Curated exhibit

Pictou Island Remembers

Honour rolls, family photographs and individual service stories.

Community remembrance

Pictou Island Remembers

Island families remember a wider community of men associated with service in the First and Second World Wars. Church honour rolls preserve their names; family photographs and individual records tell more of their stories.

Read the seven names · First World War

1914–1918 Roll of Honour

The bronze church tablet names seven volunteers and also remembers William McLure as a friend of the Pictou Island people.

The inscription below follows the photographed tablet, retaining its spelling and wording. It records how the men were commemorated; the descriptions are not a complete account of each man’s service.

1914 · 1918
ROLL OF HONOUR
OUR VOLUNTEERS FOR KING AND COUNTRY

MacDONALD ARCHIBALD T.: CANADIAN RAILWAY TROOP
MacDONALD C. HIBBERT: CANADIAN NAVY
MacDONALD CHARLES L.: 85TH ENGINE CREW CO
MacDONALD HUGH D.: 260TH SIBERIAN RESERVATION FORCE
MacDONALD LAUCHLIN: 6TH CANADIAN GARRISON
MacDONALD WILLIAM C.: CANADIAN RAILWAY FORCE
MacLEAN C. FRASER: 17TH CANADIAN RESERVE BATT.

THIS TABLET IS ERECTED IN HONOUR OF THE ABOVE AND IN LOVING MEMORY OF WILLIAM McLURE A LOYAL FRIEND OF THE PICTOU ISLAND PEOPLE.

Read the twenty entries · Second World War

Second World War names

Kenneth MacCallum records these twenty entries from a second church honour roll on page 60 of his Island history. The names and abbreviations follow his printed list; this is a transcription of the book’s list, rather than a direct reading of the second plaque.

Abbreviations are left as printed. “Charles MacDonald” and “Chas MacDonald” remain separate entries: the list alone does not establish whether they refer to different people.

Elmer Glover: R.C.N.
Elmer Hooper: R.C.A.
Leonard Hooper: R.C.A.
Ralph Hooper: R.C.E.T.C.
Roland Hooper: R.C.A.
Welsford Hooper: R.C.A.
Sidney Hooper: R.C.A.
John MacCallum: R.C.N.
Ralph MacCallum: M.N.
Cameron MacDonald: R.C.A.
Charles MacDonald: R.C.N.
Chas MacDonald: R.C.N.
Hibbert MacDonald: R.C.A.
Murray MacDonald: R.C.N.
Henry MacDonald: C.C.A.A.
Ralph MacDonald: R.C.N.
Reginald MacDonald: R.C.N.
Gerald MacLean: R.C.N.
Charles Munro: Hfx.R.
Lauchie Rankin: R.C.A

Ralph’s profile explains the difference between the list’s abbreviation and his military record.

Sidney Hooper, John Ralph Hooper and Theodore ‘Teddy’ Hooper together in uniform — Sidney, John Ralph, and Theodore “Teddy” Hooper, all of whom served during the Second World War. Andrea Rankin Sibley collection.

Sidney, John Ralph and Theodore Hooper

These three brothers belong to the Lester and Annabell (MacLean) Hooper family connected to Pictou Island. The photograph brings their shared wartime experience into the family story.

Theodore “Teddy” appears in the photograph even though he is not named in MacCallum’s twenty-entry list. The honour roll and the photograph each preserve part of the community’s history.

John Ralph was a Lance Corporal, service number F/79900, in the Lincoln and Welland Regiment, R.C.I.C. He died on 26 January 1945 and is buried at Groesbeek.

Service records and further reading

The lists above preserve commemorative wording. The following accounts provide additional service information for particular people; they do not establish every detail in either roll.

The First World War transcription is read from the photographed church tablet. The Second World War list follows Kenneth MacCallum, “Life, Culture and Customs,” page 60. The photograph of the Hooper brothers is from the Andrea Rankin Sibley collection.

Follow their stories

Existing profiles tell more about Ralph Hooper and the First World War service and later Island lives of William C. “Bill Cole” MacDonald and Archibald “Archie” MacDonald.

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