An area that is poorly documented is the stories of war brides who married
Newfoundland and Labrador serviceman. The war brides from WW2 are better known but telling the contribution of those women of the era of Great War who married Newfoundlanders is important. Some women stayed with their husbands in the United Kingdom and others moving to rural areas of Newfoundland and Labrador ( at least 2 travelled to Labrador). Later, some of these families left the island to find work in Canada or the United States with a few returning to Britain. These women, most of whom were literate and communicated letters to authorities for their husbands, who could not read or write, added to the life of the rural communities in which they settled.

Some are stories of hardship, marrying a member of the Newfoundland Regiment, only to have him killed in battle and then marrying another member of the Regiment. As Ayr, Scotland, was a longtime base for the Newfoundland Regiment, many of the brides therefore hailed from that area of Scotland, bringing their Scottish traditions with them. A lady from Ayr, unfortunately died in childbirth, shortly after her arrival in Newfoundland and is buried in the Anglican Cemetery on Forest Road. War brides supported their husbands who had devastating wounds, amputations, blindness and facial scarring moving with them as they came home to Newfoundland. The descendants of these
families are spread throughout the Island and Labrador and it’s their stories, the contribution they made to their adopted country that is worth documenting.

Whether married to a soldier from the Regiment, a sailor from the Naval Reserve/Merchant Marines or a forester from the Newfoundland Forestry Corps in WW1 all these stories are valuable to document and preserve. There are also Newfoundland nurses who married British or Canadian soldiers spreading their Newfoundland culture to other parts of the world.