Charlotte Fullman

"Canada's War Mother"

In 1928, Charlotte Wood returned to Europe, visiting the war graves of the Western Front as part of a British Legion memorial visit to France and Belgium. She also made a personal visit to her old home town of Chatham, where the people of the town organised a special tribute to her. She was also scheduled for an audience with Queen Mary during the same trip, but was forced to postpone the meeting, due to illness. Charlotte was awarded the George V Jubilee Medal in 1935, and was the first recipient of the Memorial Cross ("the Silver Cross"), the Honour which is still awarded to the mothers and widows of those killed while serving in Canada's armed forces. On 16 July 1936, she sailed from Montreal for her second return visit to Europe, this time as part of "The Vimy Pilgrimage". The Pilgrimage comprised 8,000 Canadian ex-servicemen and next-of-kin who were travelling to Vimy, France, for the unveiling of Canada's World War One Memorial by King Edward VIII. On the eve of departure, Mrs Wood told the press: "I would rather have all my twelve about me tonight than all your pilgrimages, so I would". The pilgrims reached Antwerp on 25 July, and gathered the next day at the site of the new Memorial. They explored the preserved trenches and fortifications of Vimy Ridge, witnessed the King unveil the huge Memorial's central figure - Canada mourning her lost sons - and laid their own floral tributes at its base. Charlotte Wood was one of three War Mothers presented to Edward VIII just prior to the unveiling.

Charlotte Wood at the Vimy Memorial, 26 July 1936.

Above left - Canadian war mothers waiting to meet King Edward. Charlotte is on the right of the front row, wearing her sons' war service medals. Alongside her are Mrs J.A. Wardle of Toronto, who lost three sons in the Great War, and Mrs G. McDonald of Toronto, who lost two. Above right - After the unveiling, Charlotte waits to place her wreath at the foot of the Memorial. The lady to left of picture is probably Charlotte's fellow pilgrim and travelling companion, Mrs A. Stanley Cook, President of the Imperial Ex-servicewomen of Canada. Left - Charlotte is presented to King Edward VIII. The Winnipeg Free Press reported their meeting: "The King held the old woman's hand as they told him that eleven of her sons had fought with the Candian Corps, and that five had been killed. 'Mrs Wood', he said, where are you from?' 'Winnipeg, Sir,' she said, speaking to the king for the first time. 'I wish your sons were all here', said Edward gravely. 'Oh! Sir,' cried the old woman, ' I have just been looking at the trenches and I just can't figure out why our boys had to go through that'. Replied Edward quickly, 'Please God, Mrs Wood, it shall never happen again'....Mrs Wood stood clear-eyed and straight and not until the end of this incident, which she and those who saw it will never forget, was she overcome." All photos this page: "The Epic of Vimy"

On 27 July, the Vimy pilgrims toured Ypres. Late that night, they arrived in London, and began the British leg of their pilgrimage. On the morning of 29 July, they marched through the City of London to Westminster Hall, where they were formally welcomed by the British Prime Minister, Stanley Baldwin. From there, the visiting Canadians proceeded to the Cenotaph in Whitehall, where the Bishop of London led a service of remembrance for Canada's war dead. The morning concluded with a final short ceremony at Westminster Abbey, where Charlotte Wood was chosen to place a wreath on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, on behalf of all the bereaved mothers of Canada. With the acts of commemoration completed, the Canadians spent the afternoon at a Buckingham Palace Garden party, as guests of King Edward, the Duke of Gloucester, and Lady Patricia Ramsay, the daughter of the former Governor-General of Canada, in whose honour the first Canadian Battalion of the Great War - Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry - had been raised.

The Vimy Pilgrims in London, 27-31 July, 1936

Canadian war mothers, widows and children leave Whitehall for Westminster Abbey, 29 July 1936.

Vimy pilgrims at Buckingham Palace, 29 July 1936.

The 1936 visit to London marked the last time that Charlotte Wood would see her native Britain. She returned to Winnipeg, where she lived for three more years - long enough to see the beginning of another world war which would consume another generation of mother's sons. She died in Winnipeg's Victoria Hospital on 11 October 1939, at the age of seventy-eight. Her daughter, Ellen, and just five of her eleven sons (Arthur, Alf, John, Burt and Charlie) outlived her. The Winnipeg Free Press described her funeral:

Awaiting photograph

"Mother of the Guards and honoured by King and Country, Mrs Charlotte S. Wood, Winnipeg's War Mother, was paid silent tribute as the body was lowered to its last resting place in Brookside Cemetery on Friday. ...The Service was attended by many friends and mourners of the woman who had sent 11 sons to the Great War, five never to return. The Imperial Veterans in Canada, members of the Canadian Legion, BESL, were represented in large numbers; while the Imperial Ladies' Auxiliary attended the last rites in a body. War widows, of which body she was an honoured member, held the service at the graveside and each member present passed the open grave, dropping a poppy on the remains."

Charlotte Susan Wood - "Canada's War Mother" - was buried in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on 13 October 1939. She lies in an unmarked grave (photo left) in Lot 113, Section 52, of Brookside Cemetery.

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