The Canada Atlas

Learn / People who shaped Canada

John McCrae

Soldier and poet · 1872-1918

John McCrae
William Notman and Son · Public domain

Wrote fifteen lines in a notebook at a dressing station and gave the Commonwealth its poppy.

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Life story

  1. November 30, 1872 · Guelph, Ontario
    Born in Guelph, Ontario
  2. 1899 · South Africa
    Served as an artillery officer in the South African War
  3. May 3, 1915 · Ypres, Belgium
    Wrote In Flanders Fields the day after burying a friend at Ypres
  4. December 8, 1915 · London, England
    The poem appeared anonymously in Punch and travelled the world
  5. January 28, 1918 · Wimereux, France
    Died of pneumonia and meningitis at Wimereux, France

In the timeline

Sources