Friends of the Somme - Mid Ulster Branch  
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871185   Private Samuel Hugh Hall
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Dated added: 01/01/2016   Last updated: 30/08/2017
Personal Details
Regiment/Service: 8th Battalion, Canadian Infantry (Canadian Army)
Date Of Birth: 14/06/1884
Died: 28/04/1917 (Killed in Action)
Age: 32
Summary      
Samuel Hugh Hall enlistment papers record that he was born in Belfast on 14th June 1884. There is a possible listing of William John Hall in the 1901 census. He was living in Vernon Street in Belfast. He was 19 years old. Samuel Hall emigrated to Canada. Samuel worked as a machinist’s helper. He was living at 2 Bury Street, Winnipeg. Samuel enlisted in Winnipeg on 16th February 1916. He listed his next of kin as his wife, Mary Hall. Mary was living in Leckagh, Magherafelt at that time. Private Samuel Hall was serving with the 8th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry when he died on Saturday 28th April 1917. He was 32 years old.
Private Samuel Hugh Hall
Further Information
Samuel Hugh Hall enlistment papers record that he was born in Belfast on 14th June 1884. GRONI has no record of this.
There is a possible listing of Samuel Hugh Hall in the 1901 census. He was living in Vernon Street in Belfast. He was 19 years old.
Samuel Hall married Mary Jane Hurl, who was from Magherafelt, but it seems likely that they married in Glasgow in 1911.
Their son Samuel was born in Scotland in 1912.
Samuel Hall emigrated to Winnipeg, Canada about 1912.
His wife and son visited him in Winnipeg for a few months in 1913, where she became pregnant. She returned to Magherafelt, and her daughter Sarah Marie Hall was born there in 1914.
Samuel worked as a machinist’s helper. He was living at 2 Bury Street, Winnipeg.
Samuel enlisted in Winnipeg on 16th February 1916. He listed his next of kin as his wife, Mary Hall. Mary was living in Leckagh, Magherafelt at that time.
Private Samuel Hall was serving with the 8th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry when he was killed in action on Saturday 28th April 1917. He was 32 years old.
The Canadian Circumstances of Death Register records that Private Hall was killed in action. During an attack near Arleux-en-Gohelle, he was hit by a machine gun bullet and instantly killed.
From the Belfast Newsletter dated 12th July 1917:
Private Samuel H Hall, Canadian Infantry, killed in action, emigrated six years ago, and enlisted in Winnipeg. His wife resides at Leckagh, Magherafelt.
Private Samuel Hugh Hall has no known grave and is commemorated on the Vimy Memorial, near Arras in France.
After Samuel was killed in action his widow was given his ‘death penny’. She came to Toronto with her two young children in 1918, and married a war veteran from Scotland, David Weston.
Two of Samuel’s sisters also emigrated to Winnipeg and married there.
Samuel Hugh Hall’s son Sammy died in 1969, drowned in Toronto, body never found.
Samuel Hugh Hall and Mary Jane Hurl’s daughter, Sarah (Sadie) lived to be 100.
Many thanks to Miriam (Milne?) in Canada who recently carried extensive research into the family for Samuel and Mary’s granddaughter.
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Relevant Magherafelt Area Locations
No Location Region Location Notes Longtitude Latitude
1 Leckagh, Magherafelt Magherafelt Town Wife listed as living in Leckagh, Magherafelt 54.744844 -6.605807
References and Links
No Link Reference Map Doc
1 Canadian Great War Project Details of Private Samuel Hall
2 Canadian Virtual War Memorial Details of Private Samuel Hall
3 Circumstances of Death Registers Details of Private Samuel Hall's death
4 Hall, S H, Private Canadian Expeditionary Force, Leckagh Magherafelt Londonderry, Died
5 Private Samuel Hall Canadian Military documents (52 no.)
Magherafelt District's War Dead Acknowledgements 2014-2023