Lorne's father John Knowles was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1893. John's father William came to Canada in 1911 to take a job at General Electric in Peterborough, Ontario. John followed in June 1913. In 1915 he enlisted with the 93rd Battalion of the Canadian army for World War I and spent seven months fighting in France. He suffered some heart trouble and was discharged in October 1917. He married Lulu Vanluven (b. 1895), a Toronto girl, on September 11, 1918. The couple promptly moved to Peterborough to join John's family and he resumed working at General Electric. Most of the Knowles children were born in Peterborough and in total, Lulu gave birth to eight children: sons Jack, William, Lorne and Arthur and daughters Alice, May, Audrey and Patricia. The year of Lorne's birth was recorded as both 1920 and 1921 (most likely the latter) and he was born on September 2.

 

By 1924 the family was living on Strathmore Boulevard east of Woodbine and John was working as a driver for a laundry. Lorne attended Danforth Park until the family moved to 1178 Woodbine Avenue in 1927. Lorne would have been in Grade 1 or 2. Strathmore Boulevard's proximity to Gledhill leads one to think that the Knowles children should have attended that school, but at the time, Gledhill was located in Toronto whereas the north side of Strathmore was part of East York and hence the children had to walk up to Danforth Park, an East York school. With the move to the west side of Woodbine, the Knowles children transferred to R H McGregor Public School, upon whose memorial Lorne is commemorated. John eventually became a baker at Canada Bread.

 

After graduating from McGregor, Lorne went to East York High School for 1935/1936 then quit to go to work. He was a labourer and worked in a drug store at one point. When he enlisted in 1940, he was working at the Devon Ice Cream Company on Bathurst Street and hoped to return to the job when the war was over. Lorne's sister Alice had married a butcher named Herbert Lee and Lorne's brother William signed up with him days after WWII began in September 1939.

 

On June 22, 1940, Lorne joined the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada Regiment during an enlistment rush. In May, the QoR, a Toronto regiment, had been mobilized for active service. When Lorne joined, the unit had almost 1000 men. At the end of June, the regiment took the train to Camp Borden near Barrie. Due to the great influx of recruits, some items were in short supply like ground sheets, hats and even table utensils. In three weeks most of the shortages were dealt with and new huts had been built to house the men instead of tents. The training was mainly drills and arms instruction. On August 6, the regiment departed by train for a ship in Quebec City They were thinking that the destination was Britain, but they arrived in Newfoundland on August 10, to provide defence for Botwood and Gander airports. For aircraft in World War II, Newfoundland provided an important re-fuelling point for trans-Atlantic flights and was considered a prime enemy target. The companies in Botwood also inspected ships which arrived in the port.

 

Life was routine in Newfoundland. Drills and physical training continued. A rifle range was built for practice. Fifteen mile marches were undertaken. Living was tough there. The regiment quickly had to build barracks as the conditions that year were harsh. By October the snow arrived. There were shortages of coal and firewood, pipes to the huts burst, boots wore out and could not be replaced and there weren't enough winter coats to outfit everyone. As a result, illness was rife, including a measles outbreak.

 

It was a relief for the regiment to move to Sussex, New Brunswick and the entire regiment reassembled there by December 19. They were provided with new battle uniforms. Two thirds of the unit were given Christmas furlough, but unfortunately Lorne wasn't one of them. On Christmas Eve, the mess halls were decorated and professional entertainers performed. Ladies of the local women's charitable group drove out to dance with the men and Christmas Day provided a day off from training.

 

On January 10, 1941, Lorne was given two weeks' furlough and he took the train home to Toronto. When he returned to Camp Sussex, the regiment had formed a hockey team and in February skis were issued for exercise. These were diversions from the monotony of drilling and courses. As spring arrived, the hockey team was replaced with a basketball team, a boxing team and a baseball team, playing against the other regiments stationed at the camp. On Easter weekend, a quarter of the regiment was given leave and many of the men returned home to Toronto. Lorne appears to have been one of them but arrived back at camp a day and a half late. He was confined to barracks for five days and lost two days' pay. At the end of June Lorne was promoted to acting corporal and word was received that the regiment would soon be shipping out to Britain. On July 5, two special trains containing the regiment left for Toronto, arriving the next day, providing the men with a short embarkation leave. On July 8 the trains steamed out of Toronto, arriving a day later back at Camp Sussex.

 

On July 19, the regiment was up at 3:30 am to take a train to Halifax at 6:05 am. By 7 pm that evening, the regiment had embarked on the HMT Strathmore. The regiment's strength was 885 men. They disembarked by tender at Gourock, Scotland on July 29 and took a train south to Camp Aldershot in England. Aldershot was a military town unto itself and the main army camp in England. Britain was under constant threat of attack from Germany. The regiment was given the rules about having blackout curtains pulled across windows at night and were issued steel helmets. Gas masks and ration cards had to be carried when away from the unit. Route marches began but all the men were gradually given 5 day disembarkation leaves to see their new home country or, for those who had family in Britain, an opportunity for a visit. Lorne was given his leave on August 11. Every month the men would be given 48 hours' leave and a 7 day “privilege” leave every three months.

 

Training continued. The regiment's Colonel-in-Chief, Queen Mary, the King's mother came to Aldershot on September 10 to review the troops. Her son King George and his wife Queen Elizabeth inspected the troops on the 18th. The regiment experienced its first enemy air raid two nights later. Bombs were dropped on a nearby airport. Lorne was sent on an anti-gas course from October 12 to 18. The regiment had their first throwing of live hand grenades at the end of the month.

 

At the end of November the regiment moved 80 kilometres southeast to Pippingford Park near Ashdown Forest. The facilities reminded the regiment of Newfoundland. When they arrived, there was no running water and no electric light. A few days later the regiment corrected all the deficiencies. Roads were built around the camp using rubble from bombed London buildings as the foundation. On December 2, the men broadcast their Christmas greetings over CBC Radio. It was a creative effort as each man was limited to 100 words.

 

On December 4, Lorne took his 7 day privilege leave. He had yet another Christmas away from home. On Christmas Eve the regiment helped with a children's party for the refugee children in the nearby village. Many children were evacuated from London and other large cities to the country to protect them from bombings. On Christmas Day there was no training and an excellent dinner was provided with free beer. Some of the men were given leave to visit various homes in the vicinity for afternoon tea, and it turned out that tea meant just about any libation.

 

1942 dawned with continued training, including a lot of battle drill. The regiment mustered a boxing team and a soccer team. On January 18, Lorne was confirmed as a corporal. In the middle of March he was given another 7 day leave. Training became more intensive and the men would go on route marches at night with the objective of securing a landmark.

 

The QoR moved in late April. Part of the regiment went to Hastings on the south coast to take over anti-raid responsibilities from the Black Watch regiment. The remainder of the men marched 40 kilometres south to their new camp at Willingdon, 10 kilometres east of Hastings and five miles from the coast. The men were beginning to believe that they would soon be sent to France to fight. Within two weeks most war games began with plenty of marching, sometimes for 12 hours without food, all over the Sussex countryside. The regiment believed that something big was about to take place but by the beginning of June, they were settled back in Willingdon. The regiment's war diary for June 14 mentions that it was the day for all Free Nations to pray for victory. A waggish comment was added: “A little less praying & a little more fighting might do the trick!” On June 17, Lorne had another week's leave. More war games were interspersed with training at the base. Many enemy aircraft were seen overhead and occasionally bombed the coast, five miles away.

 

In August the regiment moved west, 10 kilometres inland from Brighton. Word reached the regiment about the Dieppe raid. Although envious of other Canadian regiments' participation in the operation, it was heard that a German prisoner stated that the enemy knew about the upcoming raid three days beforehand. Considering that the raid was a disaster for the Canadians, many in the regiment wondered if it would have been any different had the QoR been there. By now, the regiment knew it was to provide home defence should an enemy invasion occur. The men were involved in anti-aircraft watches. When Lorne returned from his September leave, he found the men had been practising amphibious landings. Twenty-one men were chosen to return to Canada as instructors.

 

In October the regiment moved again, to Wkyehurst Park, 12 kilometres farther inland. The next month, several days were spent on a ship off the south coast, practising landing exercises in the cold ocean water. Christmas 1942 was less festive than usual, because manoeuvres were taking place, but the regiment found time for a Christmas dinner.

 

On January 31, 1943, Lorne transferred to a reinforcement unit. He was possibly sent as an instructor to train the men arriving from Canada who were not affiliated with a specific regiment. The change was probably a relief. The QoR had been in England for a year and a half with constant training and saw no action apart from one or two air attacks. Other than the Dieppe raid, there had so far been no invasion of Europe. By the middle of the year, Lorne was given the opportunity to return to Canada as an instructor. He arrived back in Canada in August and spent time with his family in Toronto. His brother William and Herb Lee were still overseas and his brother Arthur had just joined the navy. Lorne proceeded to Brockville, Ontario as an acting sergeant training future officers at the officers' school there. Lorne probably supervised the officer candidates on the assault training course. The officers' course was 90 days long for each cohort. There Lorne remained within an easy train journey home to his family when he had time off. Twice he was offered the opportunity to train as an officer himself, but he turned down the promotions.