Back to Top

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Atkinson Good

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Atkinson Good

World War I Veteran
Commanding Officer 2nd Bn WNSR 15 Oct 1940 - 15 Jan 1943

Lieutenant Colonel Charles Atkinson Good was born in Dublin, Ireland, 8 Feb 1891, and he was an entomologist living at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College in Truro at the beginning of the Great War. The Journal of Economic Entomology, Volume 8, Issue 6, 1 December 1915, p. 556 indicates that, “Mr. C.A. Good has been appointed assistant entomologist at the Nova Scotia Agricultural College.” In the May 1916 edition of the professional journal, The Canadian Entomologist, he published an article called, “A Few Observations on the Apple Maggot Parasite – Boisteres Rhagoletis, Richmond”. According to Nova Scotia Vital Statistic, he married Helen M Woodroofe in Dartmouth on 3 Apr 1916. He was a 25 year old Army Officer, and she a 22 year old clergyman’s daughter.

He enrolled as a lieutenant in the 193rd Bn and served in the CEF during WWI from 14 Feb 16 to 4 Feb 1920 as a Lieutenant, disembarking at Liverpool 19 Sep 1916 after a week on the Atlantic coming from Halifax. After reverting to Lieutenant from Captain to go overseas, he landed in France on 15 Mar 1918. His Record of Service dated 4 Feb 1920 indicates that he served in England and France with the 193rd Bn, 17th Reserve Bn, Nova Scotia Regimental Depot, 85th Bn, 4th Bn Canadian Machine Gun Corps, Canadian Machine Gun Reserve Pool, and Canadian Machine Gun Depot, Seaford, Sussex.

Military progress after The Great War indicates that he was SOS CEF 18 Sep 1919. He was promoted Major in 6 Bde CMGC on 3 Jun 1920. On 18 Nov 1923, he was Lt.Col at 6 MG Bn, and a note says MSC 1926 which is probably Militia Staff Course, likely at the Canadian Army Staff College at Fort Frontenac in Kingston, ON. His record also indicates that on 28 Feb 1935, he was Lt.Col Commanding the Annapolis Regiment and another note reads, “Col. Comd Inf Bde., 1 Feb 35. After WWI, Lt.Col Good continued to publish in professional journals. Brittain, W. H. and C. A. Good. 1917. The apple maggot in Nova Scotia. Bull. N.S. Dep. Agric. 9. 70 pp.

During World War Two, he served as Commanding Officer of the 2nd Bn WNSR 15 Oct 1940 - 15 Jan 1943.

In his spare time, Lt.Col Good collected articles of interest to the West Novas and the Canadian War Effort in general which appeared in newspapers. It is a treasure trove of information on individual soldiers and officers found in local and provincial newspapers. As well, he includes photos of camp life for all ranks of the 2nd Bn WNSR as they existed in Camp Aldershot. Often the ranks of that Bn consisted of soldiers and officers too old or too young to be posted overseas. This scrapbook created by Lt.Col Good and donated to the Regiment around 1970 during the term of Lt.Col Urquhart’s command is a valuable historic document. Around 2014, the scrapbook was scanned by the staff of Clerisy Entertainment, a production company which created Citizen Soldiers, a video of Regimental exploits, produced for Eastlink in 2016. After scanning the photos and articles in the scrapbook, they posted them online at a website called A Tribute to the West Nova Scotia Regiment at https://www.westnovatribute.ca/