Colborne and Castleton Cenotaphs
Royal Canadian Legion Branch 187, Colborne
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War Memorials in Cramahe TownshipColborne cenotaph - WWIColborne cenotaph - WWIICastleton cenotaph - WWICastleton cenotaph - WWIIRoyal Canadian Legion Branch 187, ColborneRecent Remembrance DaysPast RemembrancesLinks
Charles S. Rutherford, VC MC MM: Colborne's Canadian War HeroVi Milstead Warren, World War II AviatorMay 1917 - World War I in the Colborne ExpressColborne cenotaph, National Inventory of Canadian Military MemorialsColborne Memorial, Bell, Royal Canadian Legion, National Inventory of Canadian Military MemorialsColborne Memorial, Royal Canadian Legion, National Inventory of Canadian Military MemorialsCastleton Memorial, National Inventory of Canadian Military MemorialsCanada and the First World War - Canadian War MuseumFirst World War - Veterans Affairs CanadaPersonnel Records of the First World WarCanadian Virtual War Memorial database
Detail of the bell and plaque on the military memorial cairn on the front lawn of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 187, located at 97 King Street East, Colborne, looking south, October 2017 Details
Military memorial cairn on the front lawn of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 187, located at 97 King Street East, Colborne, looking south, October 2017 Details
This stone cairn with a bell mounted on the top is located 97 King St. East in front of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 187.
Erected by the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 187 Colborne in memory of all fallen Canadian service personnel, the stone cairn was reportedly built by James Coyne in 1967 and also refurbished by him in the early 1980s.
A brass plaque mounted on the north face of the cairn below the bell reads: “This cairn was erected by Branch 187 of the Canadian Legion in the [Canada] centennial year of 1967 to preserve the bell of the Colborne’s Union Grammar School 1857-1957. Dedicated June 14, 1967 by Charles Rutherford V.C. M.C [Military Cross]. M.M.”
Inscription on the granite plaque mounted on the military memorial cairn on the front lawn of Royal Canadian Legion Branch 187, located at 97 King Street East, Colborne, looking south, October 2017 Details
There are no names inscribed on the cairn. Instead, the words from the Robert Lawrence Binyon 1914 poem “To The Fallen” are carved into a light, grey granite slab mounted on the front face of the stone cairn: “They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old; age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them”.
Royal Canadian Legion mural by Ruth Van Egmond, located at 97 King Street East, Colborne Details
When the Union Grammar School was built in 1857, it served as both an elementary and secondary school. In 1927, the new Colborne High School was built and opened for secondary students. The Union Grammar School remained as the elementary school until 1957 when a new school was built. When the Union Grammar School became available in 1957 at the corner of Kensington and King Street East, the Colborne Legion purchased the building to serve as its branch building. The former school was destroyed by fire in 1975 (with loss of many documents). The current Legion building was erected at 97 King Street East.
A mural designed and painted by Ruth Van Egmond mounted on the front of the present building is visible behind the stone cairn. It depicts young children emerging from the old Union Grammar School, on to the Colborne High School (today, the municipal offices for Cramahe Township), into young adulthood and ultimately enlisting in Canadian uniforms to serve in war.
