Fonds F3017 - Francis E. Wootton fonds

Lieutenant-Colonel (Retired) Francis Edward Wootton, OBE, MC, ED, was born on 19 January 1885 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Wootton served for more than four years during the First World War and was awarded the Military Cross in 1919. He enlisted again during the Second World War and served from 1939 to 1945. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the last year of the war. He was also awarded the Canadian Efficiency Decoration for his long and meritorious service in the militia. In July 1937 Francis became assistant superintendent for the CPR in Kenora, Ontario and he and his family lived there for more than two years. Francis enlisted again when the Second World War started. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant-Colonel and given command of the 4th Army Field Brigade, Royal Canadian Artillery on 1 December 1939. He led his unit to England in February 1940 but returned to Canada in April. He served at Camp Petawawa until 1943, most of that time as the senior administrative officer. In March 1943 Francis helped organize the No. 1 Canadian Railway Operating Group, Royal Canadian Engineers, and he commanded the unit in France and Germany in the last two years of the war.

In November 1945 Francis was promoted to superintendent for the CPR in Medicine Hat, Alberta. In November 1949 he moved to Ottawa to serve as a railway advisor to the Defence Research Board. He retired from the CPR in January 1950 after 47 years of service, including ten years with the Canadian army.

Wootton was married in Winnipeg on 26 July 1919 to Ada Isabella Sharman. He and his wife had one son, Francis William Wootton, who was born in Saskatoon in 1922. Francis William graduated from the Royal Military College of Canada and went on to have a career in the military, retiring as a Brigadier-General. Wootton passed away in the Ottawa Civic Hospital on 27 September 1951, at age 66.