Haden, Ernest

Ernest Haden was born to parents Samuel Haden and Eliza Ellam in Wolverhampton, England, on 12 June 1898 (date according to his birth certificate). On the 1901 British census he was listed as a visitor at the home of William Ellam. Through unknown circumstances, Ernest became one of thousands of British Home Children sent to Canada, though many were sent because their family did not have the resources to care for them. Ernest arrived in Halifax 9 June 1909 from Liverpool on the Carthaginian. Ernest was adopted by the Alexander Urquhart family of Millville on Boularderie Island, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where the family owned a farm. The 1911 census lists him as the son of the head of the household.

Giving a birthdate of 10 April 1898 and an occupation of miner, he enlisted in the 85th Canadian Infantry Battalion (Nova Scotia Highlanders) in Sydney, Nova Scotia, on 20 December 1915. During the First World War, many Home Children enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces. Some joined to try to see any family that they might still have back in England. This may account for Ernest originally listing his biological father, Samuel Haden, as his next of kin. It was later replaced with Mrs. Jessie Urquhart.

After initial training in Canada, Haden left for England with his unit on SS Olympic, embarking from Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 12 October 1916 and reaching Liverpool on 18 October. On 10 February 1917, Haden arrived in France with his unit. He was killed in action while consolidating Canadian positions on the western slope of Vimy Ridge, in France, on 6 May 1917.

Ernest Haden is buried in La Chaudière Military Cemetery, Vimy, France. Haden is also commemorated on the Urquhart family marker at Black Rock Cemetery near Big Bras D’Or.