults on the Hindenburg line in the summer of 1917.

Detail :

For a much more detailed biography, see: Sussex People.

In August 1911, David, aged 20, left Glasgow on board the SS Hesperian, bound for Quebec, where he arrived on 13 August. The Hesperian was built in 1907 for the Allan Line, running a regular service across the North Atlantic. She could accommodate 210 passengers in first class, 250 in second class, and 1,000 in third class. In September 1915, she was sunk 85 miles south-west of Fastnet, following a torpedo attack, with the loss of 32 lives when a lifeboat capsized (not with David on it).

On arrival at Quebec in 1911, David gave his destination as Winnipeg, Manitoba and his occupation as “student”. By the time of his enlistment in 1916, he had moved further west and was living at 1120, West Pender Street, Vancouver, British Columbia and was working as a bookkeeper.

On 8 April (Easter Sunday), the 102nd Battalion moved into position for the operation, which started at 5:30 the next morning in a snow and sleet storm. The unit was on the right flank of the 4th Canadian Division and their primary objective was Hill 145 (named after its height in metres), the highest and most important feature of the whole ridge. To the north of Hill 145 (overlooking the town of Givenchy-en-Gohelle) was a small knoll, known in 1917 as Hill 120 or “the Pimple” to the Canadian soldiers. This was the location of German machine gun posts, the fire from which inflicted heavy casualties on the advancing Canadian infantry.

The Canadians took control of most of the ridge on the first day of the battle, with The Pimple being secured on 12 April, but with heavy losses, the allied forces suffering over 10,000 casualties in the battle, with 3,600 being killed.

See also: Canadian Great War Project.

Masonic :

David Ainslie Hunter was initiated into Seaford Lodge No 2907 on 19 January 1917, alongside a fellow Canadian soldier, 50 year old Albert Robert Reeves. (Albert Reeves, a married man with three children, had been a regular soldier before the war, serving for 15 years with the East Surrey Regiment, before migrating to Canada. He survived the war, but died in Ontario in June 1933.)
David was sent to the front in February and was killed before he could make any further progress in Freemasonry.

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley
• Website : Sussex People - Masonic Roll
• Researcher : David Earley
• Researcher : Tom Hawley