Historic Sites of Manitoba: Bunclody Commemorative Monuments (Bunclody, Municipality of Souris-Glenwood)

This site along the Souris River, in the Municipality of Souris-Glenwood, marks the former community of Bunclody, established around 1879. Named in 1884 by local settler George McGill after his native home near Bunclody Bridge in Ireland, he also named the Bunclody School District established the next year, for which he served as Secretary-Treasurer. The school building was situated at a site one mile south and one mile west of here, along with Bunclody Union (United) Church from 1908 to 1956.

A spur of the Great Northern Railway operated between Devil’s Lake, North Dakota and Brandon from 1906 to 1936. A general store and post office established in 1908 closed in 1956; a grain elevator operated between 1908 and 1937. The earthen abutments for a massive wooden railway bridge over the Souris River are still visible, as are the footings for a grain elevator that once operated here.

Rock monuments were erected by the Bunclody Willing Workers, a group of women who were active here since 1932. One plaque commemorates those who served in the First World War and Second World War.

One of the Bunclody monuments (October 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough The other Bunclody monument (October 2011) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Concrete footings for the former Bunclody grain elevator (August 2014) Source: Gordon Goldsborough Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.53466, W100.05686 denoted by symbol on the map above

First World War Casualties

Name	Occupation	Service	Rank	Birth Date	Death Date
Albert Chorlton	Farmer	29th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	7 November 1894	1 October 1916
Flanders Roy Keymer	Farm Labourer	78th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	14 September 1896	23 October 1918
Charles Wesley Lovatt [Minto, Next of Kin, Riverview, Souris, Wesley College]	Student	12th Field Ambulance, Canadian Army Medical Corps	Private	20 August 1886	29 October 1917
James Meek	Farm Labourer	27th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	22 February 1895	16 September 1916
Syr Spurr	?	?	?	?	?
George Williams	Farm Labourer	28th Battalion, Canadian Infantry	Private	5 March 1893	15 September 1916

Second World War Casualties

Name	Service	Rank	Birth Date	Death Date
Gordon Glynn Marsh	14th Canadian Hussars, Royal Canadian Armoured Corps	Trooper	1922	30 August 1944

See also:

Historic Sites of Manitoba: McCabe Grain Elevator (Bunclody, Municipality of Souris-Glenwood)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Bunclody School No. 383 (Municipality of Grassland)

Sources:

Geographic Names of Manitoba, Manitoba Conservation, 2000.

One Hundred Years in the History of the Rural Schools of Manitoba: Their Formation, Reorganization and Dissolution (1871-1971) by Mary B. Perfect, MEd thesis, University of Manitoba, April 1978.

A Study of Public School Buildings in Manitoba by David Butterfield, Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 1994, 230 pages.

For the names of First World War casualities from Manitoba who do not appear on any physical monument in the province, see the Manitoba Historical Society War Memorial. If you know of a name that is omitted from this list, please contact the MHS War Memorial Researcher Darryl Toews (darryl@mhs.mb.ca).

Soldiers of the First World War - Canadian Expeditionary Force, Library and Archives Canada.

Canadian Virtual War Memorial, Veterans Affairs Canada.

Financial support for research reported on this page was provided by the Manitoba Heritage Grants Program (2015-2016).

We thank Darryl Toews for providing information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 29 November 2021

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