Main Body sails 16 October 1914 - 100 years ago today.

One hundred years ago today the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary force embarked on its journey to the battlefields of WW1.

Aboard 10 troopships were Major-General Sir Alexander Godley the commander of the force, 8,454 soldiers, 3,815 horses and one woman Louisa Godley (wife of Major- General Sir Godley).  The force departed Kings Wharf, Wellington the largest body of men ever to leave the shores of New Zealand at any one time.

Most on board were expecting to go to England and then onto the war in France, however after the Ottoman Empire entered the war in October 1914 and the New Zealander's together with 27 Australian troopships with whom they had joined were diverted to Egypt arriving on 3 December 1914.

For many on board it was the first time they had left the shores of New Zealand in their minds they had likely conjured up the image of a great adventure, fighting for King and country in foreign lands.  None could have foreseen the horrors that they would experience over the next four years.  Some would never return and those that did were often never the same again.

Of the 40 men remembered on the Hunterville, Whanganui memorial 14 of them sailed with the Main Body on 16 October 1914.  Little did they know as they left New Zealand it would be for the last time.  Below is a small tribute to those 14 men:

Edward Rippon Armstrong - 11/1

 

Embarked 16 October 1914, Wellington Mounted Rifles

Killed in Action at Gallipoli on 9 August, aged 23.

Remembered on the Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial, Chunuk Bair Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey.

Thomas George Ball - 11/137 / 11/187

 Embarked 16 October 1914, Wellington Mounted Rifles

Killed in Action at Gallipoli on 9 August, aged 25.

Buried at Baby 700 Cemetery, Anzac, Turkey.

Melville James Bull - 11/14

 

Embarked 16 October 1914, Wellington Mounted Rifles

Killed in Action at Gallipoli on 9 August, aged 21.

Remembered on the Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial, Chunuk Bair Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey. 

Charles John Canton - 2/299

 

Embarked 16 October 1914, Field Artillery

Killed in Action, 19 May 1915 at Gallipoli

Buried at Walker's Ridge Cemetery, Anzac, Turkey.

Robert Guy Chamberlin - 11/23

 

Embarked 16 October 1914, Wellington Mounted Rifles

Killed in Action at Gallipoli on 6 August, aged 21.

Remembered at No. 2 Outpost Cemetery, Turkey.

William Dawbin - 11/41

Embarked 16 October 1914, Wellington Mounted Rifles

Died of Wounds received at Gallipoli, 22 August 1915

Buried Compton Dundon (St. Andrew) Churchyard Extension, Somerset, England.


Claude Victor Adrian Meads - 11/105
Embarked 16 October 1914, Wellington Mounted Rifles
Killed in Action at Gallipoli, 6 September 1915
He is remember at Embarkation Pier Cemetery, Turkey

Glen Urquhart Mclean - 11/103
Embarked 16 October 1914, Wellington Mounted Rifles 
Died of wounds received at Gallipoli, 13 August 1915 at sea.
Aged 22 
Buried at East Mudros Military Cemetery, Lemnos, Greece 

Hugh Graham Pringle - 11/116
Embarked 16 October 1914, Wellington Mounted Rifles
Killed in Action at Gallipoli, 9 August 1915, aged 26
Remembered on Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial, Chunuk Bair Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey


Frank Jennings Rule - 10/502
Embarked 16 October 1914, Wellington Infantry Battalion
Died of wounds received at Gallipoli, 26 May 1915
Buried at Alexandria (Chatby) Military and War Memorial Cemetery, Egypt

Charles Bruce Stuart-Menteath -10/1082  Embarked 16 October 1914, Wellington Infantry Battalion
Killed in action between 6 May 1915 - 10 May 1915, Gallipoli
Aged 23
Remembered on Twelve Tree Copse (New Zealand) Memorial, Twelve Tree Copse Cemetery, Helles, Turkey

Augustus Alfred Tegner - 11/154
Embarked 16 October 1914, Wellington Mounted Rifles 
Died on service, suicide, 6 March 1918, Mesopotamia
Buried at Baghdad (North Gate) War Cemetery, Waziriah Area of the Al-Russafa district, Baghdad, Iraq


Francis Darbyshire Twistleton - 11/158
Embarked 16 October 1914, Wellington Mounted Rifles 
Killed in Action 9 August 1915, Wellington Mounted Rifles, aged 26
Remembered on Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial, Chunuk Bair Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey





Charles Watt - 11/165 
 Embarked 16 October 1914, Wellington Mounted Rifles 
Killed in Action 30 May 1915, Gallipoli, aged 34
Remembered on Lone Pine Memorial, Lone Pine Cemetery, Anzac, Turkey


Photos sourced from Auckland Museum Cenotaph database
http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/locations.aspx?  

The Leeks family - Hunterville Memorial, Whanganui

At the start of World War One in August 1914 Minnie Ann Glastonbury nee Leeks was a wife, daughter and sister.   The only daughter of Edward and Minnie Leeks and sister to 8 brothers, she had been married to Alfred Glastonbury for 4 years at the outbreak of war and they had three small children (the eldest was from Alfred's first wife who had died shortly after childbirth).  By the time the war ended in November 1918 Minnie was widowed and had lost three brothers and a brother in law.  Such loss and grief is unimaginable for most of us in New Zealand today but for many during WW1 it was a factor of everyday life and tragically Minnie's loss was not unique.

I had initially come across Minnie when I was researching the Havelock memorial in Marlborough her husband Alfred Glastonbury is remembered on the memorial.

http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/5583.detail?Ordinal=1&c_surname_search=glastonbury

Alfred Glastonbury (known as Jack) enlisted in May 1916 he worked for the NZ Railways at Ohinigaiti as a surfaceman and was married to Minnie Leeks with three children.  He embarked from Wellington aboard the Devon on 25 September 1916 with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade; disembarking in the United Kingdom on the 21 November 1916 he was marched into Sling Camp on the same day.  Less than a month later on 3 December 1916 he was admitted to the NZ General hospital at Codford sick with gastritis, he died two days later without ever seeing any action.  He was buried at St Mary's Cemetery, Codford.

Jack's death was a second blow for his family back in New Zealand his brother Frank had been killed in action at the Somme on 14 July 1916.  Frank was a member of the Otago Infantry Battalion and  most likely one of two hundred men from the Otago's who on 13/14 July 1916 went on a raid of German lines.  Of the two hundred men only six returned unhurt, fifty four were killed and one hundred and four were wounded.  Frank's name is not recorded on the Havelock Memorial.

For Minnie the loss of her husband came on the back of the death of three of her brothers.  In total six of her eight brothers served in WW1: Cedric William (10/1882), Ivan Lewis (8/2441), Osric Harold (8/885), Frederick Edward (37831), Horace Robert (34098) and Ralph Lowry (22819).

http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/8667.detail?Ordinal=6&c_surname_search=leeks

Osric was 20 years old when he enlisted soon after war broke out on 15 August 1914 along with his friend Henry George Field who lived with the Leeks family in Ohingaiti (both men were employed by the W. Collard Box Co. at Utiku).  After enlisting the pair were separated, Osric was attached to  the Otago Infantry Battalion and Henry to the Wellington Infantry Battalion.  Both embarked with the Main Body on 16 October 1914 and fought at Gallipoli where Henry Field was killed in action on 8 August 1915 at Chunuk Bair.  Later in the month Osric was wounded and he died of his wounds at sea aboard the hospital ship Arcadia on 5 September 1915 he was buried at Gibraltar (North Front) Cemetery, Gibraltar.

Cedric Leeks a farm labourer in Ohingaiti was the youngest of the brothers to serve, he enlisted in January 1915.   He sailed with the 4th Reinforcements as part of the Wellington Infantry Battalion on 17 April 1915 and shortly after his arrival in Egypt he embarked for Gallipoli where he was most likely reunited with his brother Osric and Henry Field.   Sadly Cedric too was killed in action on Chunuk Bair on 8 August 1915.  He is remembered with Henry Field on the Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial, Chunuk Bair Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey.

 

http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/8665.detail?Ordinal=2&c_surname_search=leeks 

Ivan Lewis Leeks was the third brother to enlist at the beginning of May 1915.  Ivan was single and was employed as a painter in Marton when he enlisted.  He embarked with the 5th Reinforcements attached to the Otago Infantry Battalion.  Soon after arriving in Gallipoli Ivan was wounded on 13 August 1915 only days after his brother was killed in action and was sent to Hospital in Malta. After recovering from his wounds he rejoined his unit in October 1915 in Lemnos.  Ivan then embarked for France in April 1916 where he was killed in action on the Somme on 14 July 1916 aged 23 years.

 

 

Minnie Leeks had lost four immediate family members in the space of 15 months the toll on her and her family must have been immeasurable and with three further brothers serving the fear of losing another family member would have surely added to that toll.

Ralph Lowry Leeks was the fourth brother to serve he embarked on 27 May 1916 aboard the Tofua with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade.   Whilst Ralph survived the war he was by no means left unscathed in August 1917 he suffered severe shell shock the result of being exposed to severe shell fire and being buried by earth resulting from the detonation of a high explosive nearby.  Once recovered he rejoined his unit in October 1917 and March 1918 received a shrapnel wound and was invalided back to New Zealand in August 1918.

Horace Robert Leeks was the next to embark leaving behind his wife and two children.  He left with the 21st Reinforcements on 19 January 1917.  He too despite surviving the war was not left unscathed.  Wounded twice firstly at Ypres on 22 November 1917 and then again on 23 October 1918.  He returned to New Zealand where tragically years later during WW2 he would lose one of his sons to war.  Cedric Russell Leeks was with the New Zealand Engineers and died whilst a prisoner of war on 28 January 1943 aged 27.  He is buried at Krakow Rakowicki Cemetery, Poland.

Frederick Edward Leeks was the last of the Leeks brothers to embark leaving with the 22nd Reinforcements on 13 February 1917.  Frederic a painter in Wellington and was married with two children.   He too was wounded twice being gassed on 13 August 1917 and wounded on 2 September 1918.  He was invalided back to NZ in December 1918.

Minnie Glastonbury eventually remarried Harold Bly in 1941 and she died in 1978 in the same year as her youngest brother Conrad Leeks.  They were the last of Edward & Minnie Leeks.

Hunterville Memorial - Whanganui