STEWART, Edith Marie
Age at Death: 27
Rank Private
Unit Canadian Women’s Army Corps
Service Number W21002
Place of Burial Mount Pleasant Cemetery, Toronto ON
Date of Birth 1915.07.27
Place of Birth Toronto ON
Enlistment February 2 1943, Toronto ON
Date of Death 1943.02.13
Daughter of Richard and Ada Stewart, of Toronto; sister of Harold, Richard, Russell, Gordon, Lillian and Georgina
Edith grew up in a poor family with two sisters and four brothers. She spent three years at home caring for her mother during an illness, and another seven years as a typist for Gordon Mackay and Co. Ltd, a fashion wholesaler. Her evaluation described her as “an efficient, alert person with well above average ability.”
Less than two weeks after enlisting, Private Stewart died after jumping off the Prince Edward Viaduct in Toronto. In a military inquiry, her barracks roommates said that “on several occasions the girl said she was going to kill herself. It is understood that she had some unfortunate love affair.” Her suicide was reported to her Company by one of her brothers, who requested that she be buried in her uniform.
