Patea WWI Roll of Honour
 We aren't sure of all these names yet, some were taken from a list made in 1919, please let us know if you have more information on any of them:
Dr George Joseph ADAMS 33642
C ANDERSON
Norman Charles John ASHBY 44335
Arnold Hilary AYERS 28060
Lionel Arthur BAILEY 30468
W BAILEY
A J BAILEY
John BARGH 11779
Frank Lochart BARR 48366
H F BARRETT
Charles BAYLISS 1075
Francis Evanson BEAMISH24303
D BELLAMY
Andrew Honyman BENNIE 2/1332
A BESLEY
T V BINKE
J BLACK
Henry Boyle Hunter BOOTH 25/83
Thomas Hugh BOOTH 10/3838.
Percival Edwin BORTHWICK 11/1660
Arthur Ernest BOSLEY 30166
James Thomas BOURKE 11/1662
Ralph Allan BREWER 13650
George Farquhar BRUCE 10/769
Cecil George BURGESS 10/3203.
Stanley Richard Hailstone BURGESS 10/1111
Sydney Francis BURGESS 10/2877.
*William Joseph Ignatius BUTLER10/276
A J CAMERON
Arthur Adam CAREY 25/1115
*James CARRADUS 33297
Victor William CASELEY 30537
Arthur Charles CASELEY 71423
*Ivor Edward CHAMPION 8/1426
J CHESTER
*Arthur Orlando CHRISTENSEN 10/126
*Henry CHRISTIANSEN 24/80
*Dr Allan Leslie CHRISTIE 3/2915
Dr Howard Henry CHRISTIE3/1461
John Thomas CLAGUE 62017
*William Andrew CLAGUE 10/3217.
George Barraclough CLARK 23/1348
Henry Reginald CLARK 25/95
M CLARK
Basil Capeling CLIFFORD 44348
*Charles Augustus CLOTHIER 30346
Olga CLOTHIER 11/1673
John CODY 27669
Douglas Goodall CODY 28617
R COLEMAN
Mary Nora COLLINS QAIMNSR Nurse
Ernest Murray COPESTAKE 52958
John Henry CORNWALL 4/155
COUSINS
Thomas Samuel COX 52961
S CRAIG
Fredrick John Robert CRANN 11/2069.
C CRISPEN
John Oliver CUNNINGHAM 43806
*Bernard John DEANE 11/508
Norman George Alexander DEATH 31236
George David DEMPSEY 10/621
John Joseph DEMPSEY 68194
Roland Robert DIBBLE 69474
Hope DICK 63119
*Charles DUNN 12018
Arthur DURLING1 0/1228
*James Allen EDEN 33147
Frederick Courtney EDGECOMBE MM 35451
Thomas Henry EDGECOMBE 3/3835.
Gaetone Joseph FAMA 3/668
Emor James Mountney FERGUSON 38004
Arthur John FINNERTY 58044
Edwin Gill FINNERTY 45950
Ernest Layzell FITCH 36261
Charles Edward FITZWATER 36079
Claude Percival FITZWATER 10/630
Ernest Canville FITZWATER 23/423
William Henry FITZWATER 48008
*Samuel FLOYD 64483
Edward Genders FODEN 6/3218.
*Thomas Victor FEAKINS 2/1233a
Brendon GILLIGAN 11/1796
John Stephen GILLIGAN 36281
*Leo Howard GILLIGAN 15106
William Francis GILLIGAN 11/2649.
W GLEDHILL
Dr George GORE GILLON English Army
Edgar John Bennett GOILE 56762
Thomas GOLDSMITH 2003
G A GOULD
*Alexander Herbert GRAHAM 10/366
*Robert GRAHAM 1145
Robert Alexander GRAHAM 56765
Philip Vernon GRAVES 52992
Frederick Percy GREAVES 11/1705
Percival Gordan GREIG 58045
Ernest Henry GULLIVER 11/1798
W HAGAN
J B HALL
Eustace Legard HAMERTON 47879
Laurence Presscot HAMERTON 48022
Francis Harold HAMMOND 44371
Frank HAROLD 10/3584.
George HARRIS 17782
David Martin HARVEY 8/2794.
G HARVIE
William Thomas HATCH 18416
Clifford Henry HAYSOM 10/2639.
George Ritchie HENDRY 10/3595.
Stanley Outram HERMON 28131
Bertie Sydney HIRST 22800
G HOGAN
Stanley HOGAN 16875
B W HOLT
Ernest HOLTHAM 9/1865
Irene Catherine HONEYFIELD 22/522
Leonard HONEYFIELD 50384
Burnham Hirst HORNER enlisted in UK
Edwin HORROBIN 12/134.
Vivian HORROCKS 24/458
George Horatio HOWELL 10/373
Charles Geoffrey HUBBARD 24/185
Raymond Alexander HUGHES 25142
E HUME
Norman HUNGER 44221
George David HUNTER 2676
*Francis HURLEY 40323
Dan HURLEY
Charles Donaldson INGRAM 18240
Ole Sevrin JANSEN 31288
George Henry JARRETT 17/360
Edward Arnold JOHNSON 46040
Francis Norman JOHNSTON 50740
Maurice KEANE 10/1269
Thomas KEANE 54887
Bernard Callcott KIRK 57315
Arthur KNIGHT 10/3926.
A LACEY
Alick Booth LAMB 23396
Cyril William Henry LANGDON 59667
Darcy LANGE 13/2457
Hubert Osmond LARKING 64082
Arthur William LARSON 4/2373.
Harry LAWSON 10/638
H G LEIGH
Horace LEWIN 28164
G LIFFORD
Herbert Reffold LOADER 44226
Frederick William LOCKER 10/779
F LOCKEY
Charles MACKIE 5/202
Joseph Valentine MAHONY 10/422
William Arthur MALLETT 10242
*Eugene Felix MANN 60154
Anthony MARSHALL 20377
James MARSHALL 20378
*Thomas MARSHALL 25/123
William Andrew MARSHALL 77263
George Clytius MARTIN 48050
*Kenneth Murdoch MATHIESON 35831
Avon Epthorpe McALLEY 65674
J McBRIDE
H McDONALD
G McDONALD
G McDOWELL
McGORRERY
Francis Stewart McKENNA 10/614
Frederick James McKENNA 61728
Michael Joseph McKENNA 39869
James McKINLEY 9/170
*John Joseph McLAUGHLIN 10/3675.
Donald John McLEAN 42954
John McNAUGHTON 2/2889. 
*Robert Harold McQUEEN 39872
Neil McKenzie McQUEEN 6/1920.
Gordon Egmont McRAE 17/135
Keith William Sutherland McRAE 16111
Stanley Claude MERCER 71236
Charles MERCER 2450
*Sydney Lawrence MERCER 24/1746
William James MERCER 24/1116
Frank METCALFE
John MINCHIN 13346
Gilbert Gregory McCarthy MITCHELL 12/2392.
Alfred MORELAND 56812
Robert MORELAND 46056
*Arthur James MORSHEAD 13/835
J MOSSOP
*Charles MOYES
George Frederick MUGGLETON 8/1581
*John MULCAHY 10/751
*Kenneth MUNRO 10/1930.
Percy MURFITT 10/643
Frederick William NEWTON 11/507
Charles Gordon NICOL 13/112
J NOTTAGE
William O’GRADY 17/151
Daniel Michael O'GRADY 52872
Maurice Gerald O'GRADY 51119
Cecil Charles OLDHAM 31339
Frank Patea OLDHAM 14/56
J OLIVER 
Daniel Patrick O'NEILL 24/256
Hugh O'NEILL 10/650
N J O'NEILL
Harold  PARSONS 23/551
T PATON
George Henry PEACOCK 33431
Ngawakataurua Teahua PEHIMANA 16/420
William James PENN 56835
Robert Arthur PENSON 22468
Lawerence PEPPERELL 11/1952.
*Harold Lewis Christian PETERSEN 20562
George Percy PETTIGREW 51603
William Joseph PETTITT 20412
John William PICKUP 52881
*Charles Walter POTTS 12/3446.
Leonard Bryant POUPARD 882 AU
Francis PRIDEAUX1 5/76
Humphrey Arnold PRIDEAUX 11/2356.
Leo Meredith PRIDEAUX 82303
Horace George PRIESTLEY 3/221
William Arthur PRINGLE 46070
*John Albert PYM 10/3985
Andrew RAILTON 31349
Peter RASMUSSEN 11/2371.
John William RAWLINGS 23/571
Sydney Herbert READ 28206
REARDON
Hui Kai REHU 16/492
John Robert REID 10/778
*George Alexander ROBBIE 24/1360
A J ROBERTS
*Owen Henry ROBERTS 10/1632
Edward VictorROGERS 25/409
T ROBINSON
*Frank Jennings RULE 10/502
*William Bramwell RULE 39722
*Denis RYAN 10/702
Leui Harold SAUNDERS 10/3996.
Joseph Bower SAWERS 65253
*Frank Herbert SCOTT 30413
*James Edward SCOTT 50954
W SCOTT
George SEYMOUR 4/1470
Thomas Michael SHEAHAN 54606
Stanley Manaia SHRIMPTON 38077
Dr. Wilfred Thomas SIMMONS 3/3084.
T SMITCH
Wilfred Oliver SMITH 21111
Harold John SMITH 26930
Andrew SNELL 12685
H R SOCHER 
*Harold Henry SOUTHCOMBE 23/1193
Leonard James SOUTHCOMBE 58188
Edward Maurice SOUTHCOMBE 30457
J C SOWERS
Charles Ernest STANFORD 10/2317.
William Leonard STANFORD 10/4196.
Henry Louis STEMP 31367
William STEVENSON 59748
George Sainsbury STRACK 10/2821.
William Edward STRANGE 40080
Karl SUISTED 41643
John Valentine SULLIVAN 23056
Arthur John SUTCLIFFE 10/3751.
Albert SWAIN 24/300
Gordon Oliver TAIT 4/1101
Pierce Champion TARRANT 17/330
Charles George TAWSE 343
*John THACKER 10/4008.
Wallace Ruthven THOMPSON 26/144
George Harold THORPE 4/445
Thompson THWAITES 10/2780.
Oliver Herbert TIDSWELL 20458
Norman TINNEY 22887
Percy Henry TINNEY 33083
Percival Arthur TUNBRIDGE 30494
C TURNER
Frederick Edward UDEN 25/147
Arthur Henry WARD 24/319
Arthur Harold WARNER 74901
Richard Abraham WARNER 3/3714.
William WERE 62185
J WHITE
Sidney Herbert WHITE 26491
George Ambler WIDDOWSON 23/1235
Robert WIGMORE 24/1229
James Henry WILKINSON 26/1751
*David  Caradoc WILLIAMS 26/1750
James William WILLIAMS 52910
Joesph Leslie WILLIAMS 11/1870
Thomas Marshall Byrnes WILLIAMS 3/1101
William Edmund WILLIAMS 25627
*Fredrick William WILLIS 59778
Niheta WIREMU 16/498
C WOOTTON
W WRIGHT
Wilfred WYBOURNE 26/146
Alexander WYTKIN 33496
D YOUNG
 
*Denotes: Killed in Action

​Patea as we know it today is built upon a rich and vibrant past. A bustling, industrious township that had its beginnings as a military garrison originally surveyed next to the Patea River at the bottom of Bedford Street in the 1860’s. Its basic beginnings  soon gave way to a sustainable industrial hub and by 1872 a Shipping Company was established and harbour improvements began in this place, which was known as Carlyle for a few years between 1875 - 1881.

​Breakwater construction began in 1878 and before long it was one of the busiest Ports in the region, exporting timber, flax, fungus, wool and general supplies. There were 3 wharves - the town Wharf, 1881, the Railway Wharf, 1883 on the other side of the river, and the Grading Wharf, 1901. It has been forgotten to most that Patea was the largest Cheese grading and exporting Port in the world in the 1920’s as schooners, steamers, cutters and others small ships frequented the coastline. 

And of course the Works which had begun as a canning factory and tallow plant in 1883 became The West Coast Freezing Company in 1901. Nine years later in 1910 it was known as The Patea Freezing Company and was humming.  Employing two or three hundred people throughout the season by this time.  There was even a Post Office on that side of the river, opened in 1891, called “Canville”.  The township that had grown up beyond Bedford Street was a prosperous, graceful gateway leading toward the majestic Mountain.  In the early 1900’s there were 28 two-storey buildings along Egmont Street, most of them with ornate wooden facades.
With all this in mind, and the fact that the population of Patea had reached about 1000 people by the year 1914, you can imagine the loss the town felt when WWI was declared and at least 270 men left to fight for the Empire over that four year period.

These were men like Charles Moyes who asked for an exemption from the Military Service Board to finish the end of the killing season at the Freezing Works, which he was granted. He was a solo butcher, one of many there before the chain system began in 1933 when Lord Vestey bought it. The solo butcher was in control of the whole process of an individual animal from the moment it was killed to when the last cut of meat was laid out for packing. These were strong, skilled men, who worked hard long hours during the peak of the season. Like so many of our best & brightest back then, Charles was killed on the Western Front in 1917.

There has never been a full and concise Roll of Honour done for all the men and women who went to WWI from Patea. The Patea Fire Brigade has a kauri Roll of Honour Shield of their seven men who went to WWI. There are Roll of Honour Boards in St Georges and St Lukes Church, but they are only for their parishioners.  The Patea RSA had a Roll of Honour Board of men from Patea and surrounding districts that were killed in action from WWI (this is now in the museum) but no list of returned servicemen.  There was a list of surnames and initials printed in the Patea Mail on the 1st of August 1919 but the compiler (Mr Horner) stated that the list was incomplete and asked for readers to “contribute more names without delay”, but there was no follow up list. His list has 305 names on it, but some of these are names that appear on Alton, Manutahi, Hurleyville, Kakaramea and Whenuakura Rolls.

So the list I have come up with below is only of men that grew up in Patea, went to Patea Public School, or worked in the town before they went to war. (Names on the list that are just an initial & surname come from that 1919 list, but I haven’t been able to find out who they are yet). The Patea Public School Centennial Book says that records from when the School opened in 1875 until 1908 were destroyed in a fire.  Those are the years most of the men who went to War would have been at school, so there may well be more names that should be included, but we will never know.

The men from Patea that were Killed in Action are listed on the War Memorial by The Waka.  There are names of 22 Patea men who didn’t return from WWI on one of the granite plaques.  I have found another 12 men who should have been included, but for some reason they weren’t…and there are no doubt others I have missed.  The War Memorial as we see it today was officially unveiled in November 1954.  Almost a decade after WWII finished and after years of discussions at the monthly RSA meetings, debates at Patea Borough Council Meetings, and opposing opinions at Public Forums. Three WWII plaques with the names of 34 men killed in action from Patea and surrounding districts were set into the middle section of this monument. The four WWI granite plaques were relocated from the original WWI Memorial Gate posts at the Domain.

Ideas for the original WWI Memorial were as lively and fervent as they were for when it was relocated almost 30 years later.  The Hawera Normanby Star reports on 11 March 1919 that “A scheme for a War Memorial at Patea include the formation of a new Road to the sea from the town, and to provide an Obelisk, a Memorial Gateway, and a children’s playground, at the cost of about £1500”. It also suggested planting a row of trees down the new road to the sea, a gesture that we know 100 years on is optimistic in the coastal conditions it’s situated!  No newspaper article can be found at this stage of the opening of the War Memorial Gates with the four plaques on the four pillars, but it’s thought it was in 1927.

On 12 July 1922 Lord Jellicoe opened the War Memorial at Patea Public School (Patea Primary as we knew it, but it offered high school back then and at other times in the intervening years). This War Memorial was a huge and beautiful tribute to Captain George Robbie who was killed at Passchendaele on 22 July 1917 at aged 42, and to all past students who were killed in action. George Robbie was a well loved and respected Headmaster.  He and his wife Edith had been in Patea for six years before he left for War in 1915, before that he was a teacher at Auroa School. During his time at Patea Public School the roll was about 180. The marble plaque on the left side of the steps reads: “These steps were erected in memory of Lieut G A Robbie (Headmaster) and pupils of this School who fell in The Great War” while the plaque on the right side reads “These Steps, Memorial Avenue, and Gateway were opened by Lord Jellicoe of Scapa, October 27th 1922”.  

The large wooden gates on Egmont Street, which have been gone many years, were painted dark green.  The larger middle gate was seldom used, but Ruth Merrigan told me the two smaller side gates were the main entrance to the School back then, boys used the small gate on the left and girls the small gate on the right – always!  The winding pathway was planted each side with Pohutakawa and red flowering Gum Trees in 1922, leading up to a circular garden with a solitary fan palm underplanted with purple and white verbena.  Ruth also remembers a WWI Roll of Honour Board in the School Hall, no one knows where this is now.

Another teacher from Patea Public School to enlist was George S Strack.  He enlisted the same day as his brother Karl J Strack, of Hawera.  Their father was Headmaster of Hawera High School at the time. Karl was killed at Passchendaele in October 1917, George survived the War.
In an act we would find curious these days War trophies were distributed to local schools.  In the Borough minutes of April of 1923 to Patea Public School a Trench Mortar and Lewis Gun, to Convent School a Machine Gun on a stand, to Whenuakura School a Lewis Gun.  In the Patea Primary School 1975 Centennial Book it tells of the Trench Mortar (which stood on the flat area at the top of the Memorial Steps) being buried somewhere below where the flag pole then stood when the horse paddock on Egmont Street was leveled and turned into the football field in 1933. No one knows what became of the Lewis Gun.  Half-holidays and whole holidays were given at the School when important battles were won during WWI.

The Patea RSA was formed in 1919.  Meetings were held in the Supper room or the Borough Council Chambers at the Patea Town Hall free of charge. Norman Mitchell was first President in January 1919.  Norman went to WWI at the age of 21 at the end of 1915.  He went from the rank of Corporal to Sergeant in the two years that he served, but by the end of 1917 he returned to NZ wounded, unfit for military service.  He returned to the family farm on Rakaupiko Rd at Whenuakura.  Norman’s four brothers also went to WWI, his brother George was killed at Passchendaele at the end of 1917 just after Norman had returned to NZ.  The five Mitchell brothers aren’t on the Whenukura Roll of Honour – they must have gone to school in Patea.   Norman married Daisy Gibbs from Nelson (James Gibbs of Alton was her father’s brother)

Dr Wilfred Simmons was the third Patea RSA President and the longest serving, 12 years 1933-45.  He had arrived at the Patea hospital was as Medical Superintendent in 1904 only one year after he had finished medical school.  Dr Simmons held this position until 1953, a record 49 year’s service to Patea.  He was married in October 1911 to Rubinetta (Ruby) Jane Brewer from Waitotara. They lived in a large home at 8 Hadfield Street, with a surgery attached. Dr Simmons war experience began in March of 1917 at the age of 37 with the NZ Medical Corps. Leaving behind his wife and two daughters (another daughter and son arrived after the war) he headed off.  Firstly he spent about three months at No.2 New Zealand General Hospital Walton on Thames in Surrey, England. The Stately Villa, and huts on its grounds had approximately 1,500 beds. Then off to France in various Casualty Clearing Stations near the Front, then convalescent hospitals. He came back from the War in June 1919, working his way back on hospital ships. He was the only Doctor in Patea when he returned until 1945 when Dr Houghton was appointed assistant medical superintendent.

After the War he returned to his civic work in Patea. He had been a driving force in getting the Patea Town Hall built in 1912. He was vice president of the Patea Golf Club, back when it was on S and E Gilligan’s farm opposite Whitehead Lane.  He and his wife were keen players. And like his friend from Waverley Dr Harvey, he was a keen horseman, and member of the Egmont Wanganui Hunt Club.  He was often master of the Hunt. He also played a large role in the Borough Council, he was on the council for 10 years between 1907 and 1917, being Deputy Mayor, but never actually Mayor even though he did run for it – townsfolk probably wanted him to have some time to be a Doctor!! When the Patea Gentlemen’s Club started in February 1923 Dr Simmons was inaugural President of the committee. It was known as Carlyle Club and was situated above the Deans Book Shop in the old wooden building on the corner, known as Lester’s Building in later years, now an empty section opposite Four Square.
           
Dr Simmons was a passionate champion for the rights of returned servicemen and along with other RSA committee members dealt on a monthly basis with the Dept of Internal affairs – asserting rehabilitation for their local men, setting them up with houses, businesses, farms etc. He fully valued the principles of the RSA, as the minutes 20th April 1940 state: “Referring to the Balance Sheet the President (Dr Simmons) remarked that the Finances of the Association had shown a definite increase, surplus assets having risen to £205-1.6, this being very desirable in view of the fact that the Empire was now a participant in another War, which in due course would add to the ranks of the RSA and thereby increase the Association’s liability. In conclusion the President appealed to members to be loyal to the Association and by so doing assist in carrying on a very valuable work among Ex-Servicemen”. They had a Hospital Committee to visit returned servicemen and a Distress Committee, for local cases of temporary distress among ex-servicemen and their dependants, payments not exceeding £10 were made when needed. There were many cases of returned servicemen’s children needing operations or glasses etc, these were always dealt with in a prompt, compassionate way. In 1945 the Patea RSA Woman’s Section was formed, they had of course played a large part in the organisation over the years already. In 1947 the Patea RSA established an area for Soldiers in the Cemetery on Scotland Street, they spent many weekend working bee hours planting shrubs, trees, and tending it over the years

For at least 50 years the Annual Patea RSA Ball was held in the Town Hall. These were huge affairs, 600 tickets easily sold, Orchestra or Dance Band procured, Debutantes presented, past war heroes, Public figures, and well-dressed citizens in attendance. This hardworking, productive RSA finally after many years of fundraising got their new purpose-built RSA Club Rooms at 39 Stafford St.  It was opened on 3rd September 1955 with an evening of speeches, songs and dance.  It was built by local man Mr Cal Bird.  And as they still do today, the Patea RSA organized the ANZAC Day parades way back when the first of the WWI soldiers were returning home. Ruth told me services were at 2pm in the afternoon in the early years, and then moved to 11am, followed by refreshments provided by CWI.  They would meet at the intersection where Boer War Lamp was (it’s now by the museum), which is where the public toilets are today. Returned Servicemen, Firemen, Boy Scouts, Girl Guides all in uniform, would march down Egmont Street lead by the Patea Municipal Band or the Patea District Pipe Band to the Domain, through the War Memorial Gates. Speeches, wreath laying, and bugle call, followed by a fine selection of savouries and cakes at the Town Hall.

On 24 April 1922 the first Poppy Day was held in New Zealand. A total of 245,059 small poppies and 15,157 larger versions were sold, earning £13,166 (equivalent to $1.3 million today). Of that amount, £3695 ($365,000) was sent to help war-ravaged areas of northern France; the remainder went to unemployed New Zealand returned soldiers and their families.

Norm Waite was the son of Anne Maria & Richard Waite. He born in New Plymouth in 1894,  but went to WWI from Wanganui at the age of 20. He started as a Private, and became a Sergeant during the war. He enlisted as soon as WWI was declared and sailed with the first shipload of Soldiers that left NZ on 16 October 1914. He served in most campaigns, including Gallipoli.
When WWII was declared he was actually 44 years old, but obviously took 10 years of his age, as his records show him as being 34 in 1939, and that he was born in 1904 – like so many men at his time, he was keen to go and fight for the Empire, although not many had done this twice. He was working in Dannevirke before WWII. It looks like he got sick or injured in WWII & returned to NZ in 1941. Soon after this he came to Patea Freezing Works, & started working as an engineer. He made many friends, & was well thought of by everyone who remembers him. He lived in Mrs Prouse’s boarding house, a few doors down from the Dairy at the bottom of Bedford Street. Robyn Sinclair has fond memories of him playing cards with her Dad & other friends on Sundays. Norm would sometimes babysit the 5 Sinclair girls, & would usually fall asleep on the sofa, so the girls would tie ribbons in his hair & draw on his face with a cork rubbed in the blackening on the coal range. Robyn said this never bothered him. Norm died on 26 January 1979 in Marton. What an interesting guy he must have been. Bill Verney also has fond memories of this fascinating man:
“Norm Waite,    Well he was a very good engineer who had a good knowledge of the mechanics of the works machinery, More so than some of his superiors I actually saw him and the Chief engineer standing out of sight of the other engineers and Norm gesticulating to the chief , they parted and the chief went over to the job in hand and the machine was soon back in production.
One day the Chief Engineer came looking for Norm only to be told The Works Manager had sacked Norm for being drunk, The Chief said he cannot sack him he is my staff and I am the only one who can sack him, he then got in his new Rover 90 went to the Masonic Hotel went in told Norm to finish his beer he was going back to work because only I can sack you,So he returned Norm to the drying room,which
ran at about 40 degrees centigrade where Norm would sleep off the effects albeit standing with his arms locked on the pipe frame in side.
 One night when I was working the shop (Rainbow Milkbar, owned by Bill’s parents Frederick & Ada Verney) Norm staggered in for his tea, It was a quiet night so I got Norm what he wanted and sat and talked to him for some time. He told me how he put his age up for the First World War and while away fighting he was posted missing (his platoon had been sent to blow up a bridge after doing the job got cut off and it took a week to get back to his unit, his Mother was informed he was missing.) She took this very badly and got very sick, They got news that he was safe but she didn’t believe them and shortly after she died, so Norm blamed himself for killing his Mother.
He then put his age down 10 years for WWII.
The night before going in on Gallipoli in WWI they (he and 4 mates) Stole a bottle of rum and toasted each other and said they would do so back in good old NZ on the 25th of April every year  yes you guessed it he was the only one that came home.And if you ever saw him in The Central Hotel after the dawn parade you would have seen 5 glasses of rum lined up on the bar and Norm would take one “to Bob” another glass “to Peter”another glass and so forth lastly to Norm.By this time the tears were pouring down his face...you couldn’t help but feel very sorry for him.
He then said when I got home I had a Girl friend, my car and the booze, But alas my friend had married my girlfriend, but I still had my car and the booze, petrol got too dear so I sold my car but HEY I still had the booze. So there was Norm, a man I admired.... he and all the others gave me my freedom”.
Leonard Honeyfield and his younger sister Irene, went to WWI from Patea. Their widowed mother Catherine was living just up the road from Dr Simmons in ‘Egmont Veiw’ homestead at 1 Hadfield Street. And their brother Ivo had married Dr Simmon’s sister; Prudence in 1910. Irene was a registered nurse and was away from July 1918 until December 1919 serving as a staff nurse in convalescent hospitals in England. Leonard was in the Wellington Mounted Rifles, & like many other Troopers, took his horse with him to Egypt, a one way trip for his beloved, constant companion. His son Geoff showed me the original telegrams, folded and stained with time, telling of Leonard suffering from severe malaria in late 1918.  As the telegram’s go on his health improves and he is moved to Aotea Convalescent Hospital in Cairo. It’s unknown if Leonard crossed paths while in Egypt with the woman he was to marry back home in October 1922. As far as Geoff knows, his parents didn’t meet until Elsie Finch moved to Patea to work at the Hospital alongside her friend Matron Kelly.  Elsie had trained as a registered Nurse in her hometown of Timaru, & had gone to Egypt at the end of the War, to care for NZ Soldiers too ill to return home. She then went to India & continued nursing until she set sail for home on a hospital ship in September 1920. Elsie bought home some beautiful Egyptian cotton under garments that are now in the Museum in Patea. Leonard & Irene are on the St Georges WWI Roll of Honour.

Arthur Orlando Christensen, or Artie as he was known, went off to war at the age of 23 and was in the first wave to land at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, but within three months he had died of Typhoid on a Hospital Ship off the coast of the Dardanelles.  Artie had worked for his father in his Fellmongery down near the Works before he went to WWI. His parents were Adolph Theodor and Louisa Christensen.  Adolph was Mayor of Patea from 1908-11 and again in 1919-21.  He had came to NZ from Denmark with nothing, and bought into a Fellmongery in Patea.  During WWI he became a Government valuer in a new wool, skins and hide supplies venture for military uniforms etc.
Out of the 6 sons & 1 daughter that Sarah & Harry Fitzwater had, 4 of them went to WWI. On 17 March 1917, the Hawera Normanby Star reports: “Mrs H Fitzwater of Patea has a record of which any mother could be well proud. In addition to her second boy, who was severely wounded and lost the sight of his right eye at Gallipoli, she has another son in the trenches at the Somme and a third on his way to the front as a member of the wireless section whilst a fourth is in training in camp at Trentham. Her only other unmarried son was one of the first to volunteer but was rejected as unfit to volunteer, owing to a bicycle accident he sustained”

Miraculously all 4 returned from the War, but they all returned with War wounds of one kind or another, like so many of their wartime contemporaries, & life was never the same for them again.. Claude lost his right eye, & it took 22 operations to try & fix the wound it left. William spent time in Hornchurch Hospital after the Battle of Somme. Charles served in Mesopotamia, & later contracted influenza in France in 1918 which he fortunately survived. And Ernest was no longer physically fit for war service after his time on the harrowing Western Front.

Ernest’s son Harry told me his Dad never spoke of his war years, a familiar reply from the many children of soldiers I’ve talked to. (Ernie & Harry share the same middle name; Canville, after the area the Freezing works was situated in). Before the war Ernie was a jockey in Patea. He started the war as a ‘batman’, personal servant for an officer in the Sinai campaign. The Sinai campaign is not as well known as other WWI campaigns, the main aim was to secure the Suez Canal from the threat of Ottoman attack from the Sinai Peninsula. After that he volunteered for the savage campaign known as ‘the Spring Offensive’ early in 1918 as the German’s tried to break through the Western Front Line.
On 21 July 1915 the Patea Press printed an insightful story about Private Claude Fitzwater’s experiences at Gallipoli.  It tells of his voyage from Wellington with the first fleet of NZ infantry troops, in October of 1914 to Alexandria. On the way they collected 35 German Prisoners of War from their bombed ship the ‘Emden’ taking them with them to Cairo.  He spent a few weeks at Zeitoun Camp in Cairo, then on the 8 April along with ship loads of troops he left for the Dardanelles.  They stayed on the island of Lemnos practicing disembarkation and other maneuvers for the landing. Then at 2am on Sunday 25 April they weighed anchor at Lemnos and set sail for the Gallipoli Penninsula, reaching their destination at about 6am, as dawn was breaking.  The troopship anchored about 2 miles off shore where they were transferred into destroyers until about half a mile off shore where they got into row boats for the last stretch. Out of the 34 men in Claude’s row boat only 10 made it to shore in one piece.  Claude jumped out of the rowboat and had to wade through neck high water with his rifle to reach land. They charged the hill and advanced two miles then dug in for 3 days. Then “We scrambled out and with a cheer and yell made for the trenches at top speed. It was like nothing so much as ‘following up’ after a kick at a football match.”  He is very pragmatic & animated when describing the hand to hand action he encounted, & he goes on to say “the Turks were dressed in light khaki with baggy trousers. Some had bright red waistcoats which made splendid targets”

It was now, after only three days on this deadly ground that Claude was shot through the temple.  Fellow Patea soldiers Artie Christensen, Frank McKenna, Hughie O’Neil, Fred Locker, Jack Mulcahey and Jack Reid were fighting beside him.  Hughie and Fred took him to a dressing station 400 yards in the rear and Dr Home from New Plymouth attended to him. It must have been surreal to have familiar faces from home in such a strange, hostile place. Family historian Brian Fitzwater told me he talked to Fred Locker many years ago, & Fred didn’t know if Claude had survived until he returned in 1919, a reminder of how minimal communication was back then.  There were 1,100 wounded on the Hospital Ship he was evacuated on, 45 died before they got to Alexandria. He returned to NZ on 15 July 1915 on the Willochra. The people of Patea greeted him with a huge homecoming welcome on his return. In spite of his disfiguring eye injury he went on to purchase a rehab farm covered in blackberry and gorse near Fielding and transformed it into a viable farm. His son became a spitfire squadron leader in WWII.
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The tenacity the people of Patea showed during these War Years was limitless. They mirrored the energy the rest of this young country had, to prove itself by ‘doing its bit and carrying on’ until the boys got home. Interestingly the first piece of tarseal that Patea saw, was laid on Egmont Street in 1917, no doubt by men who were unfit for military service, ‘the lucky ones’ as hindsight has shown. We will remember them, these names from the past, those who went away & fought for us, and 100 years on be just as grateful for what they did.

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Patea WWI SOLDIERS killed in action
William Joseph Ignatius BUTLER, Private, 10/276
Wellington Infantry Battalion
Died –  Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli
Died at age 20 years old on 8 August 1915
Occupation before enlistment: Cheesemaker at Kakaramea factory (prob worked at Whenuakura before that, he is on Whenuakura Roll)
Son of William & Mary Ellen Butler, Shannon, NZ
 
James CARRADUS, Private, 33297
New Zealand Training Unit
Died from accident occurring, or disease contracted, while training with or attached to the NZEF in New Zealand, buried at Patea Cemetery.
Died at age 18, on 1 November 1916
Son of William & Ellen Carradus. Husband of Mary Carradus, formerly Hurliman, Normanby.

Ivor Edward CHAMPION, Private, 8/1426 ?check this?
Otago Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion
Died – Somme, France
Died at age 40 on 27 Sept 1916
Occupation before enlistment: Gardener & clerk
Son of M Champion, Somerset, England

Arthur Orlando CHRISTENSEN, Corporal, 10/1206
Wellington Infantry Battalion, 2nd Reinforcements
Died – At sea, HMHS Sicilia off Gallipoli, of Typhoid
Died at age 24, on 20 July 1915
Occupation before enlistment: Fellmonger
Son of AT & L Christensen, Patea
 
Henry CHRISTIANSEN, Lance Corporal, 24/80
New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 2nd Battalion, A Company
Died – France
Died at age 24, 1 October 1916
Occupation before enlistment: Brickmaker for H Morris & Son, Patea
Son of: Christian Henrik & Martha Catherine Christiansen, Patea
 
*William Andrew CLAGUE, Private, 10/3217
Wellington Infantry Regiment
Died – Belgium
Died at age 37, 8 June 1917
Occupation before enlistment: Farmer
Son of Edward & Jessie Clague, Manaia. William was born in Patea & went to Patea Primary
 
Charles Augustus CLOTHIER, Rifleman, 30346
New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 2nd Battalion
Died – Somme, France
Died at age 30, 26 March 1918
Occupation before enlistment: Shepherd for Mr W Doole Ararata
Son of Charles & Matilda Clothier
He’s on the St Georges Roll of Honour
 
Bernard John DEANE, Trooper, 11/508
Wellington Mounted Rifles, Main Body that left NZ 16 Oct 1914
Died – Gallipoli, Turkey
Died at age 20, on 28 August 1915
Occupation before enlistment:
Son of: Rev Henry J & Norah Deane, Somerset, England
 
*George David DEMPSEY, Corporal, 10/621
Wellington Mounted Rifles
Died -Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli, at age 29, on 8 August 1915
Occupation before enlistment: Patea Freezing Works
Son of George Joseph & Elizabeth Dempsey, Mangatoki
 
Charles DUNN, Sapper, 12018
New Zealand Expeditionary Force, 12th Reinforcements
Died – Messines, Belgium
Died at age 32. 7 June 1917
Occupation before enlistment: Carpenter. Patea last NZ address
Son of:John & Thirza Dunn, Lincolnshire, England

 James Allen EDEN, Private, 33147
2nd Battalion, NZ Rifle Brigade
Died – Somme
Died at age 30 on 9 Sept 1918
Occupation before enlistment: NZ Railways
Son of Alice and William Eden, Spring Grove, Nelson
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*Thomas Victor FEAKINS, Private, 2/1233a
Died -25 August 1918, Bapaume, France, at age 26, Gunner
Occupation before enlistment: Carpenter
Son of William and Helen Feakins, of Lepperton. 
His name is on the Patea RSA Roll of Honour as 'C Freakins'
 
Samuel FLOYD, Private, 64483
New Zealand Entrenching Battalion
Died after the War finished of War Wounds, buried at Patea Cemetery
Died at age 38, on 1 Feb 1921
Son of George & Mary Floyd of Patea. Husband of Gwendoline Frost Floyd, of Cornwall, England.
 
*Leo Howard GILLIGAN, Rifleman, 15106
New Zealand Rifle Brigade
Died after the War finished of War Wounds, buried at Makaraka, Gisborne
Died at age 32 , on 13 February 1920
Occupation before enlistment: Clerk at Firth Pumice Company at Ohinewai, near Huntly
Son of: Patrick Stephen & Elizabeth Gilligan, nee McNamara
 
*Francis HURLEY, Corporal, 40323
Auckland Infantry Regiment
Died of wounds, Somme, France
Died at age 30, on 1 September 1918
Occupation before enlistment: Farmer
Son of J & Ellen Hurley, Patea
 
*Eugene Felix MANN, Pte, 60154
Auckland Infantry Regiment
Died of wounds, France
Died at age 37, on 25 August 1918
Occupation before enlistment: Ironmonger, previously worked at Gibsons Patea
Husband of  Catherine Mann, Auckland. His father was postmaster at Patea
 
*Thomas MARSHALL, Rifleman, 25/123
New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 3rd Battalion
Died of wounds, Somme, France
Died at age 21, 5 October 1916
Occupation before enlistment: Labourer for Alex Davidson Whenukura
Son of Andrew & Naomi Marshall, Pungarehu
 
Kenneth Murdoch MATHESON, Trooper, 35831
Wellington Mounted Rifles, 23rd Reinforcements
Died – Palestine, Egypt
Died at age 30, on 14 November 1917
Occupation before enlistment: Farrier in Patea
 
Robert Harold MCQUEEN, Lance Corporal, 39872
Wellington Infantry Battalion, 23rd Reinforcements, B Company
Died – Somme, France
Died at age 26, on 11 April 1918
Occupation before enlistment: Bank Clerk at Bank of New South Wales Patea
Son of Charles & Christina McQueen, Greymouth, NZ
 
Sydney L MERCER, Private, 24/1746
Wellington Infantry Battalion, 2nd reinforcements
Died of wounds at Somme, France, 25 Sept 1916
Son of George & Emily Mercer, Patea
 
* Matthew George MITCHELL, Private, 25/124
No 2 Coy, New Zealand Machine Gun Corps
Died – Ypres, Belgium
Died at age 30, on 5 December 1917
Occupation before enlistment: Dairy Farmer
Son of: Matthew & Jessie Mitchell, Chinamans Hill, Patea
 
*Arthur James MORSHEAD, Trooper, 13/835
Wellington Mounted Rifles
Died of Disease, Egypt,
Died at age ? on 29 June 1916
Son of  Mrs S Morshead, Argyle St, Hawera
On Patea Mail list 1919
 
Charles MOYES, War records not on line yet
Died mid 1917, on the Western Front
Occupation before enlistment: Butcher, Patea Farmers Coop Freezing Works Co Ltd.
enlisted right at start of War
Hawera Normanby Star, 22 Nov 1917- Death reported
 
*John MULCAHY, Private, 10/751
Wellington Infantry Battalion
Died at Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli
Died at age 21 on 8 August 1915
Occupation before War: farmhand for Mr A Hurley, Patea
Son of Patrick and Isabella Mulcahy, Wellington
 
*Kenneth MUNRO, Lieutenant, 10/1930
Wellington Infantry Battalion
Died at Somme, at age 25 on 3 July 1916
Occupation before the War: Malones Solicitors Stratford
Son of John & Helen Munro
 
Harold Lewis Christian PETERSEN, Rifleman, 20562
New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 7th Reinforcements, 4th Battalion, H Company
Died – Somme, France
Died at age 19, on 7 April 1918
Occupation before enlistment: Porter
Son of: Martin & Ellen Petersen, Albion Hotel, Patea
 
*Leonard Bryant POUPARD 822
Australian Infantry 2 Battalion, he had moved to Australian when WWI broke out
Died – Passchendaele
Died at age 33, on 6 November 1917
Worked at Gibson Stores in Patea, then on farms at Alton
Son of Thomas and Florence Adeline Poupard of Petone
 
*Charles Walter POTTS 12/3446
Sapper New Zealand Engineers, 2 Field Company
Died – Somme, France
Died at age 38, on 17 September 1916
Occupation before enlistment: Carpenter
Son of Charles & Augusta Potts, (Charles was a carpenter/undertaker in Patea in 1880/90’s)
 
*John Albert PYM, Private, 10/3985
Wellington Infantry Battalion
Died – France, of wounds
Died – at age 24, on 3 August 1916
Occupation before enlistment: Sharemilker for R Taylor, Patea
Son of John & Fanny Pym, Wellington
 
Frank Jennings RULE, Corporal, 10/502
Wellington Infantry Battalion
Died – Gallipoli
Died – 26 May 1915
Son of Rev F Rule, Chch
Frank & his brother William are on the Knox Church (Presbyterian) Roll of Honour, their Dad may have been Reverend of Patea Parish for a while?
 
*William Bramwell RULE, Lieutenant, 39722
New Zealand Rifle Brigade
Died – Ypres, Battle of Passchendaele
Died – 12 Oct 1917
Son of Rev F Rule, Chch
Occupation before enlistment: School Teacher
 
 George Alexander ROBBIE, Lieutenant, 24/1306
2nd Reinforcements to 2nd Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade
Died – Ypres, Battle of Passchendaele, Belgium
Died at age 42, on 22 July 1917
Occupation before enlistment: School Teacher
Wife: Edith Emily Robbie. Parents: James & Isabella Robbie, P Nth

Owen Henry ROBERTS, Private, 10/1632
Wellington Infantry Battalion, 3rd Reinforcements
Died – Malta
Died at age 20, on 26 May 1915
Occupation before enlistment:
Son of Henry James & Maria Roberts, Patea

 Denis RYAN, Private 43704
Wellington Mounted Rifles
Died – of wounds in Hawera NZ
Died at age 36, on 14 November 1918
Occupation before enlistment: Draughtsman for JA Duffill Hawera, Fireman Patea
Son of John & Mary Ryan, Hawera, Wife of Kate Ryan Disreali St, Hawera
 
*Frank Herbert SCOTT, Rifleman, 30413
New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 4th Battalion
Died – Somme, France
Died at age 39, on 29 March 1918
Occupation before enlistment: Labourer for Patea Shipping company
Son of George Scott, Canterbury
 
James Edward SCOTT, Driver, 50954
NZ Army Corps
Died – Tidworth Military Hospital, England
Died at age 41, on 8 October 1918, of influenza & Bronchial pneumonia.
Son of James Muir and Eliza Scott of Victoria Australia.
James lived at the Central Hotel, Patea and owned a Tearooms in Patea (unsure which one)
  
John THACKER, Private, 10/4008
Wellington Infantry Battalion, 10th Reinforcements, B Company
Last Unit served in: NZ Cyclist Battalion
Died – Somme France
Died at age 25, on 30 August 1918
Occupation before enlistment: Butcher
Friend of C A Larcombe, Patea

 David Caradoc WILLIAMS, Rifleman, 26/1750
New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 2nd Reinforcements, 4th Battalion, H Company
Died – Somme, France
Died at age 23 , on 13 September 1916
Occupation before enlistment: Clerk
Son of Hugh & Elizabeth Williams, Wales
 
Fredrick William WILLIS, Private, 59778
Auckland Infantry, 31st Reinforcements, A Company
Died – France
Died at age ?, on 20 July 1918
Occupation before enlistment: Butcher at Patea Freezing Works
Son of Mrs A Willis, Patea