Easton's Corners, Ontario :
Victor Norman Grimmett & Harry Vernon Grimmett.
Many thanks to Malcolm Grimmett for these photos,
and to Edmund Hulse Jr. for one photo and much additional information.
In an email Malcolm Grimmett says: " My father, Victor Norman Grimmett lived and worked near to Easton's Corners from 1926 to 1932 approximately. He returned to the UK in time to marry my mother in 1937. He died in 1976 aged 65. I was born in 1938, am now retired and learning about computers and family history.
" Among dad's things were some photographs which I've attached. The band photo is the Easton's Corners community band, taken July 6, 1930. My Dad is the person kneeling next to the bass drum, holding the clarinet which he played. The other two are dad in front of the house where he stayed(?) The child's name is Cecil, and that is about all I know. The only link to Easton's Corners being (the inscription on) the Band photo.
" Also in dad's things is a man's signet ring still in its ring box engraved with his initials, V G. The name inside the box is W S BELL Jewelry Smiths Falls. He never wore the ring in the UK – maybe a story there?
" I hope this info will be useful to you and others and I hope some info will come in my direction to help me fill this gap in our family history. It would be nice to hear from relatives of the band members. And who was Cecil? "
In another email of June 25, 2006, Malcolm adds some more information:
" I have a little more information about my father's time in Canada. My cousin, who I had not seen for some 30 years has told me that her father, Harry Vernon Grimmett also went to Canada with my father. He did not stay as long as my father and returned to the UK. . . . . we have no idea who the lad wearing the hat and overcoat is, perhaps somebody will (recognize) him. "
On May 17 & 18, 2026, I received emails from Edmund Hulse who lives on the Isle of Wight. His emails are conflated:
"My father, Edmund D. Hulse, went to Canada in 1928 as part of the Vimy Ridge Farm "training" opportunity – setting sail from Liverpool at the tender age of 15.
"We tracked down his placement with Stanley Empey at Easton's Corners from the Vimy Ridge files, but were unable to find any more precise address for the farm itself. We were sure that the information made sense, as the only bit of information given to me directly by my dad was that it was near Smiths Falls – I was told that back in 1983 when I had been fortunate enough to go to the USA to visit. In my European innocence I had imagined that I may be able to drive to Smiths Falls from Rochester over a spare evening! I guess it's about 450 miles? And the speed limit back then was 55mph – so it didn't happen! So finding the Easton's Corners info was great to find.
"But my daughter persued more internet links the other night and came to your website. And there on the photo of the Community Band was my dad . . . . It would seem very likely that the photographer was the same in both cases as personal cameras wouldn't have been that commonly owned I guess back in 1928! And the fact that my dad had kept a print all those years shows that the memories were good ones!
"(My dad) returned to the UK in 1937 to Bolton, was in the Tank Regiment (as engineer) during WW2, married May in 1943 and my sister was born. May died of TB in 1948 and he then married my mum, Edna, in 1952. From 1952 till he passed in 1990, my dad lived in the south-west of England.
"About the only story I heard/
"(Another) anacdote told to me of his time in Canada was the story of him looking to visit his elder brother in Boston – probably the Christmas of 1928. His elder brother James had emigrated to the USA ten years or so earlier. My dad, aged probably no more than 16, took the train south on Christmas Eve (from Smiths Falls?) and arrived at the US border, and promptly spent the night behind bars for trying to enter the country without a visa! (This feels dreadfully topical these days!) The following day (or whenever) he returned to Smiths Falls, not having reunited with his brother. Sadly, he never did – as he never got the visa whilst in Canada – and James died a year or two after my dad returned to the UK.
"The happier postscript is that on (my 1983 visit to the US) I visited James's surviving wife and burgeoning family in Boston. That prompted a couple of visits by James's daughter to my parents in the UK. So there were some reconnections there. But I'm not aware of any connections retained with the years in Easton's Corners except for these Community Band photos, and now the names of those musicians that appear on your copy.
"I attach our picture of the Community Band that my sister has within her momentos. It was the lovely extra link that fell into place when seeing this website."
The photos of Harry Vernon Grimmett are at the bottom of this page.
Victor Norman Grimmett.
The boy's name was Cecil. Nancy Dulmage says he is most likely Cecil Wilson: "I recognize the Wilson house which was built for a doctor at EC in the 19th century."
Easton's Corners community band, July 6, 1930.
Back, L to R: John McGrath, Roley Maitland, Douglas Empey,
Hubert McDonald, Harold Halpenny.
Front, L to R: Bill Eberts, Victor Norman Grimmett, Winfred Bonner (Bill),
Albert Goodbody, Harry Putnam,
Edmund Hulse.
Many thanks to Nancy Dulmage for these names.
Easton's Corners community band, between 1928 and 1937. Edmund Hulse is the drummer, front & centre. Thanks to Edmund Hulse Jr. for this photo (see his story above).
Victor Norman Grimmett "at the locks"
Unidentified, but may be at the farm where Grimmett worked.
Harry Vernon Grimmett : Where? When?
Harry Vernon Grimmett and unknown boy.
Date and place unknown.
Harry Vernon Grimmett.
Date and place unknown.
Can you provide missing names, corrections or comments?