Sunday, 12 April 2015

World War 1 - They Served in Gallipoli

ANZAC Parade RSA Whangamata - Photo HM Stewart

This month marks 100 years since World War 1. Coromandel Peninsula Council ( TCDC) are planning a memorial forest to mark the loss of approximately 18500 in WW1 and honour those soldiers with a tree in their memory.
 
The first major campaign was at Gallipoli and 25 April marks the date each year we remember ANZAC Day. On 25 April 1915  troops from New Zealand, Australia Britain, and France landed at Gallipoli. This  campaign  ended with the evacuation of troops on 19 and 20 December 1915.
 
Thinking about the many events there are to mark the 100 years in 2015 is also a time to reflect on the effects and influence of WW1 upon a family and close friends.
 
My wider family and extended family as with hundreds of other families from New Zealand and Australia were touched by WW1. Typical of many families in those late 1800s early 1900s families were often large and sons and daughters marrying meant  an even wider extended family - uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, cousins.  When war broke out a number  enlisted in those early years  of the war .  One of the first places they fought was Gallipoli.
 
Some went on to fight in other campaigns; some were wounded and on recovery were sent to other battlefields and other units; some were wounded and died later as an outcome of those wounds sustained on the battlefields of Gallipoli. Some were killed in action. After the war a number came home but some did not and it was an empty place at table and in heart for kith and kin at home. For a family never the same again.
 
 
 
The following are of my wider and extended family members who fought at Gallipoli - The ANZAC's -  'Remembered"
 
 

Family at War

 
Lieutenant. 12/6 3rd Auckland Company, Auckland Infantry Battalion. Occupation at Enlistment: Clerk. Son of James Buchanan Macfarlane and Edith Mary Macfarlane ( nee Durrieu).
Macfarlane was in those first onslaughts at Gallipoli ( eight days fighting at Gaba Tepe and Sari Bair )in April and May 1915, was wounded and on his return temporarily to New Zealand aboard the Willochra in an interview with the Waikato Times : -
 
"Two men in particular I would like to pay a tribute to, added Lieutenant Macfarlane." They were Privates Heald and Bickerton. After I had been lying there for half an hour, Heald came wriggling over to me. He tried to get me on his back, but no sooner had he got me on to his knees and endeavoured to lift me than he was shot dead. He must have been killed instantly. A little later Bickerton came crawling to my aid. Before he could get to me he was pinked through the arm. Nothing daunted, others of my company prepared to sacrifice their lives for me. I called out to them not to try again, and simply had to order them away," ( 16/07/1915)
 
The Australia and New Zealand Army Corps landed at a small bay north of Kabatepe on the Gallipoli peninsula on 25 April 1915. Their objective was to seize part of the Sari Bair range. By the beginning of May things looked bleak with many lives lost, including Officers and friends of Macfarlane.
 

Sydney Haldane Heald,  Private. 12/130   Son of Richard Arthur and Caroline Heald, of Auckland. Born at Thames, Coromandel Peninsula,  was killed in action at Gallipoli on 8 May 1915. Twelve Tree Copse (New Zealand) Memorial. He was killed in action during the gallant attempt to  rescue of Lieutenant James Blyth Macfarlane. In memory of this a street in One Tree Hill, Auckland was named Heald Road. ( NZ Herald 05/07/1915) 
Macfarlane, once recovered from the wounds returned to war to fight on other battlefields.
 
 

WW1 Sergeant.  4/509 Sapper New Zealand Engineers, Divisional Signals Company & Royal Field Artillery. Occupation at Enlistment: Banker. Oldest son of Thomas Henry Hanna and  Laura Beatrice Hanna ( nee McRae)

Hanna landed on Gallipoli on 25 April 1915 and saw action until the end of July when he was evacuated to a New Zealand military hospital in Cairo with dysentry. Hanna followed his uncle John Robert Hanna's footsteps and took a number of photographs of  the Gallipoli campaign. ( The album now in the National Army Museum)

The New Zealand Herald reporting on the importance of Quinn's Post in soldiers letters  October 1915 wrote from Hanna :-

" The character of the fighting at Quinn's 'Post is described by Sapper Hanna, who relates the incidents of two small attacks during the second week in June:—"On the first attempt, we took the section of trench we wanted at the point of the bayonet, without much loss and captured about 30 prisoners," he writes. "This was at 11 p.m., and we held it until 4 a.m. Then the Turks started with hand grenades and by 6 a.m. had bombed us out and back to our trenches through a communication trench we had constructed in the meantime. They followed this up by bombing our first trench until all overhead cover was carried away, and rendered the trench untenable. They simply showered bombs, and we were to situated that we could not effectively bomb back—the Bomb is really the only antidote for the bomb. The second attack was on a smaller scale but we fared even worse. The objective was only a small wing trench, but we failed badly, and had a fair number of casualties."(02/10/1915)


Hanna left the Divisional Signals Company and obtained a commission as Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery. He was wounded in 1917.

After the war in 1921 Hanna married Phyllis Edith Macfarlane ( daughter of prominent community workers  for support of troops ( James Buchannan and Edith Mary Macfarlane )and sister of Lieutenant James Blyth Macfarlane.)


Hanna went back to banking after the war and was to eventually be  General Manager of the  National Bank of New Zealand.
Lieutenant. 1796 1st Field Ambulance, Reinforcement 4, Australian Army Pay Corps. Occupation at Enlistment : Clerk.  Son of  William Henry Tunks and Charlotte Emily Tunks ( nee Harper ) On Keith's return from the war in 1920 there was a welcome home by both the Parramatta Welcome Home  Committee and at his sister's house ( Mrs Gladys Woods) where the table decorated in Tunk's regimental colours, was shared by his family members with much celebration.
 
Tunks wrote back home regularly and sent letters, articles and photos to the local Parramatta newspaper, the Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate. An extensive letter appeared in this newspaper from Weymouth:

"'The Argus' received this mail the following interesting letter from Keith Tunks, son of the late Mr. W. H. and Mrs. Tunks, of Parramatta: — 'Australian and New Zealand Base Depot, ' 'Monte Video Camp, Weymouth, 21st November, 1915. 'So much was written, and no doubt is still being written and published, of the doings in the various military encampments throughout Australia, that it may perhaps be of unusual interest to readers to learn a little in regard to the Australian and New Zealand camp here. The camp was established some six months ago for the purpose of accommo dating and the further training of soldiers of the Commonwealth Military Forces who have been invalided to England from the Dardanelles with either sickness or wounds, and are now almost fit for return to the front. Weymouth is about 330 miles distant from London on the South Coast, and in considered one of England 's finest sea-side resorts. The camp itself, however, is situated some two miles out from the township at a village known as Monte Video or Chickerell…………………………" ( 08/01/1916)

 
photo courtesy Trove Newspapers  National Library Australia
The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate Saturday 14 August 1915 Page 10

Private. 2019. 17th Infantry Battalion Australian Flying Corps. Occupation at Enlistment: Telephone Mechanic. Son of George Tunks and Henrietta Tunks  ( nee Barnett)Stanley went to Gallipoli and returned to Australia 2 March 1919. He was awarded the Star Medal, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He embarked on the ship HMAT Runic A54

 
Corporal 12/365  Auckland Infantry Battalion . Occupation at Enlistment. Occupation at Enlistment: Ironmonger. Son of William Hollis and Sarah Hollis ( nee Compston ) Born and bred in Waihi, Hollis was one of the children of one of the earliest Waihi families.
The Ohinemuri Gazette reported the contribution of officers and men from 6th Hauraki amongst them Corporal Hollis in September 1914. The Auckland Star on 15 May 1915 reported Robert Vincent Hollis of Waihi wounded.
The Hauraki Regiment provided 250 man companies for the three battalions of the Auckland Regiment during World War 1.The 6th Hauraki Company of the Auckland Battalion, was recruited in the No. 2 Area Group of the Auckland Military District, comprising the areas and towns of Coromandel, Thames, Paeroa, Morrinsville, Rotorua, Opotiki, Whakatane, Tauranga, Katikati, Waihi. 
 
 
Neville Longbourne Vickerman C Eng, FICE, FNZIE  Sapper promoted to 2nd Lieutenant 4/1013 Field Engineers. Eldest son of Alfred Herbert Vickerman and Elizabeth Charlotte Vickerman ( nee Gorrie),  son of niece of James Stewart MINST, first cousin of Hugh Vickerman DSO, OBE, MSc, MICE, MNZIE who also served in WW1 with the NZ Tunnelling Company. Neville Longbourne Vickerman attended Auckland Grammar School and Auckland University College. After the war Neville married and continued employment as Engineer with the Auckland Harbour Board. Neville Longbourne Vickerman served four years with the NZ Engineers in Gallipoli, Egypt and France in World War 1

Keith Longbourne Vickerman  Lieutenant 40694 Auckland Regiment Occupation at Enlistment Surveyors Assistant, brother of Neville Longbourne also served in WW1 and was awarded the NZ Military Cross.
All three  followed in family footsteps in the field of Surveying and Engineering.

 
Andrew George Christian Captain 1st Australian Infantry Battalion. Occupation before Enlistment : Senior Telephone Assistant, Parramatta. Husband of Minnie Laura Christian ( nee Tunks) Son of William and Mary Ann Christian. Christian was well known in the sport of cricket and friendly societies at Parramatta. He left three children aged 10 years to 20 years.
Killed in Action 01 May 1915  Gallipoli Peninsula Turkey Shrapnel Valley Cemetery.   Special Mention for Conspicuous Gallantry
John Mainer Corbett   Second Lieutenant 12/1600 Auckland Infantry Battalion, 6th (Hauraki) Company Occupation at Enlistment: Assayer & Metallurgist Waihi Grand Junction Mine. Son of Edward Mann Corbett and Mary Ann Corbett ( nee Mainer) Corbett's father Edward Mann Corbett was a mining engineer and very early settler of the Waitekauri area.
Killed in Action 08/06/1915 at Quinn's  Post  Lone Pine Memorial ANZAC Turkey
The Ohinemuri Journal reported in June 1915:
 Lieutenant J. M. Corbett, who is reported in one of the latest casualty lists as "missing at the Dardanelles, is well-known in this district, being a brother of Mr H. M. Corbett (chairman of the Ohinemuri County Council). He had previously been reported as wounded, and later as recovered. ( 16/06/1915)

 Again in January 1916 the Ohinemuri Gazette reported Corbett a Court of Inquiry pronouncing the death of Corbett. Those early days of  reporting war events often led to differing reports at times.

Second Lieutenant 12/1026 Auckland Infantry Battalion, Machine-gun Section. Occupation at Enlistment: Clerk. Son of Robert Frater and Martha Frater (nee Brown)Uncle of Marion Henderson Upton ( nee Frater )  Frater's father was land agent and stockbroker of the well-known firm Frater Bros.
 
Died of Wounds At sea HMHS Selam ex Gallipoli 30/04/1915 Lone Pine Memorial ANZAC Turkey
 
A Soldiers Letter appearing from Sergeant L. R. Darrow ( brother of F. B. Darrow, of Te Kuiti.) in the King Country Chronicle referred to the loss of good friends:-
Don Lana, from Avondale, was killed the first day. Roy Lambert, the great footballer, was a great friend of mine and a splendid chap, was also killed. Walter Grierson, from Epsom, also was killed, and Bob Frater, son of Robert Frater, an old schoolchum of mine." (  24/07/1915)
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The school was Auckland Grammar School where Frater had been regarded as a good runner. Frater also enjoyed tennis at the Eden/Epsom Tennis Club where a member. Three months after Frater died ,  Darrow , Frater's friend was also killed in action on 10 August 1915 Gallipoli Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial.
 
Captain 12/294 Auckland Infantry Regiment 6th Hauraki. Occupation at Enlistment: Teacher. Eldest son of John Alexander Algie and Agnes Algie ( nee Macmillan) Married Alice Victoria Elizabeth Algie ( nee Corlett) Algie's son Donald Colvin Algie was born in 1915. As with a number of young men prior to WW1, Colvin Stewart Algie  attended University of Auckland (as did his brother Ronald Macmillan Algie)  and is also recorded on their Roll of Honour. Colvin's father a Postmaster, saw the family at Paeroa for a time.

"Sunday 25 April "

At daybreak this morning the sound of a heavy big gun bombardment could be heard.  The business commenced.  We were now almost abreast of Gaba Tepe our landing place …"


Captain Colvin Stewart Algie kept a comprehensive  diary while in Gallipoli, giving a good account of the campaign- transcribed  excepts can be read on the Millett - Algie Connection. From Gallipoli Algie went on to other battlefields and was

Killed in Action 21 July 1916 Somme, France. Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery Armentieres

George Macfarlane Stewart Sergeant 12/256 Auckland Infantry Regiment. Occupation at Enlistment: Barrister in the firm of Bamford & Brown. Youngest son of  James Stewart and Henrietta Ferguson Stewart ( nee Macfarlane). Stewart was born in Toowoomba, Australia -  the year before his father a Banker and Senior Inspector with the National Bank Queensland and formerly Banker and Inspector with the National Bank in New Zealand  died. The family returned to Auckland New Zealand near to his uncle James Buchanan Macfarlane.

Stewart attended as did many of those who went to war Auckland Grammar School ( after secretary of the Old Boys Association for a number of years ) He went on to University of Auckland graduating with a LLB. Stewart's name is on the Roll of Honour and in a Law Society Roll of Honour WW1 and obituary.
 Stewart as with his cousin James Blyth Macfarlane and many close school friends fought at Gallipoli in those early days of the offensive 25 April 1915. Enlisting in the main Expeditionary Force he came right through the Gallipoli campaign scathless, but after the Suvla Bay incident contracted influenza and was invalided to England.

Stewart went on to other battlefields and at the Somme he died from wounds during the battle of Polygon Wood, France 30 September 1916. Heilly Station Cemetery, Mericourt-l'Abbe, Somme, France.
 
 
 
Corporal 12/367 Auckland Infantry Battalion. Occupation at Enlistment: Engineer A B Price Auckland. Second son of James Hally and Elizabeth Hally ( nee Davis) Brother of Jessie Hally ( married Charles Stewart - brother in law of Charles James ) Charles grew up in Cambridge in a family of nine siblings.
Died of Wounds 26 July 1915 at sea ex Gallipoli  Lone Pine Memorial Lone Pine Cemetery ANZAC Turkey

The Waikato Times reported :
" Mr and Mrs James Hally, of Cambridge, have received particulars of the doings of their son, Corporal Charles James Hally, who was killed at the Dardanelles on the 26th of last month. He was wounded on 8th May and was then sent to the hospital at Cairo. He was passed as fit for service again on 8th July and went to the Dardanelles again, being killed as above. Their other son, "Jack," has also been wounded, and is now in one of the English hospitals; and yet another son, "Colin," hopes to get away with a contingent that will depart about November next". ( 20 / 08 /1915)

Private 12/1649 Auckland Infantry Battalion 3rd Reinforcements. Third son of James Hally and Elizabeth Hally ( nee Davis) Brother of Jessie Hally ( married Charles Stewart - brother in law of Jack ) John Phillip AKA Jack  grew up in Cambridge in a family of nine siblings. John Phillip Hally  joined the Duke of Cambridge Lodge 12 December 1911. Hally attended Auckland University College.
John Phillip Hally was wounded in the thigh  at Gallipoli, sent to an English Hospital and then in February 1916 home to Cambridge. Hally died at Cambridge, New Zealand  on 19 August 1929 said to be from the effects of the wound at Gallipoli.

Lieutenant  23935 New Zealand Machine Gun Battalion. Occupation at Enlistment: Solicitor. Fourth and youngest son of James Hally and Elizabeth Hally ( nee Davis) Brother of Jessie Hally ( married Charles Stewart - brother in law of Colin )  Colin Hally attended Hamilton High School and Auckland University College.
Colin "got away with a contingent " and  was killed in action 6 April 1918 in Somme , France. He was awarded the Military Cross "For acts of gallantry in the field. He organised and led a successful raid on the enemy trenches, displaying great courage and determination throughout"

Colin's name is in a Law Society Roll of Honour WW1 and obituary.
James Hally and Elizabeth Hally ( nee Davis - originally from Coromandel  ) lost three sons in WW1.
 

 Family At Home and Abroad

 
 
 
Staff Nurse 22/288  New Zealand General Hospital . Annie Moody married Walter Turner  was the daughter of William Moody and Annie Cleland Moody ( nee Stewart ) On 25 January 1916 Annie Moody embarked from Wellington aboard Hospital Ship No 1 bound  on its second voyage. Moody nursed at Brockenhurst Hospital in Hampshire.
 

James Buchanan Macfarlane & Edith Mary Macfarlane ( nee Durrieu)

With two  sons and a number of nephews enlisted in the forces, these two threw themselves into Community work  Red Cross, St. Johns and the Victoria League. They fundraised for hospital ships, soldiers Red Cross parcels and other aid.

They were amongst the many who were at home minding the farms, making  Red Cross parcels, making and rolling bandages, knitting socks and hats, nursing those who retuned home and fund raising.

Reference Source:

             University of Auckland
             Law Society of New Zealand 


         Thanks also to National Army Museum for link to Photo Album of Phillip Roderick McRae  
          Hanna
 
 
 
 
 

 



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