Kakaramea Roll of Honour WWI
Frank Sheldon ANTHONY, Able Seaman, J35344
Son of Frank Sheldon and Annie Jane Anthony
 
Charles Edward ARMSTRONG, Rifleman, 28415
Son of John and Eliza Armstrong
 
George Francis ARMSTRONG, Gunner, 2/840
Son of John and Eliza Armstrong
 
William Robert ARMSTRONG, Private, 31201
Son of John and Eliza Armstrong
 
Charles Herbert BALL, Lance Corporal, 25366
Son of James and Mary Ball
 
George BALL, Trooper, 11/468
Son of James and Mary Ball
 
George BALDWIN, Private, 81105
Son of George and Isabella Baldwin
 
Thomas Nobel BLAKE, Sergeant, 57789
Son of Samuel and Sarah Blake
 
Campbell Archibald BUCHANAN, Lance Corporal, 77338
Son of David and Rosie Buchanan

Kenneth Archibald CARMICHAEL, Trooper, 74861
Son of Archibald and Margaret Ann Stuart Carmichael
 
Frank Crawford DUNLOP, Trooper, 11/2086,
Son of James and Alice Jane Dunlop
 
William FAIRWEATHER, Private, 81076
William Robert and Mary Ann Elizabeth Fairweather nee Tocker
 
Norman Burnet GADSBY, Surgeon-Sub-Lieutenant, British Army
Son of William and Elsie Margaret Gadsby
 
Arthur Edward GILES, Private, 10/1823
Son of William Pedlar and Annie Maria Giles
 
Sydney Egmont GILSHNAN, 2nd Lieutenant, 10/362 MM
Son of Edward and Alice Gilshnan
 
Leslie John HALL, Rifleman, 24/165
Son of and Mary Hall
 
Stanley Outram HERMON, Private, 28131
Son of Reginald and Flora Hermon, Husband of Naomi Elizabeth Marshall Hermon
 
Alfred Thomas HILL, Private, 3/3497
Son of Alfred Clement and Clara Eliza Hill
 
Claude Russell HILL, Private, 12/764
Son of Thomas Russell and Catherine Hill
 
James Curtin HOGAN, Private, 63877
Son of James and Catherine Hogan
 
James KERRISK, Private, 79458
Son of Jeremiah and Catherine Kerrisk
 
Michael KERRISK, Trooper, 24904
Son of Jeremiah and Catherine Kerrisk
 
Anthony MARSHALL, Private, 20377
Son of Andrew and Naomi Marshall
 
James MARSHALL, Private, 20378
Son of Andrew and Naomi Marshall
 
William Andrew MARSHALL, Private, 77263
Son of Andrew and Naomi Marshall
 
Michael James O’NEILL, Private, 62120
Son of Patrick and Nora O’Neill
 
Harold PATERSON, Private, 13/2471
Son of John and Isabella Paterson
  
Cedric Vater PEARCE, Trooper, 43282
Son of George Vater and Margaret Pearce
 
Norman Wallace Dutton SCOWN, Gunner, 2063, Australian Imperial Forces
Son of Thomas and Matilda Scown
 
Cecil SPEIGHT, Private, 46089
Son of Joseph and Charlotte Speight
 
Joseph SPEIGHT, Private, 23887,
Son of: Joseph and Charlotte Speight
 
Ernest George TONG, Private, 65544
Son of Harry and Emily Tong, nee Amos
 
Arthur Henry WARD, Rifleman, 24/319
Son of Henry and Elizabeth Ward
 
Alan Fredrick WILLS, Trooper, 74902
Son of Albert Edward and Charlotte Alice Wills
 
 
 
RIP WWI
 
Charles Pedlar GILES, Private,
10/1824, Wellington Infantry Battalion, 45th Infantry Battalion, 10th Reinforcements
Occupation before enlistment: Blacksmith for J Hopkirk, Hawera
Died- 27 April 1918, at age 24 from the effects of Mustard Gas in Rouen, France
Son of William Pedlar and Annie Maria Giles of Hawera
 
Thomas MARSHALL, Rifleman
25/123, New Zealand Rifle Brigade 3rd Battalion, B Company
Occupation before enlistment: Labourer
Died- Somme, France
Died at age 21 on 5 October 1916
Son of Andrew and Naomi Marshall of Pungarehu
 
Matthew George MITCHELL, Private
25/124, New Zealand Rifle Brigade 3rd Battalion, B Company
Died – Ypres, Belgium
Died at aged 30 on 05 December 1917
Son of Matthew and Jessie Mitchell of Patea 
 
Leonard Vivian SPEIGHT, Private
52484, New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Occupation before enlistment: Cheese factory manager
Died – Somme, France
Died at age 28, on 31 August 1918
Son of Joseph and Charlotte Speight, Makahu, Stratford
 
Waikohari TAMARAPA, Private
16/418, 1st Maori Contingent, B Company
Occupation before enlistment: Cow man
Died of enteritis at Mudros – Gallipoli. Buried grave 63 at Lemnos
Died at age 25, on 12 October 1915
Son of: Hihimua Matehaukore Te Ahumua Tamarapa (born in Tataramaika, Oakura) and Ngahina Ngaoko (of Te Arawa tribe) Rotorua, lived at Ohangai & Pariroa Pa
 
Alfred James WILSON, Private
59569, Otago Infantry Regiment
Occupation before enlistment: Fellmonger at Gear Meat Coy, Petone
Died - Bapaume, France
died at age 36, on 26 August 1918
Son of David and Elizabeth Wilson (nee Amos)
 
William Alexander WHITE, Trooper,
72685, 39th Reinforcements Mounted Rifles Brigade               
 C/o Mrs S Johnston, Okotuku, Waverley
Son of William Alexander and Sophie Latitia White

Printed in the Patea Waverley Press Aug 2014:
​Because its 100 years since Britain & NZ joined WWI on 4 August of this year, 2014, & because so many of our local men went away, I’ve researched another  rural communities war effort. This time it’s Kakaramea. Inside the Kakaramea Hall are WWI & WWII Roll of Honour Boards, beautifully made of  Rimu, & inscribed in gold letters, with the names of  local men who served their country. In 1914 the population of  NZ was just over one million, & more than 100,000 New Zealanders served overseas. Thirty eight men with connections to Kakaramea went away to WWI, six never returned. And forty one went away to WWII & seven never returned. These Honour Boards were both made after WWII.

There is also a Roll of Honour  tablet at the Kakaramea School of  past students that went to WWI, that was unveiled in 1922 by local MP at the time, & Mayor of Hawera Mr Edwin Dixon. But even though that was made so recently after the war finished, at least one past student was missed off. That was Private Charles P Giles, 10/1824, who died from wounds & mustard gas on 27 April 1918 at the age of 24.  I think he started Kakaramea School in 1901, but they have written his brother Arthur’s name down again by mistake – Arthur started school in 1899. Arthur is on the Roll of Honor in the School & the Hall, but he survived WWI. It is an error that occurs often in War Memorials around the country, especially in WWI. When you consider that around 18,500 New Zealand soldiers died in or because of  WWI & about 41,000 were wounded, & then a few months after the war finished in 1918, the influenza epidemic hit, it is understandable that names were forgotten. Private Joseph Speight, 23887, was also missed off the list at Kakaramea, but his brothers Leonard & Cecil are on it. They all moved with their parents to a farm in Kakaramea in 1904. Leonard died at the Battle of Somme, France in 1918.

Brothers going off to war were a common occurrence, and as well as the Giles & the Speights, Kakaramea also had the Armstrong, Ball, & Marshall brothers at the War. Charles & George Ball were the sons of early settlers James & Mary Ball, their farm: Turangarere, on Lower Ball Rd is now owned by Richard Dwyer. Ball Road is named after them.

Another interesting man on the Kakaramea Roll of Honour is Frank Anthony. His father ran the Manutahi Hotel in the early 1900’s. Frank & his 3 siblings went to Kakaramea School during this time. Then the family moved to a remote farm at Whakamara. When WWI broke out he joined the Royal Navy & was injured in 1916, with long term lung damage, he was repatriated back to NZ in 1918, & returned to Taranaki. In 1919, with the help of a soldiers' rehabilitation grant, Frank purchased a 76-acre dairy farm on marginal land at Midhurst. For nearly five years he struggled to improve the land's productivity. It was in the evenings, alone in his drafty old cottage on the farm, that he returned to his childhood interest of writing. His writing drew on his experiences as a struggling backblocks farmer and as a sailor before and during the war. Ten of his 'Me and Gus' stories were published: classic yarns about the farming mishaps and romantic misadventures of two bachelor farmers struggling with debt & poor-quality land. Disillusioned with life on the land, he sold his farm in 1924 and travelled to England. He was also hoping to persuade Phyllis Symonds, a young Taranaki woman then in England (who had provided the basis of the romantic interest in another of his books 'Follow the call'), to marry him, but she was to remain uninterested.
​
For two years Frank really struggled, alone and in poor health, to establish a writing career in England. He revised 'Follow the call', and turned the 'Me and Gus' stories into an expanded novel, ‘Gus Tomlins’. Despite his efforts, he was unable to break into the English market. By 1926 he had consumption aggravated by the winter climate, and he died in a boarding-house at Boscombe, near Bournemouth, on 13 January 1927 at age 36. None of his stories were published in book form during his lifetime, but his mother Annie, collected and kept his writings and negotiated the publication of ‘Follow the Call’ and the 'Me and Gus' stories in 1936 and 1938. In 1950 she made Anthony's manuscripts available to Francis Jackson, & the hugely popular radio adaptations of ‘Me and Gus’, ran for many years. Me & Gus stories were then widely read throughout the 1950s & beyond. The novel, ‘Gus Tomlins, was `published for the first time in 1977.
Remembering these men who walked the ground we walk today gives us an appreciation of what they went through back then. They won’t be forgotten.

Published in the Patea Waverley Press August 2014

KAKARAMEA WWII SOLDIERS​
Kevin Jack Stewart BOURKE, Private
5280, 
Occupation before enlistment: Clerk. After WWII he owned Kak Hotel from 1945-72
 
Gordon Smith CUNNINGHAM, Private
5322,
Occupation before enlistment: Kakaramea Dairy Factory
 
Wallace Henry CLOSE, Private
5019,
Occupation before enlistment: Kakaramea Dairy Factory
 
Edward Trevor GUILFORD, Private
49938,
Occupation before enlistment: Kakaramea Dairy Factory
 
Lindsay Thomas HUSTON, Gunner
61848,
Occupation before enlistment: Farm Labourer
 
Laurence George HERBERT, Gunner
49375,
Occupation before enlistment: Sharemilker
 
Percy Howard HERBERT, Private
49383,
Occupation before enlistment: Sharemilker
 
Horace Charles HOBBS, Private
35796,
Occupation before enlistment: Farm Labourer
 
Sydney Norman HAMLIN, Private
30650
Occupation before enlistment: Freezing Worker
 
Wilfred Arthur HAMILTON, Private
35829
Occupation before enlistment: Labourer
 
Charles Douglas HAMILTON, Gunner
61847
Occupation before enlistment: Labourer
 
Clyde Wilfred HEAL, Private
42343
Occupation before enlistment: Labourer

Tehingawaru HOKOPAURA, Private
805231 28th Maori Battalion.
WWII & J-Force
 
W HOVIND
 
S H JOBLIN
 
Rudolph Isaac LAMBERT, Private
30567
Occupation before enlistment: Special Reserves

Alexander George LAMBERT, Private
6926,
Occupation before enlistment: Labourer
 
W LONIE
 
John Fredrick Garry McKENNA
 
Conal Francis McKENNA
 
David Edward McDONALD, Gunner
49430,
Occupation before enlistment: Sharemilker
 
Leonard Samuel MacBETH, Private
73917,
Occupation before enlistment: Slaughterman
 
Wilson S OWEN
Occupation before enlistment: Butcher at Kakaramea
 
George David OAKLEY, Lance Corporal
16483
Occupation before enlistment: Farmer
 
George Evan STOCKMAN, Private
32953,
Occupation before enlistment: NZ Railways
 
Douglas Penrhyn STRUTHERS,
229591,
Occupation before enlistment: Farmhand
 
Colin Herbert THOMPSON, Private
4507,
Occupation before enlistment: Labourer
 
William Gordon TONG, Driver
291033,
Occupation before enlistment: Dairy Farmer
 
T T TREMAYNE
 
Henry Edwin WARD, cannot find War records, he was in Airforce in Canada.
 
Norman Charles WATT
 
William Bell WATT, Driver
261149
Occupation before enlistment: Farmhand, Herbie's younger brother and was in North Africa and Italy during the war. He got Hepatitis in Italy. He was a driver (trucks and ambulances). 
 
Leslie Darcey WILSON, 256525, died 1994, aged 74
 
Leonard John WILSON, Private
24380, 24th Auckland Infantry Battalion
Occupation before enlistment: Labourer
 
Jack WILLIAMSON, Private
35872
Occupation before enlistment: Labourer
 
RIP WWII
 
P E BARRETT maybe…?
EDWARD BARRETT, Private
6882, 22nd Wellington Infantry Battalion
Died – Crete
Died at age 23 on 20 May 1941
Occupation before enlistment: Casual Employment
Son of Mrs E Barrett, Kina Rd, Opunake
 
John Geoffrey HAMLIN, Private
437219, 27th Machine Gun Battalion
Died – Italy. Buried Faenza War Cemetery, Italy
Died at age 23 on 17 April 1945
Son of James Francis Norman & Mary Ellen Hamlin of Kakaramea
 
George Russell JOBLIN, Flight Lieutenant
NZ424982, Royal New Zealand Air Force, 630 Squadron, RAF
Died – Europe, buried Durnbach War Cemetary, Germany
Died at age 24 on 29 July 1944
Son of Robert Guy & Eleanor Joblin, Kakaramea
 
Francis Keith MILHAM, Private
442125, 22nd Motor Battalion
Died – Italy. Buried Ravenna War Cemetery, Italy
Died at age 22 on 3 October 1944
Son of Willaim & Edith Milham (Blossom)of Kakaramea
 
Francis James MINTON, Lance Corporal
30736, 19th  Wellington Infantry Battalion
Died – Western Desert
Died at age 26 on 23 November 1941
Occupation before enlistment: Labourer
Son of Samuel & Elizabeth Minton
Wife: Mrs Alexa E Minton, Cambridge St, Patea
 
Edward George WILSON, Corporal
5310, 19th Wellington Infantry Battalion
Died – Western Desert, buried El Alamein War Cemetery, Egypt
Died at age 26 on 14 July 1942
Occupation before enlistment: Farmhand
Son of Mabel Emma & Robert Renton Wilson of Kakaramea
 
John Sequel WILSON, Sergeant
61863, New Zealand Artillery 5th Field Regiment
Died – Patea
Died at age 26 on 18 November 1945 (0f war wounds after the war finished)
Son of Leonard S & Evelyn J Wilson, Patea