Missing in Action

An article in the June 30, 1916 issue of the Globe & Mail (available through MPL's online database The Globe and Mail: Canada’s Heritage from 1844 ,a full-page archive of the Globe and Mail newspaper). tells us something of the uncertainty and anxiety his family experienced while Matthew was missing.
“Rev. [] Rae, minister of the Presbyterian Church at Unionville, some days ago received a letter from the front in the handwriting of his son, Matthew, of the 4th Canadian Mounted Rifles. There was nothing inside. Rev. Mr. Rae thought his son had forgotten to enclose the letter and was waiting to hear from this boy again.
“Yesterday a message was received from Ottawa stating that Pte. Rae had been missing since June 2. Comparing the postmark on the envelope with the date on the message from Ottawa, Rev. Mr Rae concluded that before his boy had time to enclose his letter a bombardment commenced. It is thought the letter was picked up in the trenches and forwarded to Unionville.”

Matthew studied Medicine at the University of Toronto from 1911 to 1912, but when war broke out in 1914 he was working for the Canadian Northern Railway as a surveyor.
In August of 1914, he joined the Governor General’s Body Guard Militia. By November he had enlisted in the 4th Mounted Rifles, part of the Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force.
On Matthew’s Attestation Papers dated November 28, 1914 he gave his “Trade or Calling” as “Surveyor”. He belonged to the G.G.B.G. Militia. At his Medical Examination on 25 November, he was described as 22 years 4 months, Height 6 feet, Eyes Grey, Hair Brown.” He was certified as fit for service.

The University of Toronto Roll of Service tells us that he went overseas in the spring of 1915, and reached France in October of 1915, where he served as Signaler on the front lines south of Ypres and in the Salient. On June 2nd, 1916, at Sanctuary Wood he was wounded and taken prisoner as he was trying to save his signalling apparatus. “But for that delay he might have escaped.” It was several weeks before his family in Unionville heard of his fate.

Early Years

Matthew Rae was born July 10, 1892 in Uddingston, Lanark, Scotland, near Glasgow. His parents were the Reverend Frank Rae and Elizabeth Rae, known as Bessie. In Scotland, he was educated at Uddingston P.S., George Watson’s College, Edinburgh, and The Academy, Dumfries. He had a younger brother, Robert, born in 1899.
In 1907, the Rae family emigrated to Canada, where Rev. Rae became minister of the Presbyterian Church in Unionville. 15 years old when he arrived in Canada, Matthew attended Markham High School. The family home was the Presbyterian Manse at what is now 121 Main Street. By 1911, Matthew was no longer living at home. The 1911 Census records that only Rev. Rae, his wife and 12-year-old Robert resided in Unionville.

The Unionville Cenotaph

The Cenotaph on the lawn of Crosby Arena in Unionville lists the names of local men who lost their lives in World Wars One and Two. The west side of the Cenotaph records the names of ten soldiers “who made the supreme sacrifice” between 1914 and 1918. Matthew Rae is one of them.