About This Site

Listed: 11 WWI & 419 WWII War Brides



Hello

My name is Jackie Sheppard Alcock and my mom, Mary Fletcher Sheppard, was an English war bride. I think, as a child of a war bride, I was to close to them to realize we were losing them and the history surrounding their lives. When "2006 The Year of the War Bride" was being celebrated I tried to do research for a painting I wanted to do depicting a war bride and it was then that I realized just how little information on Newfoundland War Brides was available and that soon the role these women played in our history would fade.


There is a very good Canadian War Bride web site put together by Melynda Jarratt who has just published the book "War Brides: The stories of the women who left everything behind to follow the men they loved." The stories of two Newfoundland War Brides are included in this book.


There were over 43,454 Canadian War Brides and the fact that the Canadian War Bride site is also a volunteer site, trying to including information on all the war brides was just imposiable.


We must remember that because Newfoundland was not part of Canada during the war the Newfoundland War Brides represent a special group with special needs. There are only an esitmated 800 Newfoundland & Labrador War Brides. Being the daughter of one of these women I decided to take up the cause and with one computer art course behind me, I decided to put together a web site.


I will admit I almost gave up but something happened that changed my mind. One day I went to an out of town gathering and while having a cup of tea enquired of a server, who was only about 40 years of age, if she knew of any war brides in the area. She asked me, "what is a war bride?" I knew then that I could not give up but would have to carry out this project, albeit at a much faster pace.


Some notes about this site

  1. This web site is ongoing. Changes will happen.It may take years
      to complete.
  2. I started with one war bride and to date I have acquired 406
      names. There is thought to be as many as 800 Newfoundland
      War Brides.
  3. I am hoping that war brides or their families will come forward
      and send in the information I do not have. Please try to
      include the full given and nick names
  4. Out of the 406 war brides I have to date:
       a. I have good information on about 30
       b. Good to fair on about 90
       c. Have just a name on the rest
  5. I am not perfect so there will be mistakes please feel free to
      send me any corrections.
  6. Remember that I am working alone at the moment and things
      take time.It has taken me since Oct, 2006 to reach this point.
  7. I would like to include the number of children and their names so
      that this could be the starting point for a family tree.
  8. For the children that were born overseas and came to
      Newfoundland with their mothers the Citizenship
      page would be of interest to them.
  9. On the site I will try to include any information available about
      Newfoundland War Brides such as links and references to
      newspaper articles,books, and art.
      If you have anything please send it in with your info.
10. Ship information is something I am working on.
11. I NEED PICTURES. I am working on a yearbook layout were the
      frame of the portrait of each war bride will portray the national
      flower of the country she is from.
12. It would be good if a contact number were supplied because I
      often need to clarify a fact or two.

 

I lost my mom in 2001 so if your mom or grand mom is still alive
ask her her story and give her a hug.