Waitotara WWI Roll of Honour
​Hone APERAHAMA  16/381
*Andrew Duncan ARTHUR
45970
Alphonse Campbell ARTHUR-WORSOP MM  8/3469
Archibald Kerr ARTHUR-WORSOP 3/169A
*Francis Henry ARTHUR-WORSOP 3/154
William Cunninghamn ARTHUR-WORSOP 12961
George BALL 11/468
Harle Middleton BEAUMONT
6/3988
Harold Wilfred BEAUMONT
4/2050
*William Bellamy BEAUMONT
4/2254
*Leslie Rudolp BIRCH 11/2417
Brian BLENNERHASSETT
13/665
Norman  BLENNERHASSETT
13/666
*James Joseph BREEN
10/2078
Arthur Andrew BUNN
24/984
*Ernest BUNN  25453
Patrick BURKE  61525
Ivo CARR  662487
*Leonard Philip CAVE
2/2091
Albert Charles COLE 68188
*Robert Stephen CORBETT
20305
Stephen CRAWSHAW
12588
*Matthew Goodwin CURRY
41429
Alfred DAWSON  11/1539
Sydney DUFFY  81117
Arthur Oswald DUFFY
11/494
George DUNFORD
61577
John EGGERS  46007
John  FEATHERSTONE
13/2035
W FERGUSON
William David GEE
7/1731
Sidney William GOLDING
10/360
William Henry GORRELL
10/3890
Norman Victor GREAGER
57551
Henry Rayford GREEN
76152
Montegue Hesketh GROVE
Cyril David HANDLEY
182593
*Walter Basil HANDLEY
23/444
William Henry HARTING
75829
James Montague Job HARTWELL 69486
David Martin HARVEY
8/2794
*Albert Robb HICKS
35972
Cornelius James HOWARD
17/304
Gordon HUGHES
25163
Cyril HURLEY
30374
Jesse James HURLEY
5/305
Leonard HURLEY
9/834
Levi HURLEY
13924
William Alexander HURLEY
11/466
Edgar Samuel JAGO
56785
Francis Edward JAGO
Gilbert Edward JAGO
11/474
Frank Reginold JEFFERY
28149
Andrew JENSEN
26/1625
*Jack JOHNSON
8/1522
*Henry Earle JONES
25165
Toi Wiremu KANIKA
16/637
Tewa KARAURIA
19393
Owen David KINSELLA
24/1409
*John KIRKLAND
20362
Jack KNUCKEY
48040
R H LABRON
Sergeant
Archibald Charles LAIRD
50094
*Alexander Craig LEITH
11889
John Mackie MAITLAND
10/3639
*Robert MAITLAND
26643
Robert John MALCOLM
10/2496.
Edward MATSEN
2/1649
Fred MATSEN
10/1291
Charlotte Henrietta MATTHEWS
22/254
*Ernest Frank MATTHEWS
43107
*Frederick Collett MATTHEWS
10731
Allan McKAY
81308
J McKNIGHT
*Archibald Clement MITCHELL
8/3360
John MOREHU 16/374
Peter  NEILSON 11/467
Leslie Robert NEILSON
17154
William Percy OLD
59151
Thomas Wyld PAIRMAN
13/3236
Frank Kenneth PEARCE
30115
John PORTER 45911
*Tame POTONGA
16/388
Richard Joseph POWER
57803
Emslie Henry REID
61781
Harold Roy RIEMENSCHNEIDER
10254
Rereti RIO 19369
Gregory Lawrence ROACHE
13/3131
*Frederick SECOMBE
9/877
George SIM 76299
Philip Tenison SMITH
10/3086.
Oscar STAITE 28554
Claude Neville de Gray STEVENS
28222
Hoani John SULLIVAN-TIEKETAHI
16/415
Iwiora TAMAIPAREA 60622
Kimi TAMOU 16/419
Rangiore TAMOU 16/926
George THOMPSON 17145
John Thomas THOMPSON
13484
Kotuku TIEKETAHI 16/417
James Wilkie TURNER 7/1913
Clifford Noel VICKRIDGE 11/476
Nelson George VERRY 44622
Albert Charles VINCENT 26520
*Percy David VINCENT 59763
Stanley VINCENT 64176
Walter James VINCENT 62181
Douglas Gerald WARNER
61916
Peter  WATTY 13834
*Norman Allan WATSON
7/1304
Mack WERETA 16/783
Poi WERETA 16/785
*Herewini WHAKARUA
16/382
Turi WHAREMATE 16/384
*Philip Edwards WILLIAMS
10260
Harry Augustus WILLIAMS
10/1366
David Wilke WILSON
58190
Thomas Emerson WILSON
11/556
Herbert John WILSON
39627
Tira WIPA 20889

*Denotes: Killed in Action

      Waitotara WWI Soldiers article from the Patea Waverley Press Nov 2017:
 
The sacrifice the people of Waitotara made during WWI was immense, and the memorials from a grieving community still stand proudly around the district after almost a century. There is a Roll of Honour in St Marks Church, a concrete archway at Waipapa Marae at Ngutuwera, a list at Te Ihupuku Marae on the way to Wai-inu Beach, the Waitotara Memorial Gates at the Domain, and a majestic memorial at Moutoa Garden’s in Whanganui.
 
Within weeks of Britain declaring war on Germany in August 1914, the Waitotara Patriotic Society was formed. The whole community got behind this energetic organisation; everyone wanted to do their bit. Initially it was for the Belgian Relief Fund, then for their boys that were enlisting, and heading to training camps before heading off to the front. Articles in The Patea Mail speak of children collecting cocksfoot seed, from grass growing on the roadside in the area to sell to seed agents and raise money for the cause. The adults held Euchre evenings, and sports days, with a hat going around to collect funds. Women had knitting circles on a weekly basis, sending boxes of woollen items away to their soldiers.
 
On 16 December 1915 the Waitotara Patriotic Society, joined forces with Whanganui, and the ‘Wanganui-Waitotara Patriotic Committee’ was formed. Together they held the very popular and well patronised ‘Patriotic Ball’ every second Thursday night the Waitotara Hall throughout the war years. People came from far and wide to dance until the early hours of the morning, with all proceeds going to the War Effort. When R.S.A Clubs started around the country in 1919, Waitotara ‘returned men’ chose not to have their own R.S.A, instead they travelled to Waverley and took part in their RSA activities. It wasn’t until near the end of WWII that Waitotara was officially included in the Waverley R.S.A. On 19 October 1944, members unanimously approved a motion to change the name of the Association to Waverley-Waitotara R.S.A.
 
A strong and active R.S.A man after the War, was Trooper William A. Hurley from Waitotara. His father William Gable Hurley and wife Mary had moved to Waitotara in the 1870’s, operating a successful bakery and accommodation house. They had eleven children and four of their sons went to WWI, they all returned. Young Bill had served in the Wairoa Mounted Rifles, then the Boer War in 1901, and enlisted without hesitation with the Wellington Mounted Rifles when war was declared in August 1914, taking his own horse with him. By this stage his parents had died, he was married with six children, and operating a busy Coach and Cartage company on Kaipo Street, Waitotara, where the family bakery had once been. His wife Elizabeth was not happy with Bill’s decision to leave all this in her hands. She was a capable, enterprising woman though, and before long she had sold most of the horses and wagons and bought two Overland automobiles and a Ford truck. Three of Bill’s brother’s Levi, Len and Jesse, also went to War, as well as most of their other staff. Elizabeth took their oldest son Arthur out of School, they both learnt to drive, and they kept the business going until Bill returned.
 
There were a large number of Māori men who enlisted in the Māori Battalion from the area, (16 names confirmed so far) and at least six of them were in the Gallipoli campaign. WWI was the first time Māori officially served as Soldiers of the Empire, though some served unofficially in the Boer War. Initially they were put into a distinct unit known as the NZ Māori Contingent and grouped by regional and tribal affiliations.  By early 1916 The Māori Contingent ceased to exist, and Māori troops were incorporated into the New Zealand Pioneer Battalion, sometimes referred to as the Māori Pioneer Battalion. The Māori Battalion was not meant to be front-line fighting units (although this wasn’t always the case), but a military labour force trained and organised to work on engineering duties, digging trenches, building roads and railways, and taking on any other logistical tasks deemed necessary. This was essential and dangerous work that was often carried out under fire.
As local Māori went away to War, they would always call in at sacred Tutahi Church on the Nukumaru Straight. It is built on the site of the formidable Tauranga-ika Pā, where Riwha Titokowaru’s last battle was abandoned on 2 February 1869. No evidence of this well constructed engineering masterpiece is visible on the landscape now, but the warrior spirit lived on in the men of this tribe who left to fight on foreign battlefields. Tutahi Church is still a very significant and spiritual site for Māori, a point of reference and a place to call in at when they leave or arrive in Taranaki.
 
The original entrance to Waipapa Marae on Ngutuwera Road, has a concrete archway over the gate with the names of three fallen WWII soldiers, as well as the name of 2nd Lieutenant John Sullivan-Tieketahi, who served in WWI and WWII. Waipapa Marae was badly damaged in the 2004 flood, so in November 2008 the Marae’s three main buildings were moved to a new location on higher ground on Block 9 Road, leaving the gate and archway in its original location, leading to a now empty paddock. The marble plaques in the archway read:
-Corporal George Wiremu Pokai, 35542, KIA 1-6-1944, Cassino Cemetery
-William Wereta, 65390, KIA 26-10-1942, El Alamein Cemetery. Hinga matou  mote iwi hei  konei
-Wiri Karipa, 62549, KIA 4-9-1942, El Alamein Cemetery), He whaka mahara kia Wiri Karipa Hinga a he pakanga
as well as the name of: 2nd Lieutenant John Hoani Sullivan-Tieketahi, who served in WWI and WWII, and survived both.
Who also served in
Great War 1914-1918
Kaore he Aroha i rite ki tenei
i tuku i tona tinana ki te Mate
 
An incredibly realistic marble statue of Herewini Whakarua stands strong at the top of the tall stone War Memorial at Whanganui's Pākaitore/Moutoa Gardens. It was the first War Memorial in the Country to honour Māori Soldier’s when it was unveiled in 1925.  It has the names of 17 local Māori killed in WWI on a granite tablet at its base. Of Ngā Rauru descent, Herewini had attended Whanganui Collegiate College, where his leadership skills were apparent. He was farming at his tūrangawaewae of Waitotara when war was declared in August 1914. He enlisted immediately and was dispatched to Egypt with the first Maori Contingent on 14 February 1915. By May 1915 he was in the Dardanelles, playing a pivotal part in the Gallipoli campaign. After the evacuation of Gallipoli in early December 1915, he was sent to France, by this time he had risen to the rank of Sergeant-Major. He received very severe wounds from shell fire in both thighs as well as his neck and was treated at a field hospital on 3 January 1918. He died ten days later at the age of 25 in England. Herewini was the son of Iwiora Tamaiparea and Te Ata Whiro. In an act of great sacrifice, and following through on the promise to replace his son in battle if he fell, Herewini’s father – an Anglican Minister- enlisted at the age of 41 years a few weeks after his son died. By June 1918 he was heading overseas with the Maori Pioneer reinforcements where he served for a year and a half, finally returning to home with influenza in late 1919, fortunately he survived this deadly epidemic and lived on for another 10 years.
Herewini’s Whakarua's statue was removed from the top of the monument in Moutoa Gardens in March 2013 because of safety concerns with the 90 year old tall rock obelisk on which it stands. It took three years to restore the stone tower, and the statue, which was housed in the Sarjeant Gallery for the conservation process. It was officially unveiled at an emotional ceremony on ANZAC Day 2017, with a crowd of hundreds in attendance. A movie called 'Set in Stone' was made about the story & restoration of this memorial by 'Double Farley' of Whanganui.
 
Private John Morehu was one of the 43 members of the Māori Pioneers who served with the New Zealand Tunnelling Company and assisted in the late 1916 early 1917 preparations of the Arras caverns for the Battle of Arras, France. John was born in Waitotara, but was working on a farm in Waitara when he enlisted at the age of 22. He sailed from Wellington on the SS Warrimoo on 14 February 1915 with 500 other Soldiers of the first contingent of the Māori Battalion in WWI. These men of the Māori Pioneers entered Avondale camp, Auckland, in October 1914 and left New Zealand in February 1915. By early July he was in Gallipoli, where the Māori Battalion had a combat role with the Wellington Mounted Rifles. When the Gallipoli campaign was abandoned five months later, John spent time in Cairo before heading off to the Western Front. While he was in Cairo, he was reprimanded for ‘Drunkenness’. Heartening to know they did have a bit of fun amid the horror of it all. After four years and 196 days military service abroad, John returned home to a job at the Patea Freezing Works, where he worked until the late 1940’s.
Tame Potonga was destined to become chief of his tribe but was wounded in battle and returned home where he died of pulmonary tuberculosis at Waikato Sanitorium on 31 December 1915. The Wanganui Chronicle reports on 6 January 1916: ‘The funeral of the late Private T. Potonga, of the First Maori Contingent, took place at the Pakaraka Native Cemetery (Maxweltown) yesterday afternoon, the deceased being accorded full military honours. He was the son of the well-known Chief Kaioha Potonga of Waitotara’
 
Another legendary member of the Māori Battalion was Private Hoani Sullivan-Tieketahi, also known as Tatara Tarawene. He enlisted at the very beginning of the War, sailed for Egypt with the first contingent of Māori soldiers, then Gallipoli, where he was wounded at the Battle of Chunuk Bair on 10 August 1915. He was invalided to England, and re-joined his battalion on his recovery. In 1916 on the Somme, he was wounded seriously and spent ten months in hospital before being invalided home again. Twenty years later, at the age of 41, Hoani enlisted in the 28th Māori Battalion when WWII began, but ongoing injuries from WWI saw that venture short lived. He was a member of the Home Guard in WWII and signed up as first-class interpreter and recruiting officer in charge of the South Taranaki region. He was also a respected Waitotara Chief, a member of the Taranaki Māori Council and the Aotea Māori Association. He died at his residence at Kaipo Mārae, in the township of Waitotara, on the 15 September 1942 surrounded by his large family. He was given a full military funeral and was carried up Te Ihupuku cemetery hill by his sons and given the military guard of honour by his fellow soldier’s.  Bugler Pfeffer played the bugle as they lowered Hoani /John Sullivan into his final resting place on the sacred hilltop Urupa.
 
Private Leslie Birch was 21 when he was killed at Somme on 25 September 1916. He was the son of early pioneer’s William and Sarah Birch. He spent one year at Wanganui Collegiate, before the War, then he was called home to work on the farm. His brother Herbert George Birch, donated land from their farm just north of Maxwell, for a pool to be built in 1934. He named it in honour of their father William Birch, who had died 2 years earlier. This fresh water pool is still there today, with water from the Ototoka Stream running through the concreted structure. It was where generations of Maxwell School children learnt to swim up until the 1960’s. Leslie went into training camp at Trentham in December 1915, and sailed for Egypt in April the following year. He remained in Cairo a few days only, being one of three to voluntarily join the Otago Infantry Regiment which needed more recruits after heavy casualties. From Egypt he left for France, and passing through Étaples, joined his battalion on the Somme. Leslie was killed instantly on 25 September 1916 by a shell in the bay of a trench, while acting as a runner delivering a message to Headquarters in the heat of battle.
 
Another ex-Wanganui Collegiate student was Private Leonard Phillip Cave. He had come out to New Zealand from England in 1886 with his parents Henry and Elizabeth and six siblings. The family settled at Waitotara and Leonard attended Collegiate from 1891-1894. On leaving school, he started farming in the Upper Waitotara district, and at the time war broke out, was in partnership with his brother at Te Koriti, on the Wanganui River His nephew and namesake Leonard M. H. Cave, wrote of how his six uncles were all keen and accomplished cricketers. “As soon as their first flat was sufficiently clear of stumps and logs they organized an occasional cricket match.” They would practise cricket for hours in the woolshed. Leonard P. Cave and his five brothers all played rep cricket for Wanganui, and his nephew Harry B. Cave went on to become a popular captain of New Zealand's first touring team to Pakistan and India in 1955-56. Leonard left New Zealand with the 7th Reinforcements, N.Z.F.A., and was in Egypt some months before proceeding to France where he arrived early in 1916. He received a rather severe wound in the Somme offensive, and eventually met his death at the age of 40 during a German air raid on 18 October 1917. “In his prime he was an excellent fast bowler, and in all probability one of the best all-round cricketers the School has produced." (In Memoriam, 1914-1918 Wanganui Collegiate School).
 
Mr William Arthur-Worsop and his wife Jane moved to the area from his teaching position at Naseby in 1887 to take up the position of Headmaster at Waitotara School. They had eight sons and one daughter. Four of their sons went to WWI. Archibald and Francis enlisted immediately, and were shipped to Egypt then on to the Dardanelles. Alphonse and William signed up for duty the following year. Alphonse soon rose to rank of Sergeant and was awarded the Military Medal for gallantry in the field on 1 October 1916. Francis remained alive through the first three years of the War until 9 May 1918 when he was killed in action in France at the age of 32. Alphonse and Archibald both returned home but both died in 1921 of wounds they had received in battle. The lingering effects of war followed soldier’s home and hundreds died of various ailments in the following years. Edgar Jago, one of three sons of Joseph and Delia Jago to go to war, died on 30 April 1922 back home, from the effects of mustard gas. Kotuku Tieketahi was also gassed in the trenches, and died from respiratory failure after years of suffering in 1932.
 
Private Ernest Bunn is on the Roll of Honour in St Marks Church. His war records show that he died of ‘La Grippe’ (Influenza) while marching through Switzerland as a German POW, on the way to France. He was 28 years old when he died on 7 July 1918. He was a Blacksmith for his father Henry, in Eltham before he enlisted, but would have lived in Waitotara in his earlier years.
 
The Waitotara Memorial Gates stand like an entrance to another time…leading to the Waitotara Domain, a grassy paddock now, but once the site of many lively rugby games and community events. This memorial was opened with great fanfare on Saturday 12 December 1925, with a huge crowd in attendance. The Wanganui Junior Garrison Band led the procession of 300 soldiers and official’s down the main street of Waitotara, along Station Road to the Gates. Mr Herbert Grove, Chairman of the Memorial Committee was the first to speak that day. He spoke of the significance of the Memorial Gates, and the importance of preserving them as a tribute to the men who served and those that died in the Great War. There are no names inscribed in the granite plaques on each gate post, only the words: ‘In Honour of those Brave Men from the District who fought in The Great War 1914- 1918’. The inscription on the righthand side of the gates reads ‘In Memory of the Brave Men from the District – who lost their lives in The Great War 1914-1918’. Sometime after WWII the words: ‘And World War II 1939-45’ was also engraved underneath, on both sides. 
 
On 27 November 1916 a brass plaque was unveiled in the newly consecrated chancel of St Marks Church at Waitotara, commemorating the local men killed in Action at Gallipoli a year earlier, it doesn’t actually list their names though. At the end of WWI, a timber Roll of Honour was also unveiled in the Church with the names of 37 people who served and returned from The Great War, and 16 Killed in Action. But these names are only members of the Congregation of St Marks. St Marks was built in 1890 and designed by Frederick de Jersey Clere, one of New Zealand's most influential architects of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he had designed St Georges Church in Patea five years earlier.
Unfortunately, there is no full list of the names of all the men and women who served from the area. Fortunately, Laraine Sole’s books of Early Waitotara Settlement provided many names, which I linked up to War Records. So far, I have found 120 WWI Soldiers from Waitotara, 24 of them were Killed in Action, or died of disease. They all have their own fascinating story. I’m sure there are more names that I have missed, so please contact me if you can help.