Have You a Tiger In Your Family?

Rank : Lieutenant

Unit : 1st Bn

Biography :

Served in South Africa 1899.

Further information provided by Marigold Cleeve. Principal Researcher, Loughborough War Memorial Museum.

Frederick Percival Myles, known as ‘Percy’, was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on 21 st March 1881. He was the son of Robert Gordon Myles (1856-1927) and his
first wife Margaret Elizabeth (née Worts, known as ‘Maggie’, 1855-1904). His paternal grandfather, James Myles (1824-1889) emigrated to Canada from Ireland and his paternal grandmother Janet Peebles (c.1830-1919) emigrated to Canada from Scotland. Percy’s parents Robert and Maggie were married in York, Ontario, on 20 th February 1879. Their honeymoon was spent in London and on the Continent.

Percy had one brother Robert Gordon (known as ‘Gordon’) and two sisters Beatrice Worts and Florence Adeline (known as ‘Adeline’ or ‘Bud’). Between 1881 and 1891 Percy’s father was an accountant and insurance agent. He later became a manufacturer of boots and shoes. He was also a Major in the Canadian Militia, having been second in command of the Canadian artillery in 1896. He was a Scrutineer for the Bank of Toronto (1886), a Director (1893-) and Treasurer (1890-1892) of the Canadian Military Institute, Honorary President of the Toronto Cricket Club Colts and a Member of the Ontario Jockey Club.

In 1891 the family lived in St. Patrick’s Ward, West Toronto, with four servants. They subsequently moved to 4 Queen’s Park, Toronto. Percy’s mother was well-known in
Toronto society and her social activities and the events she organised were often reported in the Toronto Saturday Night and the Toronto Daily Mail newspapers.
Percy was initially educated by private tutors at home. In September 1893, aged 12, he was sent to Upper Canada College, Toronto, where he stayed until June 1898. He
then attended the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston, Ontario, as a Cadet, from where, in May 1900, he was offered a commission with the British Army.

On 15 th August 1900 he was appointed a 2 nd Lieutenant with the Leicestershire Regiment. He travelled to England and joined the Leicestershire Regiment at the
Depot in Wigston, Leicester. On 1 st January 1902 he was sent to South Africa to join the 1 st Battalion of the Leicesters who were fighting in the 2 nd Boer War. The 1st
Battalion by this time had taken part in the operations that carried the war into the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal. Towards the end of the war they did garrison
duty on the Standerton-Ermelo road in the Eastern Transvaal.

Percy was awarded the Queen’s South Africa Medal with clasps for the Transvaal (and South Africa 1902?) In 1902 he was also promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.
Following the end of the 2nd Boer War the 1st Battalion of the Leicesters was transferred to Fort St. George, Madras, India. They left Port Natal on 7th November
1902 on the SS Ortona and arrived in Madras in late November.

On 14 th June 1903 Percy arrived in New York, having crossed the Atlantic on the SS Cedric (White Star Line). He was listed as an Army Officer on the crossing and
remained, like his father, in the Canadian Militia. Percy’s mother died suddenly in 1904, having suffered a seizure whilst travelling abroad with her husband and two daughters. After his wife died Percy’s father Major Myles and his grandmother Janet Myles moved to a flat in Spadina Gardens, Toronto.

On 17 th October 1905 Percy married Helen Louise Boomer in Toronto. Their son, Percival Boomer Myles, was born in 1910. In 1910 Percy and Helen lived at 120
Walmer Road, Toronto, and Percy was working with his father in the boot and shoe manufacturing business. On 8 th January 1912 Percy’s father Major Myles was remarried to Dorothy Elise Willmot (1888-1946) who had emigrated to Canada from London in June 1910. Percy had two half-sisters from his father’s second marriage, Barbara Dorothy and Marjorie Aileen.

In 1916 Percy and his wife were living at 56 Oriole Rd, Toronto. On 11 th February 1916 Percy was made an Adjutant-Vice Major (10 th Battalion, Royal Grenadiers,
Royal Regiment of Canada) in the Canadian Railway Systems Depot. On 26 th February 1916 Percy enlisted for the Canadian Expeditionary Force for WW1
and joined the 170 th (Mississauga Horse) Battalion. He was initially sent to Exhibition Camp, Toronto, and was promoted to Major on 26 th April 1916. In September 1916 he was hospitalised at Niagara with a defected septum. He sailed from Halifax, Nova Scotia, to England on the SS Mauretania on 25 th October 1916, arriving at Liverpoolon 31 st October.

Around this time the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) was being reconstructed and the 170 th Battalion was absorbed into the 169th Battalion, CEF, on December
8th, 1916 and then into the 5th Reserve Battalion on January 24th, 1917. Percy gave some courses of instruction to the 60 th Battalion, CEF, at Bramshott, Hampshire, and in France before he was struck off from the Canadian Expeditionary Force and re-appointed as Deputy in the Forestry Depot in Toronto on 7 th March 1917. He returned to Canada on the SS Metagama. He was discharged on 20 th December 1918 at Hamilton, Ontario, while he was working at the Canadian Railway Troops Depot. His brother Gordon also served with the Canadian Expeditionary Force as a Lieutenant with the 47 th Battery, 12 th Brigade, Canadian Field Artillery, and Canadian Cavalry, and survived the war.

In 1927 Percy and Gordon’s father died of a gunshot wound to his head, aged 71. Whether this was self-inflicted or an attack or accident is unrecorded. On 22 nd October 1928 Percy and his wife were living at Apartment 203, 200 St. Clair Avenue, West Toronto. Between 1935 and 1945 they were at 121 Highbourne Road,
Eglinton, Ontario. In 1949 they were in Avenue Road, Eglinton.

Percy died on 13 th April 1958. His wife had died four years earlier on 8 th May 1954.

Date of Birth : 21 march 1881

Place of Birth : Toronto, Canada

Date of Death : 13 April 1958

Civil Occupation : Boot and Shoe Manufacturer

Period of Service : 1890s

Conflicts : Boer War

Places Served : South Africa