John Leith's family immigrated to Toronto from Scotland in 1912. John was ten years old. His father William Walker Leith (b. 1870, Glasgow, Scotland) had been a hardware merchant and was a manager of a chocolate factory. His mother Agnes Nichol was born in the south-west of Scotland near Wigtown in 1874. When John was born in Glasgow on Christmas Eve, 1901, he was the fourth child in a family of boys. His parents had married in 1896 and the next year, his brother William was born, followed by Gordon Fraser in 1899 and Douglas in 1900. John's sister Louise was born circa 1908. The youngest son, Raymond, was born in 1911 or later. The family lived in tenements in the Partick and Gorbals neighbourhoods of Glasgow and by 1911 were living at 34 White Street in three rooms. At least seven other families lived in the three storey building and it was on White Street where comedian/actor Billy Connolly grew up in the 1940s. John's father William was 41 when he decided to emigrate to Canada.

 

The Leiths settled in the Birch Cliff area and when William Jr enlisted in World War One in 1915, they were living on Harvey Avenue, which is today's Haig Avenue, which runs down the east side of the Toronto Hunt Club property. Birch Cliff was mainly woodland and farms with a few small houses built around the Hunt Club, which opened in 1895. A streetcar ran along Kingston Road, connecting the village with Toronto.

 

John's brother Gordon also enlisted in 1915 and lied about his age, claiming to be two years older than his 15 years. By 1916, father William had continued his work in the food industry and was a partner in a company that manufactured sauces. The family was living at 324 Lee Avenue. The next year they bought a house at 28 Lyall Avenue and William was working as manager of the Canada Sauce and Vinegar Company at 519 King Street West.

 

If, by 1916 the family's home was on Lee Avenue and then on Lyall, there is no question that John attended Malvern. They arrived in Canada in 1912 when he was 10 and if they lived in Birch Cliff there is the question of where he went to school. Birch Cliff School wasn't built until 1915 but Chester Avenue (Courcelette), Kimberley and Norway would have been available when they arrived. Perhaps John attended no other school but Norway or attended for Grade 8 only. He was likely in Malvern's Class of 1921.

 

Both of John's brothers had been wounded on the Western Front, but both returned home healthy. William had transferred to the RAF and in the Second World War he was an officer in the RCAF. In 1920 Gordon married Anne Trebilcock, who lived two doors away at 24 Lyall. Her father Joseph had a general store at Main Street and Kingston Road and three years later William married a girl from Birch Cliff at St. Nicholas' Church on Kingston Road. John was a member of Emmanuel Presbyterian church which was on Swanwick Avenue.

 

In October 1920, 50 year old William Sr died in St. Michael's Hospital of complications from broken ribs. His death doesn't appear to have caused the family any undue financial hardship. Once John graduated, he found a job as a clerk at the Toronto Insurance and Vessel Agency at 64 King Street East. In 1925, he was the manager of the insurance department of Corporation Securities Ltd. Five years later John was a salesman for Arthur A. Phillips and Company, a Bay Street insurance broker. John, Douglas, Louise and Ray were living with their mother at this time. In 1932 John was a clerk at the Imperial Trust Company and the next year he opened his own company providing estate analysis and insurance counselling.

 

In the mid-1930s, John left Canada for England. This is another period where The Toronto Star article provides the only publicly available information of the remainder of John's life. John married in England, and when World War II began, he enlisted in the Royal Army Service Corps, which oversaw troop transportation, housing, food and fuel supplies. He was evacuated at Dunkirk in June 1940 when the Nazi blitzkrieg pushed the Allied forces out of Europe. He missed the boat which carried his unit and later learned the boat was sunk. In a letter to his mother, he wrote: “I spent the night on the dock with the anti-aircraft guns blasting all around me.”

 

John died on January 1, 1942 due to an illness he contracted at Dunkirk. He name is on the Brookwood Memorial, which is dedicated to those whose remains like elsewhere. This is another question mark as one would think that he should have a grave somewhere, but there is the possibility that his wife had him cremated. Agnes sold 28 Lyall Avenue in the late 1930s and moved to Wineva Avenue. She died in 1948.