George V. Silver, engraved "Capt Kenneth Charles Burness / P.P.C.L.I. / 1919" on the reverse, measuring 44.5 mm (w) x 48.5 mm (h) inclusive of its integral suspension, original ribbon suspended from a pinback hanger, reverse-mounted under glass with a brief biography which includes his two citations, within a 280 mm (w) x 355 mm (h) frame, extremely fine.
Footnote: Kenneth Charles Burness was born on July 22, 1893 in West Hampstead, London, England, the son of Charles Stuart Burness and Florence Burness. The family later immigrated Canada, settling in Toronto, Ontario. He signed his Attestation Paper with the 2nd University Company CEF (McG144) on May 26, 1915 in Toronto, at the age of 21, naming his next-of-kin as his mother, Florence Burness, stating that he had one years' service with an Active Militia, the Canadian Officers' Training Corps at the University of Toronto, that he was not married and the his trade was that of Student at the University of Toronto in Applied Science. Burness soon went overseas with the 2nd University Company. In England, he was attached to the 11th Infantry Battalion at Shorncliffe on July 18, 1915. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on July 21stand to Acting Corporal on August 19th. Burness was transferred to the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) on August 23, 1915 for service in the French theatre, arriving and taken on strength at Rouen on August 24th. Five months later, Corporal Burness arrived from his unit to conduct the Canadian Base Depot on January 30, 1916. He was to spend five days here before leaving for his unit in the field on February 4, 1916 and was promoted to Sergeant on April 26, 1916. Burness was granted a commission as a Temporary Lieutenant and posted to the PPCLI on June 25, 1916. He was named Acting Captain on September 25, 1917, until November 10, 1917 and again named Acting Captain on February 28, 1918, until July 2, 1918. He was promoted to Temporary Captain on August 15, 1918, one day after actions he took at Parvillers in the Somme on August 14, 1918. It were these actions that saw him awarded the Military Cross, his citation appearing in the Supplement to the London Gazette 31119 of Friday, January 10, 1919, on Saturday, January 11, 1919, page 653 and in the Canada Gazette of Saturday, March 29, 1919, page 15 of the Supplement, stating: "Captain Kenneth Charles Burness, PPCLI, Eastern Ontario Regiment. Throughout the operations, lasting five days, he showed exceptional gallantry and resource. On one occasion he found himself cut off with two men under intense machine-gun and rifle fire. One man made his way back slightly wounded. The other was severely wounded, and he got the man on his back and crawled with him over 60 yards to cover. By his gallant act he undoubtedly saved the wounded man from being taken prisoner."
After Parvilliers, he returned briefly to England, where he married Jeannette H. Burness on August 22, 1918 at "The Vicarage", Abertillery, Monmouthshire, England, the couple later settling in Canada at Glenburnie, Ontario. In the last days of the war, Temporary Captain Kenneth Charles Burness, M.C., PPCLI, Eastern Ontario Regiment would earn the Bar to the Military Cross, for actions he took during the advance on Mons from November 7 to 10, 1918, the announcement appearing in the Second Supplement to the London Gazette 31266 of Tuesday, April 1, 1919, on Wednesday, April 2, 1919, page 4323. His citation for the Bar was published in the Second Supplement to the London Gazette 31680 of Tuesday, December 9, 1919, on Wednesday, December 10, 1919, page 15310 and in the Canada Gazette of Saturday, January 17, 1920, page 2175, stating: "For conspicuous gallantry and tenacity during three days' critical operations in front of Mons, 7th to 10th November, 1918. While employed in street fighting from Avesnes through the outskirts of Mons, he with a small patrol, encountered an enemy post in a house. This he rushed without hesitation, killing two himself and taking four prisoners. Throughout the fighting he was always in advance with the foremost troops, setting a fine example of leadership." Temporary Captain Burness was appointed Adjutant on December 24, 1918. He was seconded for duty by vice Temporary Lieutenant A.R. Chapman, effective December 24th, the announcement appearing in the Fifth Supplement to the London Gazette 31185 of Friday, February 14, 1919, on Tuesday, February 18, 1919, page 2406. Upon the ceasing of hostilities, Captain Burness proceeded to England with the PPCLI on February 7, 1919. One month later, he was struck off strength of the Overseas Military Forces of Canada on proceeding to Canada, on March 5th, sailing from Liverpool on March 8th. After his arrival in Canada, he was taken on strength at Military District No. 3 in Kingston, Ontario, then transferred to Military District No. 2 in Toronto, where he was posted for temporary duty as Adjutant with the PPCLI on April 17, 1919. Captain Kenneth Charles Burness was struck off strength on transfer to the PPCLI in Toronto on October 1, 1919. He is credited with having fought at ten major battles, including the Somme (1915), Mount Sorrel, Somme, Vimy, Mericourt, Lens, Passchendaele, Amiens, Cambrai and Mons. For his First World War service, he was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Between the First and Second World Wars, Captain (Temporary Major) (local Major) Kenneth Charles Burness, Permanent Active Militia of Canada relinquished his local rank on ceasing to be employed in the United Kingdom, effective April 12, 1935, the announcement appearing in the London Gazette 34158 of Tuesday, May 7, 1935, page 2984. Lieutenant Colonel Kenneth Charles Burness, M.C., Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, Royal Canadian Infantry Corps went on to serve during the Second World War. He was enroute to England, to take up a position as General Staff Officer 1, Headquarters Canadian Base Units, when his ship, the S.S. Nerissa, a passenger and cargo steamer, was torpedoed and sunk by the German submarine U-552, the ship having participated in thirty-nine wartime voyages between Canada and Britain. On this voyage, S.S. Nerissa had become a straggler left behind by Convoy HX-121. On April 30, 1941, she entered the area patrolled by the aircraft of the Royal Navy's Coastal Command. A Lockheed Hudson aircraft flew over her at nightfall and signalled that the area was clear of enemy submarines. At 11:30, she was struck amidships by a torpedo fired from U-552, the u-boat commanded by Erich Topp, at 100 miles northwest of the coast of Donegal, Ireland and 200 miles from her destination of Liverpool.
The lifeboats were manned and in the process of them being lowered, an explosion split the ship in two, destroying the un-lowered boats. U-552 had fired an additional two torpedoes to ensure the ship's sinking which had struck together three minutes after the first. The ship sank within four minutes, with 290 passengers and crew aboard. In the short time between the two impacts the ship's radio operator was able to send a Mayday signal along with the ship's position and at first light a Bristol Blenheim of Coastal Command circled the scene. The British destroyer HMS Veteran arrived an hour later at 07:50 and picked up the 84 survivors, who were transferred to the Flower-class corvette HMS Kingcup and landed at Derry. S.S. Nerissa was the only transport carrying Canadian troops to be lost during the Second World War. Lieutenant Colonel Burness was reported missing at sea and officially declared as having died on April 30, 1941, at the age of 47. He is commemorated on page 25 of the Second World War Book of Remembrance and is remembered with honour on the Halifax Memorial, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Panel 14. The Halifax Memorial was erected in Point Pleasant Park and is one of the few tangible reminders of the men who died at sea. Twenty-four ships were lost by the Royal Canadian Navy in the Second World War and nearly 2,000 members of the RCN lost their lives. The Memorial was erected by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and was unveiled in November 1967 in a naval ceremony conducted by H.P. MacKeen, Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia, in the presence of R. Teillet, then Minister of Veterans Affairs. The monument is a great granite Cross of Sacrifice over twelve metres high, clearly visible to all ships approaching Halifax. The cross is mounted on a large podium bearing twenty-three bronze panels upon which are inscribed the names of over 3,000 Canadian men and women who were buried at sea. The dedicatory inscription, in French and English, reads as follows: "1914-1939 / 1918-1945 / IN THE HONOUR OF THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE NAVY ARMY AND MERCHANT NAVY OF CANADA WHOSE NAMES ARE INSCRIBED HERE / THEIR GRAVES ARE UNKNOWN BUT THEIR MEMORY SHALL ENDURE." On June 19, 2003, the Government of Canada designated September 3rd of each year as a day to acknowledge the contribution of Merchant Navy Veterans. [C:233]
