porirua anzacs at gallipoli

PORIRUA ANZACS AT GALLIPOLI

This e-book is based on material from an exhibition at Pataka Art + Museum that was developed as part of the centenary commemorations of the First World War to honour the memories of those young men and women from the Porirua area who served on the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey between April and December 1915. The exhibition ran from 2 April – 3 May 2015 at Pataka Art + Museum in Porirua, New Zealand.

In collaboration with historian Allan Dodson and the Porirua RSA, Pataka Art + Museum created an exhibition that featured some of the stories of the young men and women from Porirua. The exhibition also included projected images of Gallipoli taken from hand-coloured glass lantern slides, photographs and objects from the time, as well as a memorial to those that lost their lives.

Visitors were asked to

contribute to the exhibition by knitting or crocheting a poppy which was added to the display.

Looking for more information? If you are interested in finding out more about New Zealand’s or Porirua’s Anzacs, you can try the websites listed here or visit the Local Heritage Resource Centre at Porirua Library.

Plimmerton Community Website: http://plimmerton.org.nz/history/

Archives New Zealand: http://archives.govt.nz/world-war-one

Research by Allan Dodson

WW100 centenary commemorative project: http://ww100.govt.nz/

Auckland War Memorial Museum: http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph

National Library of New Zealand:http://natlib.govt.nz/ww100

Te Ara – Encyclopedia of New Zealand http://www.teara.govt.nz/en

Porirua Library: http://library.pcc.govt.nz/(or contact the Local Heritage Librarian - [email protected])

Porirua Anzacs at Gallipoli exhibition at Pataka Art + Museum, 2 April - 3 May 2015

NEW ZEALAND’S ENTRY INTO WWI

WWI was the result of a number of political forces and conflicts that had been simmering in Europe for many years. By 1914, the main European powers had set plans to mobilise armies and it took only a small incident to set Europe ablaze. On 28 June 1914, the Archduke Franz Ferdinand – heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne (supported by Germany) was assassinated by Serbian nationals (supported by Russia). This ignited a chain reaction that converted a local conflict into general war because of pre-arranged alliances between countries.

A month later, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and suddenly Europe was divided into two armed camps: the British, French and Russian empires called the Triple Entente (or Allied Powers) against the German, Italian and Austro-Hungarian empires who were called the Central Powers. Other countries aligned themselves at later dates with the two sides, until around 30 nations were involved. Within months of the outbreak of war a line of trenches stretched from Switzerland to the Belgian coast.

New Zealand got involved because Britain got involved. Britain declared war on Germany on 4 August 1914. Germany had marched through Belgium to invade France and Britain was committed to help Belgium defend its neutrality. Within days of

Britain’s declaration, the New Zealand government pledged its loyal support, as a member of the British Empire, and agreed to equip and send a New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) overseas.

Thousands of men of military age rushed to enlist – most of whom had never left home before, anticipating a great adventure. From August 1916 conscription was introduced which forced all non-Maori men aged between 20 and 45 to enlist unless they were medically unfit, married with young children or working in certain vital jobs. As a result 32,000 conscripts served overseas with the NZEF, alongside 71,000 volunteers. Reinforcement drafts left New Zealand at regular intervals during the war.


The main body of the NZEF, with over 8000 men and 3000 horses, left Wellington on 16 October 1914 – the largest single group ever to leave these shores at one time. Australian troops joined the convoy in Western Australia. Most of the troops thought they were heading to England for training and then on to fight in France. But while the convoy was sailing, the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire entered the war with the Central Powers and the troops disembarked in Egypt to complete their training. While the men trained in Egypt, British leaders planned their campaigns.

A combined Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (known as Anzacs) became part of a larger Mediterranean Expeditionary Force which was sent to help capture the Gallipoli Peninsula in Turkey.

The New Zealanders were not professional soldiers and being so far from home made them very aware of who they were and how different they were from the British. Many began to call themselves ‘Kiwis’ for the first time.

New Zealand, with a population of one million in 1914, sent 103,000 troops and 550 nurses abroad. About 18,000 troops died and more than 40,000 were wounded. New Zealand had the highest casualty and death rates per capita than any other country involved.This headstone marks the former grave of an unknown New Zealand soldier who became the Unknown Warrior at the National War Memorial in Welling-ton. The Unknown Warrior represents one of almost 9,000 men who have no known grave.

THE SAMOAN ADVANCE PARTY 1914

Hoisting the Union Jack outside the Courthouse in Apia. Photographer: Alfred James Tattersall. ATL Ref: PA1-q-107-32-1

New Zealand’s first military action in World War I took place in the Pacific. The first troops to leave New Zealand were part of the Samoan Advance Party – an expeditionary force that seized Samoa from the Germans in August 1914. Three staff members from the Porirua Hospital were among the 72 officers and men of the Medical Corps, Samoan Advance Party, including Major Alexander McKillop (3/43), Private John Brungess Gillett (3/79) and Sergeant William Schoch (2/7).

On 29 August the Samoan Advance Party landed at Apia. German opposition had been expected but the local German authorities in Apia (consisting of a police force of 50 men and two superintendents) offered no resistance and the Governor did not want Samoan blood spilt. An armed party was sent to capture the radio station and again met no resistance.

The Union Jack was raised outside the Courthouse building in Apia and Colonel Robert issued a proclamation. All firearms were ordered to be handed in, no public meetings were allowed and a curfew was introduced.

The troops found the first weeks of occupation very hard in the tropical heat as they established camps and dug trenches and roads. Patrols, guard duties and routine marches were carried out until the threat of attack from German ships had passed. Less than two months later, a considerable number of men returned to New Zealand showing signs of ill health from tropical fevers, diseases and the tedium of garrison life.

In April 1915 a relief force arrived from New Zealand enabling men from the original occupation force to re-enlist and serve in other campaigns.


Samoa remained under New Zealand military control until 1920 – with disastrous results in 1918, when Colonel Robert Logan failed to quarantine a ship carrying sick passengers suffering from pneumonia influenza. The infectious disease spread quickly through the islands killing over 22% of the population. This incident started an ongoing resentment against New Zealand, which governed Western Samoa via the League of Nations Mandate (1920), followed by the United Nations trusteeship (1946) until 1963 when Western Samoa became independent.

The Union Jack was raised outside the Courthouse building in Apia and Colonel Robert issued a proclamation. All firearms were ordered to be handed in, no public meetings were allowed and a curfew was introduced.

THE GALLIPOLI CAMPAIGN

The Gallipoli Campaign, to knock Turkey out of the war, was the idea of Winston Churchill – the First Sea Lord of the British Admiralty who declared: ‘A good army of 50,000 men and sea power – that is the end of the Turkish menace’. The Allied plan was to use naval power to capture Turkish defences (guns and forts) along the strategic waterway – the Dardanelles; break through to Constantinople (Istanbul) and force Turkey, Germany’s ally, out of the war. Britain and France could then send supplies safely through Turkish waters to their Russian ally via the Black Sea. It also meant they could attack Austria-Hungary from a new southern front. None of this plan came to pass.

The failure of British sea power to smash the Turkish fleet and defences early in 1915, resulted in a revised plan to send ‘a good army’ – the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, made up of British, Australian, New Zealand, Indian and French troops – to launch an overland attack across the Gallipoli peninsula to take the Dardanelles.

In the new plan, a combined force of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (Anzacs) would invade the peninsula shortly before the main contingent of troops landed further south at Cape Helles. The ANZAC force was told to capture the heights of the hills and press inland, to cut off Turkish reinforcements heading to Cape Helles. At dawn on 25 April the Australians, followed by New Zealanders, were landed – in the wrong place – at a small rocky bay soon known as Anzac Cove. As the first troops landed, they had to clamber up steep scrub-


covered gullies, ravines and cliffs exposed to gunfire from Turkish soldiers who were waiting and positioned along the hilltops. Further Turkish reinforcements meant that many Anzac soldiers landing later in the day were killed even before they reached the beach. The Gallipoli landings were a military disaster. On that first day 372 New Zealanders were killed and 703 were either wounded or missing. Within 24 hours, as the Turks threatened to drive the Anzacs back into the sea, on-site Anzac senior officers decided that the men should be evacuated. But

Commander Ian Hamilton refused permission and told them to ‘dig, dig, dig, until you are safe’.

So the Anzacs hung on, hemmed in, for nine months, losing thousands of men without gaining any land. They endured dreadful conditions of intense heat, rain, cold, flies, dysentery, fevers, lack of water and constant sniper fire. They suffered heavy losses in vicious battles at Baby 700, Lone Pine, Chunuk Bair, The Nek, Quinn’s Post, Hill 60 and Daisy Patch (Cape Helles) – familiar names to generations of Australians and New Zealanders.

By the time troops were finally evacuated in December, 2779 young New Zealanders had died – about a quarter of those who had landed on the peninsula. A further 4700 were wounded. It was a tragedy that was felt in every New Zealand home at the time.

WWI FIGHTING FAMILIES

During the course of the four years of the Great War, it was common for families to have several sons serving overseas or in training. The term ‘fighting families’ was generally used in newspapers at the time to describe these families and the Auckland Weekly News had a section called Fighting Families which featured related soldiers ‘in khaki’. There were several fighting families in the Porirua region. The Boultons and the Thomsons are remembered below.

at different times to the Western Front. Frank was first posted to the NZ Tunnelling Company based in Arras. Father and son took part in the Battle of Messines and Passchendaele. Frank was wounded and evacuated twice but Lance/Sergeant Leslie Thomson (#18719) was killed on 16 July 1918 and buried in the Hebuterne Military Cemetery. He was 18 years old. Frank returned to Plimmerton in 1919 to his wife and three remaining children.

The Boulton Family of Paremata/Pauatahanui waited for news from two brothers, Charles and Kenneth. Both men had landed at Gallipoli on 25 April with different battalions but only one returned home. Kenneth was killed when his Otago Battalion was ordered to attack Baby 700, a strategic hilltop, in broad daylight. His body was never found.

Ken and Charles’s cousin, Corporal James Gardner 17/64, was also killed while serving overseas in France. James was born in Pauatahanui and his mother was Elizabeth Anne Gardner (neé Boulton). James left Wellington on 14 December 1914 with the 2nd Reinforcements for the NZ Veterinary Corps (NZVC) and arrived in Egypt in January 1915. By April 1916, James was in France with the Auckland Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion. He died of wounds on 9 July and is buried in the military cemetery at Armentieres. He was 28 years old.

The Thomson Family shifted to Plimmerton at the start of the war and Frank Thomson and his eldest son Leslie Thomson enlisted within months of each other in 1916. Leslie Thomson was a 16 year old shop assistant who said he was 20 when he enlisted. The family felt it was in order to protect his son that Frank Thomson (#27993) enlisted two months later. Both embarked with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade and were shipped


Kenneth and Charles Boulton

Corporal James Gardner

The Thomson Family

WW1 FIGHTING FAMILIES

England but both, at some stage, were attached to 1st Battalion, Wellington Infantry Regiment in France. Private Louis survived Passchendaele but was killed near Ypres in November 1917. His brother Albert survived and was part of the Allied Occupation of Germany, returning in May 1919. The third brother, Rifleman Arthur Sievers (#51543), was sent to France in October 1917 until he was wounded in action on 10 July 1918 and shipped back to New Zealand.


William and Margaret Bennett of Plimmerton had two sons and a daughter involved in the war. Private Hubert Bennett (10/1416) left in February 1915 with the 3rd Reinforcements of the Wellington Infantry Brigade, which landed at Anzac Cove on 25 April. He remained there for a couple of weeks until his Brigade was transferred south to the Cape Helles area. The brigade was in action from 8 May in the chaotic

The large extended Sievers Family from the Makara/Porirua region saw as many as ten ‘extended’ family members serve in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF), with two cousins killed in action. Alfred and Elizabeth Sievers of Makara had three out of their four sons enlist. Private Louis William Sievers (#30649) and Albert Henry Sievers (#30648) left in December 1916 with the 20th Reinforcements, Wellington Infantry Battalion. They were separated into different battalions after training in

Second Battle of Krithia. Hubert was wounded and evacuated to Malta where he met up with his sister, Nurse Ina Bennett (22/14), there with the New Zealand Army Nursing Service (NZANS). Hubert was sent back to Gallipoli in July but was wounded for a second time in August. He returned to New Zealand to convalesce and was discharged. Nurse Bennett had left with the first contingent of nurses in April 1915.

During the course of the four years of World War One, it was common for families to have several sons serving overseas or in training. The term ‘fighting families’ was generally used in newspapers at the time to describe these families and the Auckland Weekly News had a section called Fighting Families which featured related soldiers ‘in khaki’. There were several fighting families in the Porirua region. The Bennetts and the Sievers are remembered below.

Initially based in Cairo, she also worked in Malta and at Amiens, France. While at Amiens she heard about the death of her younger brother, Rifleman Oswell Bennett (#2338), who had been transferred to the Auckland Infantry Regiment in the NZ Division that saw action in France in the Battle of the Somme. He was killed on 27 September 1916. He was buried but his grave was never found. The Bennetts had five cousins who also served in France. Those cousins were from the D’Ath family and the Otaki-based Francis (Frank) Bennett family.

Nurse Ida Bennett Private Hubert BennettNew Zealand nurses on board the Rotorua, during World War I. Assorted negatives, photographs & postcards relating to the Commons family. Ref: PAColl-0321-001. ATL

The Boys from the Hospital

The Katene Brothers

In 1914, with the outbreak of war, many of the Porirua Hospital attendants left to join the expeditionary forces.

By 1915 11% of the male staff were either at the front or training. Some of the men working at the hospital had come from Britain as part of a large recruitment program for young single men to work in psychiatric institutions in New Zealand.

A group of arond 10 hospital men enlisted together on 21 September 1914 for the New Zealand Medical Corps (NZMC) in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF). They joined the 2nd Reinforcements and were

trained at Trentham Camp by Major Alexander McKillop, formerly a Doctor and Superintendent of Porirua Hospital.

Most of the men who enlisted together were a group of football teammates who played for the Hospital Association Football Club. The club was formed in 1906 and became affiliated to the Wellington Football Association. The club colours were white and blue. The Hospital senior team entered First Division competition in 1911 and won the Senior Championship in 1912.


The 1913 senior team won the Charity Cup (pictured) and were runners up in the Wellington Championships. The captain was Sydney Roots (seated in middle) and other players in the team included Henry Heath, George William Hughes, William Skinner and Walter Cobb (the goalie). Other hospital football players included: Joseph Alexander, Wilfred Singleton, Archibald Foley, Francis Walsh, John Simpson, John Gillet, Wilfred Singleton, Herbert Foster and Dr Alexander McKillop. These men were listed as ‘Footballers at the Front’ in an article written in March 1915.

The Boys from the Pa

The first Maori contingent of volunteers sailed from Wellington aboard the SS Warrimoo in February 1915.

Trained for combat, there was an ‘Imperial policy on native peoples fighting’ offshore against European forces. The contingent was sent from Egypt to Malta for further training and garrison duties. The mounting losses at Gallipoli and the need for reinforcements forced a swift change to the policy, and the contingent landed at Anzac Cove on 3 July 1915. They joined with the New Zealand Mounted Rifles and provided a huge boost to the morale of troops there. Fifty members of the Maori Contingent lost their lives in the Gallipoli Campaign. The gaps in the ranks were filled by men from the 2nd Contingent

which included the three Katene brothers: Rangi, Taku and Frederick Bennett Wi Katene.

Private Rangi Wi Katene (16/636) with his two younger brothers Taku (16/635) and Frederick (16/792), left New Zealand on 28 September 1915 heading for Egypt. They were all sent to France in 1916 with the Pioneer Battalion which was responsible for digging trenches, building roads and other duties behind the front lines. The unit’s duties constantly placed the men in the trenches and their casualty rate was as high as other units. Rangi had

continuing health problems which saw him return to New Zealand in 1917, having been diagnosed with TB in England. Taku, born in Porirua in 1895, remained at the Western Front in France until the end of the war. He was promoted to Lance Corporal on 28 April 1918. Frederick was probably under age when he enlisted but he served in France and was promoted to Corporal on 1 November 1918 – right at the end of the war. He was the last brother to return home, delayed because of illness, but he returned and was discharged on 7 June 1919.

Mental Hospital Football Club, Porirua, Wellington, soccer team of 1913. Crown Studios Ltd: Negatives and prints. Ref: 1/2-194970-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/22355231

6/2530 Private Robert Auty

Private Robert George Auty

Canterbury Battalion at Gallipoli

Private Robert George Auty was born on 22 August 1889 in Lyttleton, the eldest son of Robert and May Auty. His parents had moved to Porirua and in May 1899 they purchased a general store which also operated as a Post Office until 1912. Robert Auty (Snr) died in 1903 as a result of falling from the Wellington & Manawatu Railway train between Johnsonville and Tawa, May Auty ran the store until the start of the war, by 1916 she had moved to Wellington.

During the bitterly cold months and snow storms of November and December, Munro ordered the evacuation of Anzac Cove and Suvla Bay. The evacuation operation was the most successful part of the whole campaign without a single life lost. Auty was evacuated from Gallipoli along with the rest of the Allied troops during the night of 19 December. By daylight on 20 December, the Anzac beaches were empty.

arrived back in Egypt on 27 December 1915.

The NZEF then began training for its next operations in France. Auty left Egypt with his Battalion on 6 April 1916. In France, he was transferred from the 1st Battalion, Canterbury Infantry Regiment, to the New Zealand Machinegun Corps. On 13 May the Machine Gun Corps was moving forward into the Armentieres sector, taking over trenches, when Auty was killed.

Private Auty is buried in grave I.A.28, Cites Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentieres, France. He was the first New Zealander killed in France.

Robert George Auty attended Porirua School and played for the Porirua Rugby Club. When he enlisted in 1915 for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF), he was working as a blacksmith on a farm in Kaikoura. He played hockey there and was a member of the brass band.

Auty was attached to the C Company, 6th Reinforcements of the Canterbury Infantry Battalion when it sailed overseas on 14 August 1915. The 6th Reinforcements joined their battalion on Lemnos on 30 September where the Canterbury Infantry Battalion had been withdrawn from Gallipoli for rest, recuperation and reinforcement. The Canterbury Battalion, along with the Auckland Battalion, had been the first NZ units to fight at Gallipoli, joining the

struggle on the hill known as Baby 700 around midday on 25 April. Auty stayed on Lemnos until the Canterbury Battalion returned to Anzac Cove in November 1915. By this time General Ian Hamilton had been relieved of command of the Gallipoli Forces and replaced by General Charles Munro. During the bitterly cold months and snow storms of November and December, Munro ordered the evacuation of Anzac Cove and Suvla Bay.

The evacuation operation was the most successful part of the whole campaign without a single life lost. Auty was evacuated from Gallipoli along with the rest of the Allied troops during the night of 19 December, at the break of day, the Anzac beaches were empty. Auty


The Auty family store in Porirua

2/289 Gunner Charles (Charlie) Daryl Boulton

Gunner Charles Boulton

Charles (Charlie) Boulton was born on 20 October 1891. He was the third child of six and eldest son of Edward and Matilda Boulton who lived at Golden Gate, Paremata. Charlie was from a well-established family in the Paremata/Pauatahanui area. His grandfather, Edward Boulton (Snr), had been a Cook Strait whaler as early as 1837 and had built one of the first hotels in the area.

If you want to use a pull out quote use it like this in a coloured block and at the bottom left part.

Boulton returned to the family home at Paremata and worked on farms in the Pauatahanui area until he married Miss Lottie May Trimbee, who arrived in New Zealand from Canada in October 1918. On 12 November 1918, Boulton married Lottie at St Alban’s Pauatahanui – the first peace-time wedding after Armistice Day – making it a double celebration for those attending.

The couple left New Zealand for Canada in 1919. Charles and Lottie later lived in Los Angeles where he worked as a carpenter. Both are buried in the USA.

Boulton was working as a carpenter for GE Odlin when he decided to enlist on 20 August 1914. Gunner Boulton, 1st Battery New Zealand Field Artillery (NZFA), left with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) for training in Egypt on 16 October 1914. While in Egypt, the New Zealand Force combined with the Australian divisions (known as Anzacs) and on 10 April the Anzacs sailed from Alexandria for the Dardanelles in Turkey. Boulton’s unit landed late in the day on 25 April 1915 at Anzac Cove. The 1st Battery was quickly into action, clambering up the steep hills to join the Australian troops already fighting for their lives.

Boulton was at Gallipoli for three months until July 1915 when he was evacuated to Malta with dysentery. Dysentery was rife amongst the men, caused by the filthy conditions they were living in. Rubbish and dead corpses lay just metres away from where Anzacs ate and slept. Flies and rats swarmed everywhere, spreading germs and carrying diseases and soon nearly every man had dysentery, jaundice, or typhoid fever.

Boulton was transferred from Malta to a hospital at Portsmouth, England in September 1915. Two weeks later he was sent to the Castle Hospital, Isle of Wight, which had been set up to deal with dysentery cases. Once his condition had been stabilised, Boulton was admitted to the Canadian Convalescent Hospital at Woodcote Park in Surrey. Patients stayed at convalescent hospitals after being discharged from acute hospitals, for up to six weeks until they were well enough to return to their fighting units. During their convalescence, patients received physiotherapy and physical training and participated in graduated route marches and sports. It is possible that Boulton met his future wife, a Canadian, at the Canadian Convalescent Hospital.

Boulton was discharged from Woodcote Park after about three weeks and ended up at Longleat – an English stately home in Wiltshire, which was being used as a temporary hospital. In January 1916 it was decided that he was not fit for active service and should be returned to New Zealand: … ‘at present he has severe attack of sciatica in right leg which makes him almost incapable. He can only walk with a limp and has constant pain.’ When he returned to New Zealand and was reassessed at Trentham in July 1916, the sciatica was bad enough for him to be discharged from the NZEF.


Charles Boulton

On 12 November 1918, Boulton married Lottie at St Alban’s Pauatahanui – the first peace-time wedding after Armistice Day – making it a double celebration for those attending.

Lottie May Trimbee, wife of Charlie Boulton

11/24 Lance CorporalHector Craw

Lance Corporal Eric Hector Dunstan Craw

A Plimmerton postcard features the Craw family with others in 1906 (Hector is seated extreme right)

Eric Hector Dunstan Craw, known as Hector, was born on the Banks Peninsula on 11 August 1891. His family moved to Palmerston North prior to 1900. During his boyhood, Hector spent every summer holiday at Plimmerton Beach where his family camped.

‘When I first saw these wounded and dead men it fair made me heave some, in fact it put me off my tucker for a day or two, but now seeing so much of this thing I could see a hundred dead men before breakfast.’

Craw in a letter to his brother dated July 21 1915

Craw enlisted in the 6th Manawatu Squadron of the Wellington Mounted Rifles (WMR) and was appointed Lance Corporal. He sailed to Egypt with the main body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) in October 1914 and, with other Anzac Mounted Brigades, took part in the defence of the Suez Canal.

In his diary on 5 May 1915 Craw wrote: ‘Heard rumours about going to Dardanelles as infantry, leaving horses here. The rumours confirmed – going Saturday.’ The WMR was needed as reinforcements at Gallipoli and landed at Anzac Cove on 12 May 1915.

Lance Corporal Craw’s diary and letters home contain valuable insights into the daily life and

struggles to keep healthy and alive on the Gallipoli Peninsula. He would have taken part in the Battle for Chunuk Bair, during which he was promoted to Corporal. On 21 August Craw was wounded with gunshot wounds to the abdomen. He was evacuated on a hospital ship to Gibraltar and admitted to hospital. Craw was later moved to a hospital in Manchester until January 1916 and then to a convalescent hospital in London until March 1916 when he returned to active duty.

Craw was transferred to the New Zealand Field Artillery (NZFA) and reverted, at his request, to Gunner. He was attached to the 12th Battery of the 3rd Brigade of the NZFA as part of the New Zealand Division going to France. The NZ

Division was at the front in Armentieres from May to mid August 1916. Craw was promoted to Bombardier prior to the start of the second battle of the Somme. The New Zealand Division was withdrawn on 3 – 4 October 1916 incurring 7000 casualties, 1560 of them killed.

One of the dead was Craw, killed in action 25 September 1916. He is buried at Delville Wood Cemetery, Longueval, France. His sister, Juanita (Nita), bought 34 Moana Rd, Karehana Bay in 1918 and later named it Somme House in memory of her husband and her brother, Private Monrad.


391 Lance Corporal Hoani Wineera aka John J Naylor

391 Lance Corporal Hoani Wineera/John Naylor


Hoani Te Okoro Wineera was born in Porirua in 1888. His parents were Wiremu Wineera and Hanna Cootes, and his secondary education took place at Te Aute College in Hawkes Bay.

He moved to Australia where he was employed as a labourer, and enlisted on 17 May 1915 in Sydney. He joined A Company, part of the 18th Battalion of the Australian Imperial Forces (AIF).

The 18th Battalion sailed for Gallipoli and it is presumed that Naylor was wounded between late August and early October 1915. On 18 November 1915 the Evening Post reported that ‘Lance Corporal J J Naylor had been admitted to hospital in London.’

During his convalescence in London he met Gertrude Victoria Kemp, and they were married

on 27 November 1915. Their son, Stanley H Naylor, was born in London on March 1917.

Naylor returned to serve with the 39th Battalion in France. He was wounded in action and evacuated to the 2nd Casualty Clearing Station, and on 11 February 1918 he died of his wounds. Naylor is buried in the Trois Arbes Cemetery in France.

At the end of the war Gertrude and Stanley travelled to New Zealand. She married her late husband’s brother, Kanawa Iti Wineera, on 4 September 1919.

1314 Private Harold George BeaumontAustralian Imperial Force

Harold George Beaumont was born in Palmerston North on 2 December 1892. He and his father Frank Beaumont moved to Porirua, where Beaumont attended Porirua School.

Beaumont enlisted in Australia on 17 November 1914, aged 21. His record shows he was a labourer by trade, and he attested that he was discharged from the New Zealand Infantry because he left New Zealand. He joined the 2nd Reinforcements of the 13th Battalion of the

AIF and embarked from Sydney for Gallipoli.

Beaumont was killed in action on 28 April 1915 during the chaos of the first three days of fighting at Gallipoli. He is buried at the Lone Pine Memorial, Turkey.

The 18th Battalion sailed for Gallipoli and it is presumed that Naylor was wounded between late August and early October 1915. On 18 November 1915 the Evening Post reported that ‘Lance Corporal J J Naylor had been admitted to hospital in London.’

Beaumont’s attestation paper

3/97 Lance Corporal Wilfred Singleton DCM

Lance Corporal Wilfred Singleton DCM: Portrait, Auckland Weekly News 1915

1915 ANZAC Cove – postcard dated July


Wilfred Singleton was born in Hampstead, London on 13 December 1888. Singleton had served with the London Rifle Brigade Volunteers for three years before he left for New Zealand in 1909/10. In the five years prior to the outbreak of war, he was employed on farms and in dairy factories. In 1914 Singleton was employed as a farmer and dairyman at Porirua Hospital, where he also played football as a member of the Porirua Hospital team.

On 11 August Singleton enlisted as 3/97 Private Wilfred Singleton, Field Ambulance, New Zealand Medical Corps (NZMC). He was listed as being fit, 6’ 2” tall, with fair complexion, blue eyes and black hair. On 16 October 1914 Singleton left for overseas service with the main body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF). While in Egypt for training from December to April 1915 Singleton was promoted to Lance Corporal.

The Field Ambulance landed with the fighting troops on 25 April 1915 at Anzac Cove. An official NZ Medical Service report dated 27 April noted: ‘There was heavy rifle and machine gun fire most of the day on the ridge. The field ambulance bearers experienced great difficulty in clearing the wounded: there had been some rain during the night, which made the track exceedingly treacherous’.

At Gallipoli, the wounded had to be carried down on improvised stretchers made out of rifles and puttees (strips of cloth used as lower leg wraps), or lowered down on oiled sheets. The field ambulance parties had valuable assistance from all RMOs (Regimental Medical Officers) and their water duty men who were also assisting as medical orderlies.

Singleton was noted for getting the wounded out of the shallow trenches at considerable risk and was given the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) for his work: ‘from April 25th until 5th May 1915, during operations near Gapa Tepe (Anzac Cove), for exceptionally gallant work and devotion under heavy fire.’ His actions were also Mentioned in Dispatches (MID) on 20 May 1915 from General Sir Ian Hamilton, Commander, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force.

In a Medical Services report, June 1915, it stated: ‘L/Cpl. Singleton, DCM, already referred to as doing good work on Walker’s Ridge in April, while standing just outside the main dressing station on June 24th sustained a wound in the back, penetrating the abdomen. On the 24th June 1915 L/Corporal Singleton was evacuated to the hospital ship HMHS Garson with a gunshot wound to the abdomen.’

Singleton died on 26 June 1915 and was buried at sea, off Anzac Cove. He is remembered on the Lone Pine Memorial at Gallipoli.

8/809 Private Kenneth (Ken) Henry Boulton

Private Kenneth (Ken) Henry Boulton

Boulton family grave, Pauatahanui Public Burial Ground


Kenneth Boulton was the middle son of Edward and Matilda Boulton of Golden Gate, Paremata – a long established family of the area. He attended Plimmerton School and went to Wellington Technical College where he received certificates in engineering between 1909-1911.

Boulton enlisted on 14 August 1914, ten days after war was declared. At the time he was working as a storeman for S & W Mackay – booksellers and stationery suppliers in Wellington. Although Boulton had done compulsory military training with the 5th (Wellington) Regiment for three years, he was attached to the 14th South Otago Company, part of the Otago Infantry Battalion, when the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) sailed for Egypt on 16 October 1914.

Boulton landed at Gallipoli within hours of his older brother Charles, on 25 April 1915. On 3 May the Otago Battalion spearheaded an Anzac attack against the Turks to take Baby 700 (a strategic hilltop), but due to a number

of delays they attacked in broad daylight with disastrous results and were forced to retreat. The War Diary records five officers wounded, eight missing; 11 men killed, 174 wounded and 208 missing; leaving a strength of 365 out of 800 who went into the attack. Boulton was one of the missing and his family in Paremata would have received a telegram from the government to this effect.

On 19 May 1915, Turkish forces attacked in the same area against alerted Anzac forces and the results were a disaster for the Turks with 3,000 of them killed. The number of casualties in the area resulted in an armistice

day on 24 May 1915 to enable the dead to be buried.

Boulton’s service record lists that he was missing between 1 May and 23 May 1915. It was not until a Court of Enquiry was held in Egypt on 20 January 1916 that Boulton and many others from the Otago Infantry were declared ‘missing believed to be killed.’

Boulton is remembered at the Lone Pine Memorial at Gallipoli, on the Pauatahanui War memorial, and on the grave of his parents at the Pauatahanui Public Burial Ground.

Boulton landed at Gallipoli within hours of his older brother Charles, on 25 April 1915. On 3 May the Otago Battalion spearheaded an Anzac attack against the Turks to take Baby 700 (a strategic hilltop) but due to a number of delays, they attacked in broad daylight with disastrous results and were forced to retreat.

and Palestine. Cobb was identified as ‘officer material’ and returned to New Zealand in late 1916 to Featherston Camp for officer training. On 30 May 1917 the Evening Post recorded that ‘SSM (Staff Sergeant Major) Cobb, 11/26 is promoted 2nd Lieutenant for the machine-gun section.’

Cobb returned to Egypt to serve with the NZ Mounted Rifles Brigade, 1st Machine Gun Squadron in their continued campaign in the Sinai desert and Palestine against Turkish Forces. He won his Military Cross there ‘for conspicuous gallantry and good work near Amman, 25th September (1918) [which] greatly assisted in the capture of six machine-guns and 100 prisoners.’

Cobb returned to New Zealand in April 1919 and was discharged from the army. He married in 1921 and raised three children. He also enlisted in World War Two and served as a Captain in the Home Guard. Cobb died in Palmerston North in 1974 aged 88, and his medals from both wars were donated to the Waiouru Army Museum.

When war was declared, Cobb was quick to enlist, joining the Machine Gun section of the 6th Squadron (Manawatu) of the Wellington Mounted Rifles (WMR) on 12 August 1914. Trooper Cobb sailed from New Zealand on 16 October 1914 with the main body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF), landing in Egypt on 3 December 1914.

The Wellington Mounted Rifles (WMR) initially remained in Egypt defending the Suez Canal against possible Turkish attacks. However heavy losses at Gallipoli meant replacement units were needed and the WMR landed at Anzac Cove, without their horses, on 12 May 1915. The WMR fought as infantrymen at Anzac Cove and in the 1915 Battle of Chunuk Bair in the Sari Bair mountain range.

At Chunuk Bair the WMR were ordered to capture Destroyer Ridge and Big Table Top, clearing the way for an attack on the summit. On 6 August the WMR 6th Squadron scaled the north-eastern face of the hill where they attacked the Turks from the rear, capturing their first objective. All day and night they were under heavy attack from Turkish forces.

That day the squadron lost 43 men with 74 wounded. The WMR were then moved up to join the Wellington Battalion holding the summit on 8 August. Chunuk Bair was re-taken by the Turks the next day.

The official history of the Wellington Mounted Rifles recorded: ‘The machine gun crew of the Regiment fought magnificently, but it suffered heavy losses, only three returning. Of these, the services performed by Trooper W Cobb are beyond all praise. He was an expert machine-gunner and when a volunteer was called for to adjust a gun which had been put out of action, Cobb immediately responded and crossed from left to the right flank, some of the intervening ground not having been trenched.’

Cobb remained at Gallipoli until the final evacuation of the peninsula. The WMR returned to Egypt for rest, refit and redeployment. Cobb was posted to the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, machine gun section, and was promoted to Sergeant on 15 July 1916 and Sergeant Major on 18 July during its campaign in Egypt


2nd Lieutenant Cobb on his horse, Mrs Ball, in Palestine

11/26 Lieutenant Walter Leonard Cobb MC (Military Cross)

Walter Cobb was born 12 August 1886 in Liverpool, England. In the early 1900s Cobb was recruited in a scheme to help staff New Zealand psychiatric institutions. He worked as a medical attendant at Porirua Hospital and played football for the Porirua Hospital team in 1913, also representing Wellington in 1914.

Cobb pictured with a captured Turkish Machinegun at Gallipoli. Cobb was the only man from the original WMR machine gun section when this photo was taken

.

Lieutenant Walter Leonard Cobb MC

On 6 August the WMR 6th Squadron scaled the north-eastern face of the hill where they attacked the Turks from the rear, capturing their first objective. All day and night they were under heavy attack from Turkish forces.

3/455 Private Arthur Harold Topham

Lance Corporal Wilfred Singleton DCM: Portrait, Auckland Weekly News 1915


Arthur Harold Topham was born on 10 September 1890 in Manchester, England. Like many single men from the United Kingdom in the early 1900s, Arthur emigrated to work in New Zealand’s psychiatric institutions.

On 21 October 1914 Topham was one of a group of men from Porirua Hospital who enlisted together. His enlistment papers note he was single, 24 year old, and working as a hospital attendant.

On 14 December 1914, after training at Trentham, Topham embarked with the 2nd Reinforcements, Medical Corps (Mounted Brigade Field Ambulance). On arrival in Egypt and prior to landing at Gallipoli, he was allocated to the Mobile Field Ambulance (MFA) with the rank of Private.

On 25 April 1915 Topham landed at Anzac Cove with the MFA, along with several other Porirua Hospital men. He would remain at Anzac Cove for three months before being evacuated sick with acute colic to Murdos, and then to Egypt. On 24 August he was admitted to the 19th General Hospital, Alexandria, with typhoid fever.

On 18 September 1915 a medical board assessed Topham and found that the fever had affected his vision. They recommended that he be returned to New Zealand ‘for a change’. Topham left Egypt on 23 September 1915 on the Troopship Tofua, arriving at Port Chalmers, Dunedin, on October 1915.

Topham returned to Wellington for rest, residing at the Porirua Hotel but visiting Wellington Hospital for regular treatments. The New Zealand Army allowed servicemen up to six months to recover; in February 1916 Topham was assessed again and found to still be suffering as a result of the dysentery and weak vision. It was decided that he was now permanently unfit for general duties and on 16 March 1916 he was discharged from the NZMC.

Topham was living in the Porirua Hotel prior to discharge so it is possible that he was successful in the land ballot for returned servicemen, as his address on discharge was Takapau in the Hawkes Bay where a number of other soldier settlers were farming. His medals were sent to Orauwharo in Takapau in 1921, near Marakeke where two other ‘Hospital Men’ Archibald (Archie) Foley and Francis (Frank) Walsh were farming.

On 7 April 1917 Topham married Lucy Raine and their first child, Kenneth, was born in 1919. In 1923 when Lucy’s father died, the family were living in Te Awamutu.

In World War Two both Topham and his son Kenneth enlisted in the New Zealand Army. Topham was a married man with three children, living in Tawa Flat and working as a Clerk in the Tax Department of the New Zealand Government. There may have been an adjustment of his birth date to 1904 which meant that he was under the maximum recruiting age.

On 15 August 1940 the Evening Post wrote:

‘Leather pocket wallets with initials engraved were presented to soldiers of the Third Echelon at a social and dance at Tawa Flat last week. Local members serving with the Echelon are Lieut M J Mason, Corporal A H Topham, Sapper A Hale and Gunner K Topham, and Private Darlington. … Local members of the R.S.A. paraded in to the body of the hall and marched to their places on the stage. Already two similar functions had been held at Tawa Flat, Mr Barclay stated. … He referred to the unusual circumstance of honouring father and son, Corporal and Gunner Topham....’

Corporal Arthur Topham

Corporal Arthur Topham with his son, Gunner Kenneth Topham, in 1940

3/460 Private Francis (Frank) William Walsh

Francis (Frank) William Walsh was born on 4 February 1890 in Marton, in the Manawatu-Whanganui region. He was the son of Augusta and William Walsh, and Francis’s sister Bertha Walsh is listed as his next of kin on his enlistment papers.

On 12 April 1915, Walsh sailed for the landings at Gallipoli, along with four other men connected to Porirua Hospital: Privates Heath, Foster, Munro and Topham

for land created under the Discharged Soldiers Settlement Act. In 1918 Walsh married Elizabeth Boyce Campbell and in 1925 Frank’s medals were sent to him at his farm in Takapau, Hawkes Bay.

In 1927 the 36 year old ‘soldier-settler’ Walsh was killed in an accident when a car he was a passenger in collided with the Wellington to Napier mail train at a crossing in Waipukurau, in the Hawkes Bay.

In 1914 Walsh was working as a farm hand at Porirua Hospital. On 21 September he was one of a group of men connected to the hospital who all enlisted at the same time in the New Zealand Medical Corps (NZMC). Private Walsh’s Attestation papers are signed by Major McKillop who was a doctor and acting Superintendant at the hospital prior to the war, as well as part of the hospital football team.

Walsh’s initial training was at Trentham Camp, and on 14 December 1914 he sailed for Egypt with the 2nd reinforcements (Mounted Ambulance, NZMC). In Egypt the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) trained for action in the Dardanelles (a narrow strait in the northwest of Turkey). A reduced need for mounted troops meant that Private Walsh was transferred from the Mounted Ambulance to the Field Ambulance.

On 12 April 1915, Walsh sailed for the landings at Gallipoli, along with four other men connected to Porirua Hospital: Privates Heath, Foster, Munro, Topham and Lance Corporal Singleton. Walsh served at Anzac Cove until he was evacuated on 27 June 1915, probably with typhoid fever, to Egypt where he was hospitalised. He remained in hospital until 7 August 1915 when he was discharged for duty. On 28 September 1915 he was considered fit enough to assist nursing wounded soldiers returning to New Zealand on the SS Willochra.

In New Zealand Walsh was assessed again and declared ‘medically unfit for active service but medically fit for civil employment’. He was discharged on 28 December 1915.

Walsh returned to work at Porirua Hospital, and circa 1916 was successful in the ballot


The homecoming from Gallipoli, by Walter Armiger Bowring, 1916

Auckland Weekly News (12 August 1915). Auckland Libraries, Heritage and Reaearch Collections. AWNS-19150812-40-1


3/411 Private Henry Heath

Henry Heath as a member of the Porirua Mental Hospital football team, 1913

Henry Heath was born on 4 May 1887 in Sheffield, England. He was recruited to work in New Zealand’s psychiatric institutions, and joined the staff at Porirua Hospital. He was a strong player on the hospital football team.

On 21 October 1914 Heath was a single man living at Porirua Hospital where he was employed as a medical attendant. He was enlisted by Major A C McKillop into the Mounted Ambulance, New Zealand Medical Corps (NZMC). On 14 December 1914, following training at Trentham, Private Heath left New Zealand for Egypt as part of the 2nd Reinforcements, Mounted Brigade, Field Ambulance.

The 2nd Reinforcements arrived in Egypt in January 1915, where preparations for the Gallipoli landings had begun. Heath was transferred from Mounted to Field Ambulance and with this unit sailed on 12 April 1915 for Gallipoli, along with several of the Porirua Hospital men he had enlisted with: Privates Roots, Topham, Foster, Munro, and also Lance Corporal Singleton. He remained on

the peninsula until November 1915, before going to Maadi in Egypt. Heath was admitted to hospital in December 1915 with conjunctivitis, but the effects of campaigning at Gallipoli resulted in him remaining in hospital until February 1916. He was discharged for duty to the No 1 General Hospital in Cairo, but his health remained poor and he was assessed a “B”, which meant he was no longer fit for ‘Front Line’ duties.

In June 1916 Heath went with the No 1 General Hospital to Brockenhurst, England, to support efforts on the Western Front. He stayed at Brockenhurst and was promoted to Corporal in December 1918, and Sergeant in March 1919. Heath remained in England supporting the repatriation of the sick and wounded until September 1919, and finally returned to New Zealand on 15 November 1919. He received

his Certificate of Discharge a day later, which noted he had been in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) for four years and 338 days.

Heath returned to work at the Porirua Hospital and on 26 June 1920 an Evening Post article on Wellington football noted:

‘G Hughes and H Heath late of the Hospital & Thistle clubs sailed recently for England, The former obtained six months leave of absence and is expected to return but Heath will probably remain in England. They are both fine forwards and have represented Wellington on many occasions.’

Heath remained in England and received his medals in 1924, in Sheffield, Yorkshire.

Heath remained in England supporting the repatriation of the sick and wounded until September 1919, and finally returned to New Zealand on 15 November 1919. He received his Certificate of Discharge a day later, which noted he had been in the NZEF for four years and 338 days. Dickie, John, 1869-1942. Crowd farewelling NZEF 6th reinforcements leaving on the ship

Willochra. Collection of Postcards, prints and negatives. Ref: 1/4-008784-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http://natlib.govt.nz/records/23144116

3/43 Colonel Alexander Cameron McKillop

Alexander Cameron McKillop was born in Badenoch, Scotland, on 9 March 1884. The son of a farmer, he attended Edinburgh University graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery. In 1909 he was registered as a Doctor and in 1910 was employed as the Senior Assistant Medical Officer at the District Asylum, Inverness.

‘Dr McKillop, and Farrier-Sergeant Schoch, who are to leave with the Expeditionary Force, are members of the Porirua Mental Hospital staff. They were given a great send-off at the local railway station last night.’

November 1915. Following treatment in Cairo, McKillop was assessed by a medical board who decided that the effects of the Gallipoli campaign, plus the impact of the dysentery, meant McKillop was not fit for active duty.

He returned to New Zealand on 15 March 1916, and in May he married Olive Isabel Smith. He was reassessed by a medical board who decreed he was not fit to return to active duty and he was discharged.

McKillop returned to work and was employed in psychiatric institutes in Nelson, Porirua and Christchurch. The McKillops had five children, three girls and two boys.

McKillop also served in World War Two as Officer in Charge of No 1 General Hospital, NZMC. He received an OBE in 1954 and died in Christchurch in 1958.

In 1910 the New Zealand Government was looking to recruit single medical staff from Britian to work in psychiatric institutes. The New Zealand High Commission in London was asked ‘to select and recruit a senior medical officer and three junior assistants’, and in August 1911 they announced the appointment of Dr McKillop in the senior role. That same month McKillop and the junior assistants left England for New Zealand.

In 1912 McKillop was appointed as the Superintendent of Porirua Hospital. He also joined the reserves of the New Zealand Medical Corps (NZMC) with the rank of Captain. After war was declared in 1914 McKillop volunteered for active service and was appointed to the NZMC attachment of the Samoa Expeditionary Force. On 11 August the Evening Post wrote:

‘Dr McKillop, and Farrier-Sergeant Schoch, who are to leave with the Expeditionary Force, are members of the Porirua Mental Hospital staff. They were given a great send-off at the local railway station last night.’

McKillop returned to New Zealand and was posted to Trentham Camp where he was active in the recruitment and training of men for the 2nd Reinforcements. Many of those selected for the NZMC of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) were staff from Porirua Hospital who had previously worked and played football with Dr McKillop.

On 21 October 1914, prior to the departure of the 2nd Reinforcements Medical Corps, McKillop was promoted to Temporary Major. The temporary appointment was only while he was attached to the NZEF.

On 12 April 1915 McKillop sailed with the New Zealand Engineers to take part in the landings at Gallipoli. He was hospitalised in May with measles and then in June was evacuated from Anzac Cove with appendicitis, first to Malta and then to the NZ General Hospital in Brockenhurst, England. He did not return to his unit until October 1915. McKillop was evacuated to Egypt with dysentery on 21


Temporary Major McKillop: Onward Portraits of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces – Beattie & Pomeroy

Brockenhurst Hospital No 1 Headquarters: G E Woolley 1919 – Archives New Zealand

3/426 Private Kenneth Munro


Kenneth Munro was born on 12 April 1887 in the small Scottish village of Nigg, Ross-Shire. It is probable that he came to New Zealand in the early 1900s to work in psychiatric hospitals.

Munro was working as a medical attendant at Porirua Hospital when he enlisted on 21 October 1914 with a group of hospital men in the Mounted Ambulance, New Zealand Medical Corps (NZMC). After training, he left New Zealand for Egypt with the 2nd Reinforcements on 14 December 1914. In March 1915 Munro was attached to the 1st Field Company of the New Zealand Engineers, along with Major McKillop who had been the Superintendant at Porirua Hospital.

Munro landed at Anzac Cove on 25 April 1915. His military records are vague but indicate that he was wounded on 3 May and remained at Gallipoli until 13 September. He was then admitted to the 16th Casualty Clearing station with influenza, resulting in him being evacuated

to Imbros before returning to Anzac Cove in October.

Following the evacuation of the Gallipoli Peninsula he was attached to the No 2 Field Ambulance, which was moved in 1916 to provide support on the Western Front. Munro spent the remaining three years on the Western Front being promoted through the ranks and became a Sergeant in October 1918. He was then granted two months extended leave until December 1918. He was entitled to this leave for his four years of service with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF).

Following the signing of the Armistice in November 1918, New Zealand authorities began to repatriate troops. Munro left England

in April 1919 and he was finally discharged on 13 May 1919, returning to civilian life and work as a medical attendant at Porirua Hospital.

Munro moved to Christchurch and his medals were sent to him at the Sunnyside Hospital in 1923. He married Eva Leeming in 1925; Eva’s brother, Private George Leeming (12/1533), had been killed on the first day of the Gallipoli landings – 25 April 1915.

Munro died in Christchurch in 1963.

Munro moved to Christchurch and his medals were sent to him at the Sunnyside Hospital in 1923. He married Eva Leeming in 1925; Eva’s brother, Private George Leeming (12/1533), had been killed on the first day of the Gallipoli landings – 25 April 1915.

24 May 1915, Armistice Day to bury the bodies

3/445 Captain John Cormack Simpson

John Cormack Simpson was born in Wick, Scotland on 11 July 1885, the second son of David Ritchie and Mary (nee Cormack) Simpson.

John entered medicine and in 1912 was working as a doctor in the District Asylum, Inverness, when he was appointed as an assistant medical officer under the Mental Hospitals Department of New Zealand.

‘As soon as I got ashore, an untidy, bedraggled looking man in khaki rushed across the road and greeted me. He turned out to be Dr Simpson, a Scotch boy who was at Porirua, and once came into hospital (Wellington) with typhoid. He bought over his dilapidated pal, a bundle of cheerful rags, who turned out to be Dr Trotter, from the South. They had returned two days ago with a hospital ship of wounded soldiers and how they had to work!’

At the end of the Gallipoli campaign Simpson was attached as a Medical Officer (MO) to the 1st Field Ambulance, and later to the 3rd NZ Field Ambulance following the move of New Zealand units to France in March 1916. Simpson remained in France with the 3rd NZ Field Ambulance until August 1917 when he was moved to England to become the MO at the No 1 NZ General Hospital based at Brockenhurst. On 22 July 1918 Captain Simpson became Major Simpson, the rank he would hold until he was discharged from the NZEF on 4 March 1919. The final note on Simpson’s military record is: ‘Brought to the notice of the Secretary of State for War for valuable services rendered in connection with the war.’

Simpson elected to discharge in England and then returned to Scotland where he married Elizabeth Ogilvie Birnrnie. He lived a long life and died on 21 January 1961 in Inverness, Scotland.

Simpson left London on 11 November 1915 on the SS Iconic bound for Wellington. He joined the staff of the Porirua Hospital under the superintendent Dr AC McKillop, who had also worked in the Inverness District Asylum until 1911.

As a single man Simpson did not live at the Hospital but in nearby Johnsonville. He played for the Porirua Hospital football team. There were a large number of young single English and Scottish men working at the hospital who made up the bulk of the team.

The declaration of war resulted in many of the staff from the hospital enlisting to serve in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF), and the majority were recruited into the New Zealand Medical Corps (NZMC). On 20 October 1914 Simpson became Captain Simpson, 2nd Reinforcements, NZMC. The 2nd Reinforcements left New Zealand on 14 December 1914 bound for Egypt. The group of men from the hospital served under the command of Major McKillop and Captain Simpson.

Simpson’s military files are brief but he did serve at Gallipoli, possibly landing on the first day. He was also involved in the movement of casualties by hospital ship from Anzac Cove to hospitals in Malta. An item in the Wellington Evening Post transcribed a letter written from Malta in May by a New Zealand Army Nurse:

Happy Meeting. As soon as I got ashore, an untidy, bedraggled looking man in khaki rushed across the road and greeted me. He turned out to be Dr Simpson, a Scotch boy who was at Porirua, and once came into hospital (Wellington) with typhoid. He bought over his dilapidated pal, a bundle of cheerful rags, who turned out to be Dr Trotter, from the South. They had returned two days ago with a hospital ship of wounded soldiers and how they had to work! They have scarcely any garments but what they stand up in but are perfectly happy. We were more than pleased to see them. They are both Captains but wear no badges, and look like two dirty soldier boys straight from the trenches. We spent a long time hearing of all our friends at the front, and of the nerve and bravery of our dear boys. We stopped every boy we met in Malta with New Zealand on him, as all they are permitted to draw in hospital is 2s per week. One of our nurses heard her brother was wounded before she left New Zealand, and had not been able to hear anything of him since. The first boy I spoke to happened to be named Bennett so I asked him if he had a sister who was a nurse, and he turned out to be the missing brother. You should have seen the meeting. He had no idea the New Zealand nurses were here...


Anzac Cove

3/401 Lance Corporal Herbert Foster


Herbert Foster was born in Leeds, England. He worked at the General Post Office in Leeds as an electrician before immigrating to New Zealand.

In 1914 he gained employment as an electrician at the Porirua Hospital where he also played football for the Porirua Hospital Association team. On 14 October 1914, Herbert enlisted in the New Zealand Medical Corps (NZMC) with several of his hospital colleagues.

Foster entered Trentham Camp as a member of the Field Ambulance, NZMC on 21 October 1914 and was promoted to Sergeant by the end of the month. A member of the 2nd Reinforcements Ambulance, he set sail for Egypt on 14 December 1914 to join the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF). On arrival, as was routine, Sergeant Foster reverted to the rank of Private Foster.

Foster did not take part in the first Gallipoli campaign due to being admitted to hospital, but on 28 May 1915 he rejoined the Field Ambulance in the Dardanelles,Turkey. He was later evacuated from Gallipoli on the Hospital Ship HMAT Clan MacGillivray and admitted to hospital in Malta on 13 July 1915. Suffering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, he

remained in Malta for a month before returning to England to continue treatment.

On 17 November 1915, he had recovered sufficiently to be granted leave to return to a New Zealand Convalescent Hospital, where he was employed as a clerk. Promoted to Lance Corporal on July 1916 his record shows that he was discharged on 22 February 1917 due to ‘being no longer physically fit for war service on account of illness contracted while on active service.’

Foster’s forwarding address was c/- Porirua Mental Hospital where he may have been employed again as an electrician. In February 1919 he was allowed to travel back to England ‘as an invalid’ on the New Zealand Hospital Ship

HMNZS Marama. He remained in England for a number of years and his medals were sent to him in 1924 via Staff Paymaster, New Zealand High Commission, London.

Foster returned to New Zealand and in 1928 married Jean Josephine Bryce Wright, a nurse in Christchurch. When he enlisted in World War Two, Jean was listed as his next of kin and her residential address as C/- Coronation Hospital, Christchurch.

Foster died in Christchurch on 14 July 1978.

Suffering from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, he remained in Malta for a month before returning to England to continue treatment.

Soldiers in the trenches at GallipoliPhotograph: 1/2-103903;F, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington

3/442 Private PhilipSydney Roots

Philip Sydney Roots was born on 3 December 1889 in Sussex, England, the son of Mr Henry Arthur Roots.

Roots arrived in New Zealand about 1910, having been recruited to work in psychiatric institutes like a number of other young single men in England and Scotland.

Hospital Ship HS Oxfordshire. Suffering from bronchitis, he was taken to the NZ General Hospital in Cairo, Egypt.

Following his recovery Roots was attached to the New Zealand General Hospital which was transferred to Brockenhurst, England on 13 September 1916. He was promoted to Corporal on 11 January 1918. In June 1919 Roots married Dorothy F K Humphries and it is possible that the couple returned together to New Zealand in September 1919 when he was repatriated.

Roots was discharged on 5 December 1919, having served five years and 49 days with the NZEF. He initially returned to work at Porirua Hospital but may have received land in the Returned Servicemen’s ballot, as he was playing soccer in Gisborne in 1920 and his medals were sent to him there in 1921.He and his family did not remain in New Zealand as death records show that both Philip and Dorothy Roots died in Gosport, England, in 1967.

Roots’s Gallipoli Shield was released to a close relative in 2012.

He played representative football for Wellington in 1911–1914 and also played football for the Porirua Hospital team; Roots was the captain of the Hospital team that won the Charity Cup in 1913 and were runners up in the Wellington Championship.

On 21 October 1914 Roots enlisted with a group of other men from Porirua Hospital in the New Zealand Medical Corps (NZMC). Five of the men were from the Hospital team and their recruitment officer was Major McKillop, previously the Superintendent of the Hospital. McKillop had also played with the Hospital football team.

The new recruits were trained at Trentham, and on 14 December 1914 Roots was promoted to Corporal before going overseas with the 2nd Reinforcements, Mounted Field Ambulance, NZMC. Roots arrived in Egypt in January 1915 and reverted to the rank

of Private upon joining the main body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces (NZEF). He was transferred from Mounted to the Field Ambulance as New Zealand units prepared for the landings in the Dardanelles, Turkey. He sailed with the Field Ambulance on 12 April 1915 for the landings at Gallipoli.

Also sailing with the Field Ambulance and from Porirua were Privates Heath, Foster, Munro, Topham, Walsh and Lance Corporal Singleton. Roots served at Anzac Cove with the Field Ambulance until 22 August 1915 when he was transferred as a Sapper to the Signals Company of the New Zealand Engineers. Roots remained at Anzac Cove until 24 October 1915 when he was shipped to Lemnos Island in Greece for rest. He remained at Lemnos for a month, two weeks of it spent in hospital with influenza, before returning to Anzac Cove. Roots would remain here for a week before he was evacuated on 12 December 1915 on the


Sydney Roots as a member of the Porirua Hospital Team, 1913

Evacuation of the wounded from Anzac Cove in Gallipoli by boat. Ref: 1/4-008784-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http:/natlib.govt/records/22857505


3/400 - 11/400A Trooper Archibald Foley

11/400A Trooper Archibald Foley at Zeitoun Camp 25th March 1915

Photo of Sergeant Archibald Foley, with four other sergeants of the New Zealand Medical Corps, at Trentham Camp in November 1914 prior to departure for overseas service. Sergeant Foley is the second right. Possible in the photo is 3/401 Sergeant Henry Heath also from Porirua Hospital.

Archibald Foley was born in Cape Town, South Africa on 22 August 1891. His father, Timothy Foley, had arrived in South Africa in December 1878 and took part in the Anglo-Zulu war as a sapper with the British Royal Engineers. The Foley family left South Africa with the army in 1884 but returned in 1888, and Corporal Foley was finally discharged in 1896. The family remained in Cape Town with Foley’s service record noting that he had served with the Cape Peninsula Rifles as part of compulsory military training.

Foley arrived in New Zealand about 1911 and worked at Porirua Hospital as a hospital attendant. He enlisted with a group of other men from the Hospital, a number of whom were his teammates on the Hospital football team. All entered the Trentham Military Camp as part of the reinforcements for the Mounted Field Ambulance, New Zealand Medical Corps (NZMC). Private Foley was quickly promoted to Sergeant, possibly due to his previous military experience, and he sailed for Egypt from Wellington in December 1914 as part of the 2nd Reinforcements, Field Ambulance, NZMC.

In January 1915, upon joining the main body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) in Egypt, Foley reverted to the rank of Private. In March 1915 he was transferred to the 2nd Queen Alexandria’s Squadron (Wellington, West Coast) as a Trooper and given a new regimental number: 11/400A. The mounted elements of the NZEF remained in Egypt during the April landings at Gallipoli; in May 1915 heavy casualties resulted in them being shipped without their horses to Anzac Cove as reinforcements.

As part of the August Offensive the British had planned a large scale landing at Suvla Bay, and hoped that an attack by the Allied forces at Anzac Cove would enable the capture of the Sari Bair range, including Chunuk Bair. The New Zealand Mounted Rifles (NZMR) was assigned to the Right Covering Force with the mission to clear the way for the assault column to capture Chunuk Bair. The three squadrons of the Wellington Mounted Rifles (WMR) were assigned

to capture Destroyer Hill and Big Table Top. On the evening of 6 August 1915 the mission started well with the capture of Big Table Top by the 6th Manawatu’s after hand to hand fighting. The 2nd Queen Alexander’s and 9th East Coast then passed through this position and climbed to attack the Turkish positions from the rear, capturing Destroyer Hill.

In the early hours of 8 August 1915 the Wellington Battalion captured Chunuk Bair and were subjected to repeated counter-attacks by Turkish forces. The 2nd and 6th Squadrons of the WMR, consisting of 173 men, moved to Chailak Dere and were then ordered to attach to the Otago Infantry Battalion on Chunuk Bair and to ‘hold their position at all costs’. On 9 August, from 4am onwards, the Allied troops on Chunuk Bair were subjected to 10 hours of repeated attacks by the Turkish infantry supported by heavy artillery, machine-gun and rifle fire. Foley’s military records note that

he was wounded on this day with a gunshot wound to the elbow. He was evacuated from Anzac Cove and five days later was admitted to hospital in Cairo, Egypt.

In September 1915 he was medically assessed and it was recommended that he return to New Zealand for convalescence and treatment. He sailed on 25 September from Egypt on the SS Willochia. Also returning to New Zealand on the Willochia were Private Frank Walsh and Private Herbert Foster, both men Foley had worked and played football with at Porirua Hospital.

Foley was discharged from the NZEF on 19 January 1916 and returned to work at Porirua Hospital. In March 1917 he married Marcella Ruby France from Lower Hutt. Marcella would lose one of her younger brothers later that year when Frederick (Freddie) Carey France was killed in October 1917 at Passchendaele.

11/713 Trooper John William Reichart

John William Reichart was born on 6 April 1890 in Brighton, England. He enlisted in the British Army in 1908 at the age of 18 where he served for three years as a private in the Coldstream Guards. He was recruited to New Zealand in 1911 to work in psychiatric institutions.

The number of dead soldiers lying in ‘no-man’s land’ between enemy trenches was so high that a truce was called on 24 May for both sides to remove and bury the bodies.

trenches and Malone had been killed. Reichart was sent up with the WMR and the Otago Battalion to hold on to the trenches. They desperately held to a line just below the crest of Chunuk Bair all day on 9 August.

Reichart was killed that day on Chunuk Bair. His body was never recovered and he is commemorated on the Chunuk Bair Memorial. That night two British battalions arrived to replace the New Zealanders but on the morning of 10 August the Turks recaptured the hill.

At the outbreak of war, Reichart was employed as an attendant in the Porirua Hospital. He enlisted in the Wellington Mounted Rifles (WMR) and was posted to the Machine Gun Section of the 6th (Manawatu) Mounted Rifles. Following training, Trooper Reichart sailed with the main body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) on 16 October 1914, joined by former work colleague Walter Cobb.

On arrival in Egypt in December the WMR became involved in the defence of Egypt against Ottoman (Turkish) attack along with other New Zealand and Australian mounted units. Soon after the WMR were sent to reinforce infantry units at Gallipoli. Forced to leave their horses behind, Reichart’s squadron landed at Anzac Cove on 12 May 1915. A

week later on 19 May, 40,000 Turks launched a massive assault on 10,000 Anzacs. The number of dead soldiers lying in ‘no-man’s land’ between enemy trenches was so high that a truce was called on 24 May for both sides to remove and bury the bodies.

The WMR was also involved in the Battle of Chunuk Bair from 6 August to 10 August. The Auckland Mounted Rifles failed to take the summit of Chunuk Bair on 7 August, but the Wellington Battalion led by Lieutenant-Colonel William Malone attacked during the night and took Chunuk Bair before dawn on 8 August. The Turks attacked again and again throughout the day. The Wellingtons were reinforced by Auckland Mounted Rifles but by nightfall only 70 or so men (out of 760) were left to man the


Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) MemorialChunuk Bair Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey

Crofter. RW, fl 1699. Landing at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli. PAColl-4318. ATL


8/821 Corporal William Edward Earp

Auckland Weekly News (22 July 1915). Auckland Libraries, Heritage and Research Collections AWNS-19150722-39-15

William Edward Earp was born in 1893 at Tawa Flat, which was then considered part of the Porirua district. He was the eldest son of Edward and Lizzie, who had six children. Earp attended Tawa Flat School, the Terrace School in Wellington, and then Wellington College.

On 14 August 1914 Earp enlisted in the New Zealand Army. He had been working as an accountant but had served three years in the Territorials. On 18 October Corporal Earp left New Zealand with the Otago Infantry Battalion, as part of the main body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF).

In Egypt the NZEF began training for the Dardanelles in Turkey, and on approximately 25 April the Otago Infantry landed at Anzac Cove. Initially they were held in reserve before being moved to defensive lines. The key to the Anzac position was a hill named Baby 700 – the capture of this position would force the Turks back onto Third Ridge and give the besieged

forces in Anzac Cove some much needed breathing space and allow them to go on the offensive.

The Otago Infantry were part of the forces committed on 2 May 1915 but due to a number of delays they ended up attacking in daylight against prepared Turkish forces. The result was a disaster as they and other Allied troops were forced back from Baby 700 to their original positions:

‘No complete account exists of the losses suffered by Otago in this attack. The War Diary records five offices wounded, eight missing, 11 men killed, 174 wounded and 208 missing,

leaving a strength of 365 out of 800 who went into the attack. But in truth the Otagos never knew how many were lost.’

Earp is listed as being killed in action on 2 May 1915, along with Private Kenneth (Ken) Boulton from Paremata, who was killed in the same attack. Both Earp and Boulton are commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial, Anzac Cove, Gallipoli.

The Earp family home in Tawa Flat was known as ‘Boscobel’, which is a small parish in Shropshire, England.

The key to the Anzac position was a hill named Baby 700 – the capture of this position would force the Turks back onto Third Ridge and give the besieged forces in Anzac Cove some much needed breathing space and allow them to go on the offensive.

Anzac Cove

11/76 Corporal Eric Michael HJ Lynch

Eric Michael Lynch was born on 19 July 1891 in Paekakariki, the second son in a family of seven children born to Michael Joseph and Margaret Lynch.

When in the trenches we could see a couple of boats on the beach about half a mile away, and on looking through the glasses we saw the boats were full of dead men – men who never effected a landing.One night some of our boys went off and buried them, as it was impossible to do so by daylight.

wounds to the scalp, and then to hospital in England where he remained until November. He was given leave until he was shipped back to New Zealand in January 1916 ‘no longer physically fit’. His cousins never returned. Trooper Oscar Lynch (11/77) was stricken twice with typhiod fever and died of the disease on 5 July 1915, while Lynch’s other cousin, Trooper William Henry Lynch (11/71) was killed in action on 9 August 1915 during the tragic Battle for Chunuk Bair.

Lynch married Ivy Abbott in February 1918, and they farmed at Battle Hill in Pauatahanui, raising two children. At the unveiling of the Pauatahanui War Memorial, on 21 February 1922, Lynch presented the speech in reply to the Governor-General Lord Jellico on behalf of returned servicemen from the district. He died in 1962.

Lynch and two of his cousins, William and Oscar, enlisted together in the 6th Manawatu Mounted Rifles and sailed on 16 October 1914. Lynch was assigned to the Machine Gun Section of C Squadron, along with two other Porirua Hospital men, Trooper Walter Cobb and Trooper John William Reichart.

Mounted Divisions were not sent with the Infantry to the Dardanelles until it became obvious that Reinforcement units were desperately needed at Gallipoli; the casualty rates soared during April 1915. Lynch’s support unit arrived at Gallipoli on 11 May 1915.

Lynch wrote a letter about arriving at Gallipoli which appeared in the Wairarapa daily News on 5 August 1915:

‘The whole of Gallipoli Peninsula is one high graveyard and just above high water mark are the graves of dozens of our brave boys who were killed in the first rush – many of whom

never reached the shore. When in the trenches we could see a couple of boats on the beach about half a mile away, and on looking through the glasses we saw the boats were full of dead men – men who never effected a landing.One night some of our boys went off and buried them, as it was impossible to do so by daylight.’

Trooper Eric Lynch was wounded by a Turkish shell on 26 May. A letter describing the event appeared in the Dominion, in October:

‘...we were all sitting down on May 26th - all dog tired after a hard days sapping. Suddenly without warning a shell burst overhead. Altogether it hit eight different men. It only wounded Eric Lynch but Neil Champion died about ten minutes later. Two of the others that were hit also died (Grange and Somerset) At the time the shell burst five of us were sitting together and it was a miracle how we other three escaped, pellets hit the bank all round us.’ Lynch was evacuated to Malta with shrapnel


Eric Lynch, is probably the civilian holding speech notes, at the opening of the Pauatahanui Memorial, 1922.

Wellington Mounted Rifles on parade at Featherston Camp

11/52 Trooper Albert Edward Gascoigne

Albert Edward Gascoigne was born in 1888 in Sculcoates in the East Riding of Yorkshire. Prior to immigrating to New Zealand Gascoigne had served his three years compulsory military training (1911 – 1914) with the Coldstream Guards.

On 13 May the New Zealand Mounted Rifles were ordered to take over No 4 Section of the Anzac Cove defensive perimeter – a line which included positions on Russell’s Top and Walker’s Ridge. The WMR went into the line on Walker’s Ridge, relieving the Nelson and Deal Battalions holding it. It was on this line, on 20 May 1915, that Gascoigne was killed.

He was buried near Walkers Ridge, but at the end of the war was relocated to grave 11.A.4. Walker’s Ridge Cemetery, Anzac Cove.

In New Zealand Gascoigne was employed as a butcher at Porirua Hospital. He signed up for the Army Reserves on 13 July 1914, and one month later he enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF). He entered camp as 11/52 Trooper Gascoigne, 6th (Manawatu) Wellington Mounted Rifles (WMR), and was allocated to the Machine Gun section.

Also in the machine-gun section were two other men who had enlisted from Porirua Hospital: 11/26 Trooper Walter Cobb and 11/713 Trooper John William Reichart.

On 16 October 1914 the WMR sailed from Wellington for Egypt. On arrival in Egypt they began training for the defence of Egypt, along with other New Zealand and Australian mounted units. In April 1915 the WMR units remained in Egypt while the New Zealand infantry regiments and support units sailed for the Gallipoli landings.

The heavy loss of men at Gallipoli meant a need for replacements, and so the WMR were sent to the Dardanelles, arriving at Anzac Cove on 11 May.


11/52 Trooper Albert Edward Gascoigne

11/52 Trooper A E Gascoigne’s grave at Gallipoli

Soldiers occupying a trench during the Gallipoli campaign. Read, J C :Images of the Gallipoli campaign. Ref: 1/4-0581-F. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. http:/natlib.govt.nz/records/22784138

1915 GALLIPOLI TIMELINE

18 January New Zealand and Australian Division established3 February Ottoman (Turkish) forces attack Suez Canal11 March Lieutenant-General Sir Ian Hamilton given command of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF)18 March Failed naval attack on the Dardanelles; battleships Queen, Irresistible and Bouvet sunk15 April New Zealand troops join the MEF at Lemnos to prepare for the invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula25 April Gallipoli landings; the ANZAC lands near Ari Burnu in bay now known as Anzac Cove27 April Battle for Walker’s Ridge involving Wellington and Canterbury battalions28 April First Battle of Krithia at Cape Helles2-3 May Otago Battalion’s attack on Baby 700 fails5-6 May NZ Infantry Brigade sent to Cape Helles6 May 3rd NZ Reinforcements arrive at Anzac; sent to Cape Helles8 May NZ Infantry Brigade takes part in Second Battle of Krithia; attacks defeated12 May NZ Mounted Rifles Brigade arrives at Anzac from Egypt; they fight as infantry for the rest of the campaign19 May Major Turkish attack at Anzac defeated; NZ Infantry Brigade returns from Cape Helles20 May Otago Mounted Rifles arrives at Anzac24 May Armistice at Anzac to bury dead7 June 4th NZ Reinforcements arrive at Anzac29-30 June Major Turkish attack on Anzac perimeter fails3 July The Native (Maori) Contingent arrives at Anzac to join NZ Mounted Rifles – a great boost to morale6-7 August British attack at Cape Helles; Australians attack at Lone Pine, Quinn’s Post and Russell’s Top at The Nek; Old No. 3 Post retaken and Table Top and Bauchop’s Hill taken by NZ Mounted Rifles Brigade7 August British land at Suvla Bay; Rhododendron Ridge taken by New Zealanders; Auckland Battalion attack on Chunuk Bair fails8 August Wellington Battalion captures Chunuk Bair; reinforced by Auckland Mounted Rifles and two British battalions during the day; relieved by Otago Battalion and Wellington Mounted Rifles that night. The 5th NZ Reinforcements reach Anzac and go into the firing line9 August Gurkha Battalion reaches saddle between Hill Q and Chunuk Bair; New Zealanders holding Chunuk Bair are relieved at night by British units10 August British troops driven from Chunuk Bair by Turkish counter-attack21 August Canterbury and Otago Mounted Rifles take part in attack on Hill 6026 August NZ hospital ship Maheno arrives off Anzac27-29 August Renewed fighting for control of Hill 6014 September NZ brigades evacuated to rest camp at Sarpi on Lemnos16 October Lieutenant-General Sir Ian Hamilton relieved of command of the MEF30 October Hamilton’s replacement, Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Munro, arrives at Gallipoli8-9 November NZ brigades return to Anzac Cove28 November Big snowstorm hits Anzac8 December Munro orders Lieutenant-General William Birdwood to evacuate Anzac and Suvla10-11 December Sick, wounded and surplus troops and valuable stores removed15 December Detailed orders issued for evacuation20 December Evacuation of Anzac and Suvla completed successfully by daylight; troops disembarked at Lemnos21-31 December Troops transferred from Lemnos to Egypt

porirua anzacs at gallipoli

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