Canada, War Graves Registers (Circumstances of Casualty), 1914-1948

Source Information

Ancestry.com. Canada, War Graves Registers (Circumstances of Casualty), 1914-1948 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.
Original data: War Graves Registry: Circumstances of Death Records. Record Group 150, 1992–1993/314, Boxes 145–238. Library and Archives Canada. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

War Graves Ledger Books. RG 150, 1992-93/314, vols. 239–302. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

About Canada, War Graves Registers (Circumstances of Casualty), 1914-1948

About the Canada, War Graves Registers (Circumstances of Casualty), 1914-1948

General collection information

This database contains three separate sets of records for military personnel who died during and after the First and Second World Wars.

The first set of records includes death and burial information for many Canadian soldiers who died in France, Belgium, or the United Kingdom during the First World War from 1914 to 1918. This record group also includes information about soldiers who died in Canada during and after the First World War, if the death was attributable to war service. These records include the initial burial location, but many bodies were exhumed and re-interred after the war in cemeteries established by the Imperial War Graves Commission. About 20,000 members of the Canadian Expeditionary Force have no known grave. Their names are inscribed on one of two monuments: the Vimy Memorial in France and the Menin Gate in Ypres, Belgium. For those who died in the United Kingdom, the registers also indicate the name and location of the cemetery. Missing records in this series include all surnames from Cozni to Crossley, letter “D” surnames through Davy, and all surnames after Sims to the end of the alphabet.

The second set of records includes information about Canadian military personnel who died at sea or in the United States during the First World War. This set also includes information about the deaths of enemy noncitizens interned in Canada during the war and Canadian soldiers killed during the Allied intervention into Siberia, Russia, during the Bolshevik Revolution in 1918 and 1919. This set of records is organized by province, excluding Newfoundland and Labrador which were not yet provinces of Canada. There is a separate register for Canadian military personnel who died in the United States.

The third set of records pertains to the Second World War and includes information about Canadian military personnel who died in Canada between 1939 and 1945. This set also includes records of the deaths of servicemembers from Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other Allied nations who were in Canada for pilot training during the war. Canada was home to the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan where more than 130,000 men learned to fly.

Using this collection

Records in this collection may include the following information:

  • Name
  • Rank
  • Unit
  • Service number
  • Death date
  • Place of death
  • Circumstances or cause of death
  • Cemetery or place of burial
  • Location of cemetery
  • Location of grave
  • Religious affiliation
  • Name and address of next of kin
  • Parent’s names
  • Widow’s name
  • Birth date

    • Each record contains two images corresponding to the front and back sides of the original register. These records can be used to verify that your ancestor died during the First or Second World War, and they may help you discover how your ancestor died and where they were buried.

    Collection in context

    The original records that support this collection are primary historical sources that were first housed in the Records Office of the Overseas Ministry. The Library and Archives of Canada took over responsibility for historical military service records in 1971, and the records are now housed at the archives in Ottawa, Ontario.

    Canada entered the First World War when Great Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914. During the four-year war, more than 650,000 Canadians and New Foundlanders served in the armed forces, and at least 66,000 Canadian soldiers died during the war.

    The Second World War began for Canadians on 10 September 1939 when war was declared on Germany after its invasion of Poland. More than 1.1 million Canadian men and women served in the armed forces, and at least 42,000 Canadians were killed before the war ended in August 1945.

    Bibliography

    Canadian War Museum. “Canada and the Second World War.” Accessed 7 June, 2022. https://www.warmuseum.ca/learn/canada-and-the-second-world-war/.

    Dunscomb, Paul. “Siberian Intervention 1918-1922.” International Encyclopedia of the First World War. Last modified 24 October, 2018. https://encyclopedia.1914-1918-online.net/article/siberian_intervention_1918-1922.

    Government of Canada. “First World War, 1914-1918.” Accessed 7 June, 2022. https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/wars-and-conflicts/first-world-war/

    Library and Archives of Canada. “Circumstances of Death Registers, First World War.” Accessed 7 June, 2022. https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/microform-digitization/006003-130-0010-e.html?PHPSESSID=pf868q7td101us1usidkvu8pl1