Bertram Memorial

This memorial was erected by the Bertram Family, date of unveiling is unknown. This memorial is a vertical granite stele approximately 8 feet high on which a bronze Crusader's Cross is embedded. At the base of the stele there are individual markers with the names of the family members including the family patriarch, Sir Alexander Bertram, the first Chairman of Sir Sam Hughes Shell Committee.

Included are the names of two family members who were killed in the First World War. Captain James Knowles Bertram, killed in action September 22, 1916 and Lieutenant Aimers Stirling Bertram, killed in action July 10, 1917.

Canadian Great War Project - Lieutenant Stirling Bertram, 1888 - 1917. Stirling Aimers Bertram born in Dundas, Ontario, on August 19th, 1888, the second son of Henry Bertram and Jennie Graham. Aimers attended Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario in order to obtain an engineering degree, and received his Bachelor of Science in April of 1912. This degree would have been beneficial in his future role at the Bertram Works. After graduation, he went to Montreal and took a position as a foreman in the C.P.R. shops to gain more experience.

In 1916, two years after war broke out, Aimers enlisted with the 58th Westmount Rifles and was shipped overseas the following year after being commissioned a Lieutenant. Two months later, on June 28, 1917, he was severely wounded in both the arm and the leg but it was reported that he was doing well. He was shipped to London and while undergoing an operation on the leg, he died on July 10, 1917, at the age of 28. He is buried in Brookwood Cemetery in London.

In Lachine, Quebec, can be found a tablet dedicated to his memory and his father and other members of the Bertram family were able to attend the service in his honour. He was also issued with the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his service in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. His mother, Jennie Bertram, was awarded the Cross of Sacrifice, and this can be seen in the Dundas Historical Society Museum, along with that awarded to the mother of James Knowles Bertram, his cousin.

The war letters written by Aimers and his brother Lennard Halliday Bertram as well as those written by James Knowles Bertram are available at the Dundas Museum.

 - Contributed by Jean A. Freeman (Bertram and Pirie Descendant) From the "McGill Honor Roll, 1914 - 1918. McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, 1926.

James Knowles Bertram - Medicine, 1911-15 - Born at Dundas, Ont., December 6th, 1889. Appointed Captain and Adjutant in the 20th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force (C.E.F.), November 1st, 1914. Transferred to the 1st Infantry Brigade with the rank of Staff Captain. Served in France. Killed in action. September 22nd, 1916, near Albert, on the Somme.

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BERTRAM