Lenox W. McClure John
A Longbeach pioneer and casualty of the Great War
by Michael A. Cone
The first decade of the 20th Century witnessed phenomenal growth in settlement along the shores of Kootenay Lake. One of the many stretches of bench land that attracted this influx of newcomers was along the west arm’s north shore about 13 miles east of Nelson, known as Longbeach. It was bordered to the east by the present-day Harrop-Longbeach cable ferry and to the west by the “rock bluffs” near the mouth of Bradley Creek. With its gently sloping beaches, level benches above and southern exposure, the land was well suited for the backbreaking work of clearing, cultivating and planting of orchards.
The newcomers to Longbeach, or 13-Mile as it was known in the day, were interested in pursuing the healthy, rewarding and Arcadian lifestyle that a producing fruit ranch offered. At least, this was the promise extolled in a phalanx of richly illustrated brochures, suggesting that fruit farmers could expect to enjoy an independent income from the land. Filled with testimonials, the advertising presented ideal opportunities for would-be country gentlemen. For those who purchased their land sight unseen, they would soon discover that not everything was as promised.
Frederick E. West was one of Longbeach’s first settlers. He pre-empted 160 acres in 1894. Over the next decade, more followed, including Joseph Clubb, George Bagley, Hong Ming Chong, Gus Matthews, H.H. Sewell, James D. Kerr, Henry C. Smith and his brother, Lieut.- Commander Burrard A. Smith. The latter, a British naval reservist, would be one of a group of Royal Navy officers who would call Longbeach their new home. The enclave included Lieut. Gordon Hallet, Lieut. Crozier W. Bourke, Lieut. T.P. Webb, Lieut. H. Treby-Heale and Lieut. William A. Cooke-Hurle. Not surprisingly, their “old country ways” influenced everyday life at Longbeach. Since the fruit ranching community was isolated except by steamer access, neighbours were friendly and familiar; they congregated at each other’s homes for tea, card games, children’s birthdays, and in the community for picnics, sleigh-ride parties, and dances. They rallied behind their home team, the formidable but short-lived Kokanee Eleven cricketers, in matches against Nelson. The north shore highway from Nelson to Balfour would not be completed until 1913.
In September 1907, a 24-year-old Irishman named Lenox W. McClure John visited Longbeach. Son of the late General Thomas John, who had served in the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry and his wife Edith Maria, Lenox was born in Croydon, Surrey, England, in 1883. 1. The youngest of four children, he had two brothers, Robert and Charles, and a sister, Oliva. Unusually, he and his oldest brother Robert were given McClure John as their last name, but Charles and Oliva went by their father’s last name, John. The family travelled widely owing to General John’s military career, stationed over the years in Ireland, Italy, Gibraltar, and Canada. The John family would endure personal tragedy with the death of Robert at the age of 18 in Canada and the loss of Charles at the age of 25 in Bombay, India, while serving in the British Corps of Royal Engineers. Lenox would lose his father when he was only 15 years old.
Clearly, Lenox enjoyed privilege since he attended the Bedford School for Boys in Bedfordshire from 1895 to 1899. With privilege likely came some income from the family estate since he would travel back and forth to England on several occasions. As an individual, he was known to be outgoing and personable.
On seeing Longbeach for the first time, Lenox must have been struck by the scattering of homes and rows of newly planted orchards in this budding fruit ranching community. No doubt he had made extensive enquiries from overseas beforehand because, within a few days of his arrival at the Queen’s Hotel in Nelson, he purchased a sizeable parcel of land at Longbeach, between10 and 14 acres (part of Clubb’s pre-emption) and arranged with Nelson Contractor James Dancy to construct a residence. Prime properties at Longbeach were selling for around $50 to $65 an acre, with one-third down and the balance due within one to two years. Prices varied depending on how much land had been cleared, whether there were any streams on or near the property, and how close the acreage was to the steamer landing.
The McClure John home at Longbeach as it appeared in the late 1940s. Photograph courtesy of Eric Sargent
If Lenox had any doubts about the direction his new life had taken, these would be dispelled if he had attended Nelson’s annual Fall Fruit Fair two weeks later. Attracting record crowds, the Fair showcased displays of the finest fruits and farm and garden produce local growers could offer. Different varieties of apples, peaches, plums, strawberries, other berries, grapes and flowers were shown and judged. For would-be growers wanting to learn more about the industry, education was available on the commercial side of the business, including the relative values of different varieties, labelling, and packing.
Lenox’s new house was a modest two-bedroom craftsman style bungalow with steep gable ends and a covered porch looking out over the lake. It was situated on the gradual slope to the beach but well back from the water’s edge. Outside, the house had painted clapboard siding, while inside, the walls were finished in plaster.
A month after his arrival in Longbeach, in October, the Nelson Daily News reported a bizarre plan hatched by young Lenox to clear his land. He intended to import an elephant to pull stumps and toss rocks aside. With tongue in cheek, the editor suggested that perhaps Mr. McClure John could also train the animal to pick strawberries. It wasn’t a hoax, for a month later the same newspaper reported that Lenox’s elephant had arrived in Hong Kong and was en route to Nelson. But, in the end, the poor beast never did arrive nor was his fate ever revealed.
Like most fruit ranchers at Longbeach, Lenox cleared and cultivated land for an orchard. His orchard was located on the bench well back from the house, and while it was a decent size, it was smaller than many of the other more established orchards in the community. Many of the early Longbeach fruit ranchers planted rows of Jonathan Wagener, Yellow Newton, Blenheim Orange and Cox’s Orange Pippin apples along with Lambert cherries. In fact, before the outbreak of World War 1, Longbeach ranches were noted for their bounteous crops of award- winning fruits and vegetables. For example, in the 1912 season, Gordon Hallett shipped about 240 boxes of “fancy apples” overseas to Covent Garden, London, from his 15-acre orchard. 9. In the years leading up to the First World War, Lenox’s name often appeared among other Longbeach producers mentioned in newspaper editorials highlighting the year’s fruit-growing production.
Lenox returned to England in 1908, and while there, he married 28-year-old Ada Muriel Gay, the youngest daughter of Reverend Alfred Henry Gay and his wife Ada. They wed on April 22nd in the little church of St. Thomas of Canterbury, at Worting near Basingstoke, England. The newlyweds travelled extensively throughout Europe on a three-week honeymoon before journeying home to Longbeach in May. The couple, who jokingly referred to their property as the “Rock Pile,” settled into the hard-working community, tending to their young orchard and cultivating some small gardens. They also participated in the social aspects of rural life at Longbeach, mixing and mingling with their neighbours and attending tea parties, whist drives, dances and concerts. Muriel became an avid Kokanee Lawn Tennis Club member and scored well in ladies’ doubles. In 1911, the CPR opened its luxury tourist hotel at Balfour called the Kootenay Lake Hotel. For the next couple of years, one of the main highlights in the Outlet area was the hotel’s annual gala ball, marking the opening of the tourist season. In 1914, The Daily News described in detail the evening dresses worn by the ladies for the occasion. Muriel’s gown was a fashionable “lotus blue satin, with (a) crystal spangled overdress.” As their neighbours often did, the McClure Johns donated to philanthropic causes, like the Kootenay Lake General Hospital, and sponsored prizes at local children’s sporting events.
The All Saint’s Anglican Church at Longbeach – circa 1914. Photograph courtesy of the Nelson Museum, Archives & Gallery
The year 1912 was especially memorable for the Anglican parishioners of Longbeach, beginning with their decision to build a church. A fundraising campaign for the proposed All Saints’ Anglican Church was started and culminated in the completion of the church and its consecration on September 26th. Community spirit played an important role in encouraging donations and participation in teas and whist drives, but it was Lenox and Muriel who were instrumental in making the new church a reality. They held the first Church of England service at Longbeach in their home. Lenox’s aunt, Anna Lucy Lambart Caufeild, the Countess of Charlemont, made a sizeable donation to the church’s building fund, and some of Lenox’s other relatives donated gifts, including “altar cloths and linens, a silver paten chalice and cruets, brass cross, candlesticks and vases.”
In addition to her fundraising efforts for the new church, Muriel found time to organize the “All Saints” branch of the Anglican Church’s Women’s Auxiliary. She served as its first President for a short time before resigning due to poor health.
In the summer of 1913, Lenox and Muriel returned to England for a lengthy visit and did not return to Longbeach until the spring of 1914. While overseas, Lenox generously donated the McClure John challenge cup and medal to the Outlet Sports Club’s Rifle Association. Both pieces were made in England.
At Longbeach, as in all of Canada, the placid life of the rural community was shattered with the outbreak of the Great War. Shortly after Great Britain declared war on Germany in August 1914, Lenox “answered the call,” leaving for England in September. He enlisted in the ‘Public Schools’ Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers in late November or early December of that year but transferred from the Royal Fusiliers to an Officers’ training corps at Epsom, Surrey, England, for three months of training. On June 7th, 1915, he was Commissioned to 2nd Lieutenant and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment. The 3rd Battalion was the training Battalion for those Lincolnshires based in England. A year later, in July 1916, he joined the 1st Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment, British Expeditionary Force, at the front. That September, his Battalion was at the Somme in France, fighting under the worst of conditions. On the 17th, in the Battle of Flers-Courcelette (September 15th-22nd), Lenox was severely wounded. It had rained steadily all day, and the men, drenched to their skin, were engaged in fierce hand-to-hand trench warfare under continuous shell fire. On September 24, 1916, less than a week later, Lenox died from his wounds and sepsis at the base hospital. He was buried nearby at Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-L’Abbe, France. Engraved on his headstone is the inscription “FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT, PEACE PERFECT PEACE.”
Lenox McClure John’s headstone in France. (2025)
The notice of Lenox’s death appeared in the Nelson Daily News on October 20th. 21. Some months later, in January 1917, the Daily News also listed Lenox and those of his comrades reported killed or missing from the parish of Kokanee. It’s puzzling that in The Daily News, his rank was listed as Captain, whereas the announcement of his death in England listed him as a 2nd Lieutenant, as did his obituary notices and military records – the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, his Pension Index Card, and the Medal Roll for the British War and Victory Medals.
One explanation for this discrepancy might be that he was appointed in the field as an “Acting” Captain during combat. These types of temporary advancements often occurred when more senior officers became casualties, and junior officers assumed temporary command. In these cases, the junior officer’s “substantive” rank stayed the same. Muriel may have been aware that Lenox received a temporary field promotion, most likely from her husband’s commanding officer or possibly his comrades, and felt he should be remembered back home in Longbeach with his higher rank.
Muriel had also left Longbeach not long after her husband’s departure and was residing in Wadhurst, East Sussex, England, at the time of Lenox’s death. According to the National Probate Calendar, Lenox left his widow £588, but this didn’t include the Longbeach property. There is no indication that Muriel ever returned to Longbeach following the armistice, but she did rent out her house to guests during the summer for several years thereafter. The last mention of renters staying at the McClure John cottage was in August 1923. According to Tudor Rutherglen in Kootenay Outlet Reflections, Percy Young, a Bahamian who came to Longbeach with Mr. W. Paul Meares in 1910, moved into the cottage in the 1930s. Mr. Young would have known Lenox and Muriel before the war, and it seems likely that he looked after the property in a caretaker capacity after they left for England in 1914. When the McClure John property was purchased from Muriel by Gordon and Lillian Sargent in the late 1940s, Mr. Young was still there, and the Sargent’s built a small cottage for him on the property, close to the highway. The Sargent’s owned and operated Longbeach Service Gas and Grocery on the old property until 1969. Muriel never remarried, and she passed away in April 1949 in Harrow, Middlesex, England, at the age of 69.
Longbeach Service owned and operated by Gordon and Lillian Sargent until 1969 – circa mid-1950s. Photograph courtesy of Eric Sargent.
Lenox’s baptismal memorial font on display in the Balfour Chapel. (2024)
Meanwhile, at the annual All Saints’ Church vestry meeting in 1918, it was decided to purchase a traditional eight-sided memorial baptismal font to honour the memory of Lenox. It took a year to collect sufficient donations and order the font. Constructed of quarter-sawn English oak, it was designed by Longbeach resident J.J. Wilson and intricately hand-carved at
the Nelson firm of T.H. Waters & Co. When the font was displayed in Nelson in August 1918, The Daily News reported that it was: “mounted on pedestals, the upper part of the font being in eight carved panels. The carving is particularly beautiful, and the turning and mitering could not be excelled.” Continuing, the editor said the font “is pointed to as a remarkable example of the splendid work that can be turned out in Nelson. Until this font was made it was not generally known that fine hand carving and turning work could be done here…”
The brass inscription at the base of the memorial font once again references Lenox’s rank as Captain. In addition, his battalion is listed as the 3rd Battalion and not the 1st Battalion. This too is inaccurate, because the 3rd was a training battalion, and it never fought in France. Lenox was with the 3rd after receiving his Commission but was later transferred to the fighting 1st. The British war records consistently support facts that differ from those reported locally.
When the All Saint’s Church was demolished in the early 1970s, the stunning memorial baptismal font in Lenox’s memory was removed and placed in the historic St. Michael and All Angels’ Anglican Church in Balfour, where it still resides. In 2022, the church was deconsecrated and renamed St. Michael and All Angels Chapel and Performance Center.
Although Lenox McClure John was killed in the prime of his life in the trenches of France during the Great War, he and his wife Muriel made tangible contributions to the Longbeach community before their departure in 1914. His name still lives on today in the baptismal font dedicated to his memory and among those of his fallen comrades on the Procter
Lenox’s baptismal memorial font on display in the Balfour Chapel. (2024)
Cenotaph and two WW1 Commemorative bronze plaques, one on display at the Balfour Chapel and the other at the Harrop Hall. In England, his name is listed on the Old Comrades Memorial, West Grinstead, the Bedford Modern School WW1 Memorial, the Albury World War 1 Memorial and on the Roll of Honour at the Partridge Green WW1 Memorial and at the Battle of the Somme Roll of Honour, 1st Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment.
Community life at Longbeach changed dramatically following the end of the war. A significant number of the original British reservists were killed in action alongside their neighbours in the “war to end all wars.” In a few cases, widows of the fallen men went back to England with their children, never to return. Among the veterans who did come home, some suffered crippling injuries and were in deteriorating health, shattering their civilian lives thereafter. The community’s vitality altered notably as well. Settlers who had arrived in the boom years of fruit ranching were now approaching middle age and were inclined to sell or subdivide their properties into smaller acreages. Newcomers saw little future in fruit growing. Once the hallmark of Longbeach, the long, evenly spaced rows of fruit trees began to shrink and disappear. The remaining overgrown orchards marked the end of Longbeach’s fruit-producing era, and only the memories of Lenox W. McClure John and his comrades live on.
The eastern edge of Longbeach looking toward the Harrop narrows -circa 1910. The house at the bottom of the picture was built by Lieut. Crozier Bourke and was later purchased by David H. Ferguson. Photograph courtesy of Nelson Museum, Archives & Gallery.
The Parish of Albury War Memorial -1914 – 1919. Lenox McClure John’s name is in gold lettering about three-quarters of the way down the middle column to the right. (2025).
Bronze memorial plaque in memory of the men from Longbeach and Harrop who lost their lives in the Great War. The plaque is on display in the Balfour Chapel. (2022).
The large engraved brass memorial plaque for Lenox’s parents, General Thomas John and Edith, originally from the All Saints’ Anglican Church in Longbeach now displayed on the Longbeach memory wall at St. Saviour’s Pro-Cathedral in Nelson. (2025)
Not long after the Kootenay Lake Hotel opened its doors in 1912, the Provincial Government completed a road along the North-shore from Nelson to Balfour. A small cable ferry was installed to shuttle motorists across the West Arm (at the site of the present day Orange Bridge) so they could travel ‘up the Lake’ to summer cottages and fishing destinations in their buggy-topped automobiles. One favourite spot was The Balfour Beach Inn, but there were other places as well where cabins and boats could be rented. In 1925, the highway was extended north to Ainsworth and Kaslo. When the CPR curtailed passenger steamer operations on the Lake in 1931, the highway became the principal means for Balfour residents to reach Nelson for a day of shopping, buying supplies for the farm and for entertainment.
