Browne, Ethelbert George Burges

Ethelbert George Burges Browne was born 8 April 1874 in Montreal, Quebec, to George and Ada Brown. He entered the seminary for the Church of England where he also spent 7 years with the St John’s School Cadets. By 1907 he was living in Omaha, United States, where he married Helen Yates. In 1908 he was serving as a rector in St Paul’s Episcopalian Church in Omaha but two years later the US 1910 Census finds him in Owego, New York. The local paper reports him moving from a position with St James Episcopal Church to take up a similar position in Watertown, New York in July 1910.

At age 41 he attested for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) 6 May 1916 with the 166th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Queen's Own Rifles of Canada), giving 58 Howard Street in Toronto as his residence. He left Halifax with the 166th in SS Olympic 12 October 1916, arriving in Liverpool a week later. Passenger records suggest that his wife joined him in England in October 1916. Serving with the Canadian Chaplain Service he was initially taken on strength by the 12th Canadian Reserve Battalion (Central Ontario) in Shorncliffe but in May 1917 was attached to the Canadian Reserve Cavalry Regiment. On 27 June 1917 he was sent to France and attached to the HQ branches of the Canadian Forestry Service there where he spent much of his field service. Towards the end of 1918 he was working with No. 3 Canadian Casualty Clearing Station and No. 2 Canadian General Hospital. He was repatriated to United Kingdom in January 1919 where he worked briefly with the No. 10 Canadian General Hospital. He went back to Canada 28 March 1919 and was demobilized in 8 April 1919.

He returned to Toronto after the war. He died 12 July 1950 in Vancouver, British Columbia and is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery.