Background

Joseph Semple was born May 27, 1884 in Saint John, New Brunswick to James Semple and Mary Galbraith. According to records, James and Mary married one another in Saint John six years earlier in 1878. In addition to Joseph, there were six other children in the family including Henry, Rebecca, James, Samuel, Grace, and Mary. The family grew up at 192 Waterloo Street in Saint John, and later Paradise Row, where their father worked as a police constable for the city. Although little is known of his childhood, census records show that as a child he attended school and later became a well-known traveling food salesman in the province. His connection to Fredericton began early when he worked for the Willet Fruit Company, a job that brought him to the area where he became a popular young man with those he encountered. It was during his time working between Saint John and Fredericton that he met a young woman named Vita Irene Brewer. With Joseph being twenty-six and Vita, born in Fredericton, only two years younger, a relationship began. They were married in November 1910. It is through his work and marriage to Vita that he developed a connection to Fredericton; however, having spent seven years with an artillery unit in Saint John it is likely that local military men knew him as well. After their marriage, Joseph and Vita lived at 52 Durham Street in Saint John and records suggest they did not have any children together prior to the war. At the time of his formal enlistment in Saint John on March 18, 1916, he was thirty-two years old and was described as having a dark complexion, blue eyes, and black hair while standing five feet eight inches tall. According to his service record, after joining the 115th Battalion Joseph stayed in Canada for only a few more months before being transferred overseas to England.     

Wartime Experience

On July 23, 1916, Private Joseph Semple left from Halifax, Nova Scotia aboard the S.S. Olympic arriving in Liverpool, England July 31. A month after arriving to Bramshott Camp, Joseph was appointed sergeant of his unit. By October he had reverted back to the rank of private so he could join the 26th Battalion to be with his brother-in-law as it took a draft of men to the Western Front. Perhaps realizing that he may not return, on September 26 he wrote his will naming his wife. Less than a month later, October 23, Joseph landed in France just as the Somme battles were slowly coming to a close. One of the bloodiest series of battles during the war, between July and November of 1916, more than a million casualties had occurred between the Allied and German armies. Over the winter of 1916-1917, the area in an around Arras became home for Joseph and the 26th Battalion. While here in the field, he was attached to the paymaster’s department given his work-life experience as a salesman. His service record makes it unclear whether he took part in the four-day Vimy Ridge assault in April 1917, however, it is likely that his record-keeping skills were needed given the thousands of casualties that resulted. A few months later, he rejoined the 26th Battalion as it prepared for engagements at Hill 70 near the city of Lens. In August, Arthur Currie developed a strategy to remove the German Army from an area they had controlled since the beginning of the war. Beginning on August 15, Joseph and the 26th Battalion took part in coordinated assaults leading to Hill 70’s capture on the first day. Although headlines in local newspapers appeared convincing, “Canadians smashing at coal city today, now a death trap for Germans”, the reality is that over the next few days there would be 9,000 Canadian casualties. Joseph was one of these casualties. According to his circumstances of death report, while going forward on the first day of the assault, August 15, he went missing. Newspapers at home quickly reported what happened, however, when Vita received the confusing news at her parent’s home in Fredericton she was upset by the “uncertainty of the meaning of the conflicting messages.” His death was confirmed soon after. At the time of his death, Joseph was thirty-three years old. After the war, Vita remarried a gentleman named Frank Archibald Rowan in January 1919. Although the war was over, she continued to be harassed for moving on with her life so soon. Reports surfaced that Joseph had actually survived and was coming home only to find that his wife had married again. Despite these false claims that were challenged by family and friends, they showed how common it was for women to be ridiculed for trying to move on with their lives after such a loss. Many had to by necessity.               

Lest We Forget

Private Joseph Semple is honoured on the Vimy Memorial, located in Vimy, France. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, he is one of approximately 11, 242 names honoured for all Canadians killed in France who have no known grave.