Ernest Wigle

Lt. Col. Jones

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Lieutenant Colonel L.E. Jones, D.S.O.
18th (Western Ontario) Battalion
Jones LE

Jones is quite a sport with a forte in the baseball line. This year he is manager of the Varsity nine and his eagle eye is scanning the horizon for recruits. He is just quiet enough to be rated “a good fellow,” without an enemy around the institution.

 (Torontonensis, 1900, 53)

Louis Elgin Jones was born in Elgin County, Ontario on 2 November 1877. A graduate of the University of Toronto, he was a mathematics teacher, civil engineer, and member of the 27th Regiment. In November 1914, Jones joined the 18th Battalion as a captain.

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The Widower

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Lieutenant Colonel H.L. Milligan, D.S.O.
18th (Western Ontario) Battalion
Milligan

I met Colonel Milligan recently, and am advised that he is not physically fit to return to his duties, and have lost his wife and daughter in the last few months, I hope you will grant him this extension of leave.

(J.E. Armstrong to militia minister, 18 Jan 1917)

Henry Linton Milligan succeeded Lieutenant Colonel Ernest S. Wigle as commander of the 18th Battalion on 8 July 1916. A native of Scotland, he was born on 8 April 1872. A member of the 26th Regiment, he joined the 18th at the rank of major in October 1914. He remained in command until just after the battle of the Somme.

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The Opposition

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Lieutenant Colonel Thomas B. Welch
99th (Essex) Battalion Welch

We recruited more than three thousand men here, and could have gotten as many more had not the Government put an end to voluntary enlistment by throwing a political monkey wrench into the machinery.

It was for the same reason that the county battalions, one of which I took to England, were broken up into drafts for other units.

(Welch’s Speech, Toronto Globe, 7 Dec 1917, 12)

Thomas Baird Welch was a chemist and commanding officer of the 26th Middlesex Light Infantry. He was born on 10 April 1867 in Kilwinning Scotland. He went overseas with the First Contingent in October 1914 and served as a major with the 1st Battalion in France from April to May 1915. He joined the 1st Division command staff until he returned to Canada in December 1915 to raise the 99th Battalion.

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The Heavyweight Champ

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Lieutenant Colonel Ernest S. Wigle
18th (Western Ontario) BattalionWigle

Mayor E. S. Wigle today had more than his 78th birthday to celebrate. He could also boost of a one-punch knockout…

Mayor Wigle, 220 pounds of brawn on a still-athletic frame, felled his former pupil with a straight right to the face as they mixed after a few minutes of exhibition sparring. When he came to the admiring Campbell declared “There isn’t a man in the house could have withstood that wallop.”

(Ottawa Citizen, 9 Dec 1937, 2)

Ernest Solomon Wigle was a prominent Ontario lawyer and former mayor of Windsor (1905—1909). He was born on 5 March 1859 in Essex County, Canada West. The six-foot Wigle was active in football and cricket but his sporting speciality was boxing. In 1884, he won the intercollegiate heavyweight championship and was undefeated as the Essex County championship.

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