There were a few of the "Van Wyck Laughton boys" that had an impact on the history of the Town of Parkhill in Middlesex County, Ontario. This is the story of those lads.

To resolve any confusion about the "boys" let us start with clarifying a few issues:

Survival of the young generation was not an assured event in the late 1800’s in Parkhill. Out of the eight children born to John Hugh and Louise Estelle Laughton, only four boys and one girl survived. The first son John (1881) died in infancy and Paul (1887 - 1899) drowned in Grand Bend at age 12. Two of three daughters, Edna (1894) and Bessie (1898 - 1905), died as young children. The only surviving daughter was Louise Van Wyck Laughton (1892 - 1985) who lived into her 90’s and is buried in Parkhill.

Fred was the oldest of the Laughton Boys of Parkhill, born in Thedford, Ontario on November 1, 1882 to John Hugh and Louise Estelle Laughton.

The year of 1912 was also when Fred married Myra Elvira Rogers, a New York girl, also with links to Parkhill (her father was manager of the Parkhill apple plant). Myra worked as a bookkeeper for White & Mays as well as a volunteer at the Parkhill Library. She later became the bookkeeper of Laughton Grocery. Myra survived Fred by some 40 years and was buried in Parkhill Union Cemetery with Fred after her death on July 24, 1987.

When John Hugh Laughton ended his position as the Clerk of Parkhill in 1914, Fred Van Wyck Laughton took over that position, serving from 1915 to 1943. That is a 40 year stretch of the Laughton’s as Clerks of the Town of Parkhill. When the Great War broke out in 1915 Fred was 33 years old. He did not attest to the Canadian Expeditionary Force and he was not conscripted under the 1917 Military Services Act. Was service as the Town Clerk or the owner of a business a means of exemption?

In addition to serving as the Clerk of Parkhill for 28 years, Fred Laughton served as the Conservative Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of the Province of Ontario, for the riding of Middlesex North. The historical records of the Ontario Legislative Assembly show that Fred Van Wyck Laughton, MPP served on 25 Standing Committees of the 18^th Parliament of Ontario from September 30, 1929 to April 3, 1934. During that tenure, he served as a parliamentary assistant to the Minister of Highways, but never reached the ministerial level himself. He was honoured for his work through the naming of Laughton Township, in the District of Cochrane in Northern Ontario.

Fred retired from the grocery business in Parkhill in 1945, spending his final few years at his cottage in Grand Bend. After a year of poor health, he died at his Grand Bend residence on the morning of September 5, 1947. He is buried in the Van Wyck Laughton plot in Parkhill Union Cemetery.

Much less is known of the life of the second son Harry Van Wyck Laughton. He was the second surviving son of John Hugh and Louise Estelle Laughton. Harry was born in Parkhill on September 20, 1884 and died June 10, 1955.

In much of what is contained in the family history documents, Harry appears to be the overseer of the Laughton Family. He did not serve in the First World War, although he was 30 years old and certainly eligible for attestation in 1914. Throughout the war he was often quoted in the papers as he described the heroic actions of his younger brother George, who was away fighting in France and Flanders. Harry also employed and more or less looked after their sister Louise in her early days (pre-1920). It would appear that Harry and Mary were very much a part of the upper social structure of Toronto. Was that enough to exempt him from service in the Canadian Expeditionary Force through Voluntary Attestation or conscription under the 1917 Military Services Act?

Harry and Mary had one son, Barent Powell Laughton who predeceased his parents. Harry, Mary and Barent were not buried in the Van Wyck Laughton plot at Parkhill Cemetery; rather they are entombed at the Bellville Mausoleum.

St. Clair (mostly known as Clair) was the fourth surviving son of John Hugh and Louise Estelle Laughton. He was born in Parkhill on April 30, 1886.

We do know that St. Clair and Eva Laughton attended the 1928 Parkhill Reunion, along with his father John Hugh Laughton. At that time, Clair and Eva were living in Detroit (Royal Oak), Michigan. St. Clair may have been closer to his father than his other brothers and sisters, as the others were upset that father John Hugh had remarried so soon after the death of his first wife Louise Estelle in October 1912.

Like his younger brother George, St, Clair served in the local militia of Middlesex County. When he attested to the 142^nd Overseas Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) at age 29 in December 1915 he stated that he had served with the 6^th & 7^th Regiments for 6 years. Apparently St. Clair had a change of heart about serving in the military, as his Service Record shows that he left his position on January 16, 1916 and was subsequently declared a "Deserter". He never returned to the Canadian Army but was subsequently pardoned under the General Amnesty of December 20, 1919.

The 1920 United States Census shows Clair and Eva Laughton living in Los Angeles, California where he listed his occupation as a salesman. It is presumed that shortly after St. Clair deserted the CEF he left for the United States, perhaps first to New York where other Laughton family members lived, then on to California, prior to settling in the Detroit area. There are no detailed records on their movements at this time.

Clair and Eva had no children and they are reported buried in the Parkhill Union Cemetery. St. Clair passed away in Michigan (date unknown), at which time Eva moved back to Grand Bend, Ontario where she lived out the rest of her life. Eva died in November 1983.

George was the youngest son of John Hugh and Louise Estelle Laughton, born in Parkhill, Ontario on May 10, 1897.

Prior to the war, George’s mother (Louise Estelle Laughton) died of dropsy in October 1912. There was turmoil in the Laughton family when John Hugh remarried in an event that the siblings thought was "too soon" after the passing of their mother. Although details are not clear, we know John Hugh left the family business and moved to London, Ontario, leaving the eldest son Fred to look after the family business (as well as to assume his position as Clerk of Parkhill).

As a result of this turmoil, George’s older sister Louise took George with her to Toronto, where George’s older brother Harry (a practicing lawyer) and his wife Marry were living at the time. While living with Harry in Toronto in 1913 George finished High School at Harbord Collegiate and subsequently attended the University of Toronto Law School with Harry’s wife Mary. While in his first year 1915, George joined the C.O.T.C. (Canadian Officers Training Corps) and attested to the Canadian Expeditionary Force. In August 1915 he began service with the 7^th Regiment Fusiliers, attached to the 142^nd Overseas Infantry Battalion as a Lieutenant. George wanted to serve and was now heading to war. Reorganization of the CEF structure changed his plans.

George was an impatient soldier, as were many young men in Canada in the early years of the Great War. He found his way to England (with a group of others from the University of Toronto) where they attested to the 32^nd Canadian Infantry Battalion. As he had planned, he was accepted to the No. 6 Officer Cadet Battalion, based at Baillol College, Oxford University.

During his recovery he met his future wife Mary Elizabeth McDonell, a nurse in the Convalescent Hospital. Before the war’s end, he returned to the University of Toronto to take command of the Officers Training Corp, to assist in the preparation for men serving in Serbia and North Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution.

George and Beth married and raised two sons, Charles Van Wyck Laughton 1919 and Paul MacDonell Laughton 1923 in Toronto, Ontario. He joined the MacLean Hunter Publishing Company, where he served for 44 years prior to his retirement in 1964, at which time he moved back to Middlesex County to their new home at 21 Lloyd Manor Crescent in London, Ontario.

While at their cottage in the Muskoka’s he suffered a seizure and was later diagnosed with having a brain aneurysm. Pioneering neurosurgery by Dr. Drake in London Ontario was a success, but unfortunately a blood clot in the leg, perhaps a residual from his Great War injuries, killed George instantly on June 11, 1966. His wife Beth (Mary Elizabeth) died as a result of a stroke at our home in Grand Bend less than 4 years later (January 7, 1970). George and Beth are buried in the Soldier’s Plot at the Exeter Cemetery in Huron County Ontario. Although not a resident of Exeter, George’s son Charles Van Wyck Laughton 1919 had been a lawyer and resident of Exeter for many years and arranged for that internment. Charles and his wife Maureen (both WWII Veterans) are now also interred at that Exeter Plot.