Braye, Basil Hubert

Basil Hubert Braye was born in the Whitechapel district of London on 3 April 1877 to Hardwick and Anna Mary Braye. His father was a surgeon and apothecary and the 1891 United Kingdom Census indicates the family living on King Edward Street with his wife and 7 children, of whom Basil was the third. Basil joined the army for the South African War in 1899 and served with the Princess Of Wales Own (Yorkshire) regiment. He earned the Queen’s South Africa medal (with Paardeberg, Driefontaine, Kimberley, and Transvaal bars) and the King’s South Africa medal (with 1901 and 1902 bars). Following the war, Basil married Anna Mary in the United Kingdom, shortly after his return to England. The couple emigrated to Canada around 1906 and settled in Sydney, Cape Breton, where Basil found work as an electrician with the local steel mill. The couple had two daughters over the next few years.

At the outbreak of the First World War, Braye joined the Canadian Field Artillery in Sydney on 22 September 1914 and completed his enlistment at Valcartier, Quebec. He sailed from Quebec City on 3 October 1914 for the United Kingdom. He had to attest for the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) again once he arrived in England. This was necessary to ensure the intention to serve overseas was valid. The second attestment occurred at the Camp at Salisbury in January 1915, however, his enlistment from 1914 was counted toward service. By October 1915 he had joined his unit, 2nd Brigade Canadian Field Artillery, in France. In May 1916 he was promoted to Corporal and 4 months later to Sergeant, taking on the role of a quartermaster sergeant. By November 1916 he was suffering from trench foot and arthritis. He spent much of 1917 in the general and convalescent hospitals in Étaples, Rouen, Le Tréport and Boulogne, interspersed with base duty. In February 1918 he was sent back to the United Kingdom and from there on leave back to Canada, arriving in Halifax on 21 March 1918 aboard SS Olympic. While in Canada his case was reviewed by a medical board which classified him as D3 depot duty awaiting treatment and retained in Canada. He was discharged from the CEF on 6 December 1918 as medically unfit.

He returned to his family in Sydney where he resumed his previous occupation, and another daughter was born shortly thereafter. By 1957 he was living on George Street in Sidney and was by this time retired. Basil Braye died in Sydney, Nova Scotia, on 19 August 1968.