Eben Archibald Boyle - Lest We Forget

Eben Archibald Boyle was born November 18, 1885 at Cheltenham, England, the son of Mrs. Mary A. Boyle also of Cheltenham, England. At the time the war broke out Eben was working as a dispatcher for the Canadian Pacific Railroad out of Revelstoke.

 Eben Archibald Boyle enlisted with the First Contingent of the Canadian Expeditionary Force at Valcartier, Quebec on September 22, 1914. He was assigned to the Field Telegraph Services.  At the time of his enlistment he was 28 years old, single, 5’9 ½” tall, with fair hair and blue eyes. He gave his religious faith as Anglican and his medical exam was signed by John McCrae. The local newspaper paper noted that while training in England he was the best man at a prominent military wedding.

 Eben also sent back to Revelstoke a number of letters that were printed in the local newspaper. One was to Mr. J.M. McKay, the local C.P.R. Superintendent, in which he noted …”German shells sometimes land uncomfortably close to our farmhouse headquarters. The ‘ping’ of rifle bullets close to one’s head when one is repairing a telephone line, help to remind one how comfortable (and so much safer) were the billets and jobs we left behind in Revelstoke.”

 Eben Archibald Boyle died October 1, 1918, during the Canal du Nord/Cambrai campaign near the end of the war. He had been wounded on September 29th and died two days later. He was 32 years old. At the time of his death he held the rank of Captain in the 8th Battalion Canadian Infantry (Manitoba Regiment) and had earned the Military Cross and Bar. He was one of two Captains from Revelstoke to die during the war, the highest-ranking officers to perish from Revelstoke. He is buried in the Bucquoy Road Cemetery in France.

 Eben Boyle’s name is inscribed on St. Peter’s Anglican Memorial Chancel Screen. He is named on the Courthouse plaque as Boyle, A.E. but is not named on the Cenotaph plaque.