​WAVERLEY WWI ROLL OF HONOUR
 
Charles Alfred ADLAM
73947
James Alexander AIKEN
20276
Keith AIKEN
13/2289
William Norman AIKEN
47955
William Fettes ALEXANDER
77215
*J ANDERSON
?
Peter William ATKINSON
11/1771
James AUHL
17/351
Sydney George BARCLAY
18330
Albert Paul BARNES
25788
*Frank BASON
26/83
Isaac BASON
71438
Roy BASON
25/86
John Thomas Rae BELL
11/703
*Edward Lancelot BELTON
22930
*John Trewhalla BENNETT
11/1772
Alfred Henry BIRCHALL
29353
Frederick William BLENNERHASSETT 63819
Walter BLENNERHASSETT
2/2782
James Joseph BOURKE
69454
Thomas Patrick BOURKE
74853
*Alfred Samuel BOYER
23/367
James Patrick BRADLEY
17/27
Michael Francis BRADLEY
72651
Harry BRIDGE
11/354
*George Ivan BRIDGE
13688
*Merson Templer Gore BRETT
12/2653.
Alec William CAMPBELL
10/3848.
Harry Basil CAMPBELL
11/775
*Robert Woodward CAMPBELL
62014
Henry Alexander Newing
CATANACH 22771
Moreton Leslie CHAPPELL
31166
Andrew CHRISTENSEN
2/253
Francis Joseph CHRISTENSEN
70753
Frederick James CHRISTENSEN
45991
*George Marmaduke CLEARY
11/469
Walter Stephen CLINCH
56736
Charles Victor CIOCHETTO
26/93
*Frederick Robert
CORMACK  MM 54472
Arthur James COX
11/1677
Herbert William COX
11/1678
John Oliver CUNNINGHAM
43806
*John Brian DALTON
9/903
Charles Frederick DASSLER
13/3017
Charles George DAVIS
11/1108
William Evan DAVIES
10/646
*J DEACON
?
Harold Galt DICKIE
20310
Robert Guilford DICKIE
45837
Percy James DYKE
62035
*William Henry DYKE
11850
Frederick Courtney
EDGECOMBE 35451
Thomas Henry EDGECOMBE
3/3835
James Lawrence EDWARDS
23362
John Piercy EDWARDS
71652
Harold Edwin EHRHORN
63844
*G ELLIS
?
*Ewen ELMSLIE
11/1764
*James McGregor ELMSLIE
11/629
Thomas FARR   MC,DSO
2/277
*Harry Augustus Mark Frank
FESCHE 25496
*Leslie Raymond FOLLETT
S/116258
William Gerald GEORGE
11/1795
*Henry Johnson HALL
30111
Cyril Henry HARDEN
75826
George William HARLEN
8/2343
Dr Arthur George HARVEY
3/959
Thomas William HAZELHURST
25/183
*Albert Robb HICKS
35972
*Rangihiwinui HIROTI
16/379
Ernest HOLTHAM
9/1865
Arthur Sheldon HONE
56775
Ernest Clifton (Cliff) HONE
10/3599
George HORTON
20349
Alexander William HOWIE
13/2204
*Alfred John Douglas HOWIE
12/363
*Charles HOWIE
62322
Edwin Victor HOWIE
11/2321
Gordon HUGHES
25163
Nelson  HUGHES
11/2011
Roy HUGHES
43375
Raymond Alexander HUGHES
25142
George IRELAND
15730
Louis IRVINE
11/778
*John Arthur JOHNSON
8/1522
Samuel Charles JOHNSTON
54518
Charles Edward JOHNSTON
58180
*C P JOHNSTON
?
Robert Dunn JOHNSTON
56786
David Breigan JOHNSTONE
13032
*James Peter JOHNSTONE
53982
Robert McNeil JOHNSTONE
28150
James Daniel KING
17/107
*John KIRKLAND
20362
Joseph James KNIGHT
69749
*Henry KREGER
60365
David Osborne LAIDLAW
62085
*James Strang LAIDLAW
20364
Leslie Webster LAMBESS
11/1919
Frederick Charles LANGDON
4/778
Joseph Frederick LANGDON
8/1534
John LEO
75050
David  LUPTON
18357
George LUPTON
72668
Thomas LUPTON
57798
Lewis MADELEY
3/2229
Robert John MALCOLM
10/2496
*Albert Edward MANCER
24/835
Lawrence Alfred MANCER
20546
Charlotte Henrietta MATTHEWS
22/254
*Ernest Frank MATTHEWS
43107
*Frederick Collett MATTHEWS  MM 10731
James Fitzpatrick McCLENAGHAN 20391
*Colin Telfer McDONALD
11/743
*Duncan Buchanan McDONALD
11/555
Hugh McDONALD
81486
David Hogg McGORRERY
11/1835
Neil McLEAN
28183
James McMECKIN
92006
Mark METCALFE MM
10/4142
Richard Harvey MILLER
17205
*Garnett Ryland MILNE
13667
James Rorio MOORE
11/579
Donald MORRISON
79495
James MORRISON
20384
Joseph Ross (Roy) MORRISON
35439
George  MULDROCK
10/669
Victor MULDROCK
13/218
*William Henry MULDROCK
13/221
James David NEWLAND
69515
Hubert Cecil NICHOLLS
30395
Waldo Frederick NICHOLLS
52868
John Gerald O’BRIEN
26899
Herbert Patrick O’BRIEN
​31884
*Stanley Kingston O'CONNELL
80826
*William Moran O'CONNELL
23/386
Alfred Arthur OLD
16937
Ernest Francis OLIVER
11/1206
William Lyall OLIVER
8/2691
Frank  O'REILLY
59706
James O'REILLY
54580
Ben Rae Moran PARKINSON
52876
Albert Henry PARTRIDGE
70062
Albert Osborne PARTRIDGE
18026
*Edwin PARTRIDGE
2579 12 Australian Infantry
*Ernest Stanley PARTRIDGE
23/2255
Osbourne David PARTRIDGE
62133
Stuart PARTRIDGE
8/2696
Frederick Harold PEAPELL
34131
William John PEAPELL
30452
James Laird PEFFERS
4/821
Walter Hogg PEFFERS
48075
John Henry PEPPER
48076
William James PEPPER
75864
George PLUMMER
71525
Norman  PLUMMER
54592
Joseph Thomas PROUT
11/2354
Robert Arthur PROUT
54594
James Cornelius READ
11/606
William Joseph REARDON
47932
*J REID
?
Andrew RENWICK
10053 
Cyril Richard Oliver RIDDELL
79499
James RIDDELL
45557
*John RIDDELL
13/439
William RIDDELL
10082
Andrew George ROBERTSON
24/1473
Donald ROBERTSON
57564
James ROBERTSON
13/2398
Walter Blair ROBERTSON
73965
Edward Arthur ROBINSON
10/2750
George ROOTS
44419
James Watt ROSS
20427
*John ROSS
24/1476
Bertie SAUNDERS
25596
Levi Harold SAUNDERS
10/3996
Peter Henry SHIPMAN
24/1482
Reginald Hardy SMITH
2/2265
Stanley SOLAND
21893
Wilfred Arthur SOLAND
48104
William Henry SOLAND
2/694
Edward Maurice SOUTHCOMBE
30457
*Harold Henry SOUTHCOMBE
23/1193
Leonard James SOUTHCOMBE
58188
Donald STEWART
20444
George STEWART
74894
Robert STEWART
81154
Douglas Harper STRACHAN  MM
11/138
Peter Donald Wallace
STRACHAN 44563
*William Laurie STRACHAN  DCM 11/557
Albert Edward Thorley SYMES
20449
Norman Tuitui SYMES
28375
Oscar John SYMES
17/196
Roderick (Toby) SYMES
20451
Stanley SYMES
57804
William Edward Arthur
THOMASON 17113
Nelson George THOMASON
73970
Joseph THURSTON
10/3110
*Leonard TUCKER
54616
Albert Charles VINCENT
26520
*Percy David VINCENT
59763
Stanley VINCENT
64176
Walter James VINCENT
62181
Alexander Gladding Paul
WALLACE 81162
*F WATT
?
Douglas Gerald WARNER
61916
Benjamin WATERLAND
28258
Robert WELSH
10/4221
William Alexander WHITE
72685
*William WHITE
25626
Alfred James WICKS
77286
*James WILLACY
24747
Thomas WILLACY
10/1365
Archie Owen WILLIAMS  MM
48127
Dr Harold William WILSON
english reg.
Thomas Emerson WILSON
11/556
*Charles WOOD
13/581

*Denotes: Killed in Action

​The Waverley Clock Tower War Memorial stands sentinel over the town on an elevated piece of ground that was once home to the Wairoa Redoubt. On it are the names of 38 local men who went to WWI and never returned, (& 12 from WWII). There are at least two other War Memorials in Waverley. Waverley Primary School has a black granite obelisk, with the names of 19 ex-pupils Killed in Action, nine of which aren’t on the Clock Tower. And St Stephens Church has a brass plaque with the names of 13 parishioners Killed in WWI, one of which isn’t on the Clock Tower, dedicating the pulpit to them. And I’ve found three men who spent their early years in Waverley: George Ivan Bridge, William Henry Muldrock and John Riddell, who were Killed in Action but aren’t on any Waverley Memorials.
 
All together the names of 48 Waverley men who were killed in WWI are recorded on these Memorials but there has never been a Roll of Honour of those who did return. And as we know, War Memorials to the dead are only part of the story of a small town’s contribution to The Great War. All those that did return, their names and stories have been tucked away all these years, snippets told to family members, letters revealing insights to experiences we find hard to comprehend, and Military Records that list details of their campaigns. They struggled to fit into life back home again and carry on after all they had been through. They need to be remembered.
 
Almost a century on it has been difficult to find all the names of  men and women who served from Waverley and the surrounding countryside, but with WWI Military Records now being unembargoed after 100 years, Papers Past, and Laraine Soles fantastic books of early Waverley families, I have found the names of 214 people with connections to Waverley who went to WWI.  In the Waverley-Waitotara RSA book written by Michael Condon in 1995 it says on page 17 that ‘ after the War a list of 232 names was compiled by the Waverley Patriotic Society, of men from the Waverley district that served’, but the names weren’t printed in the book and no one knows where the list is. So I’m not far off the correct number. There are seven men who were Killed in Action that I’m still trying to identify: J Anderson, J Deacon, G Ellis, C P Johnston, J Reid, F Watt, C Wood. To date I haven’t been able to match them up with war records.
 
It took almost six years for the citizens of Waverley to decide how to honour their men killed in action. There were many meetings. The Hawera Normanby Star reports on a public meeting on 6 October 1923, held at the Town Hall.  The Chairman Mr AJ Adlam, opened the meeting with his choice of Memorial being a Grandstand at the Domain. There were many locals in attendance; family members of dead soldiers and returned soldiers themselves. They all had very strong views of what should be constructed. Miss Elmslie, (sister of James & Ewen) said “a grandstand would be very nice, but was quite out of keeping with the object of the Memorial”. Another suggested that in view of the fact they had been offered the site of the old Wairoa Redoubt, something should be built on that site. Mr Frank Matthews, whose two sons were killed, sounded quite frustrated by the ‘suggestions being thrown around’ & made it quite clear that the amount in hand £706, was not enough to ‘build anything worthwhile’ and a carnival should be held to raise more money. Mr Adlam moved to build a Grandstand,  Mr Heginbotham whole heartedly agreed and seconded it. Mr Catanach “did not consider that grandstand was a memorial at all”. He moved that a suitable Monument such as a Cenotaph or Clock Tower be built upon the Redoubt site. After much discussion Bert Symes said the meeting was not large enough to make a final decision and the four best schemes should be put to a public vote. So on the 23 October the Cenotaph, Library, Gates, Clock Tower were voted upon, and the Clock Tower won supreme. Bert Symes and Harold Dickie were RSA representatives for the project and worked hard with the Waverley Town Board to get the Clock Tower built.
 
The Waverley Clock Tower was designed by Mr R G Talboys, Wanganui and constructed at a cost of just over £1200. It was opened by the Prime Minister of NZ Joseph G Coates on Wednesday 28 October 1925. PM Coates, himself a returned serviceman, had seen action, mostly in Belgium, and was a respected Soldier, winning a Military Cross at Ypres and a Bar to his MC at Somme. He was a fine orator, and would have made a stirring address to the hundreds gathered that day. The plaque with the names of 38 Soldiers killed is also inscribed with the following quote: "For God and humanity they whose names are inscribed thereon men of this district laid down their lives in the Great War 1914-1918. Erected by their fellow citizens in proud and loving memory and as a thanksgiving that such men were of their number."
 
The Waverley Primary school memorial was opened Thursday 21 October 1920. There wasn’t a Government Minister available on that day, so Miss Elsie Southcombe, daughter of the Chairman of the School Committee, Charles Southcombe did the honours. Elsie married returned Waverley Soldier William J Pepper, a few years later. There were drinking fountains on each side of the obelisk, but they were removed in later years. A WWI German machine gun from the Battle of Somme, stood in the Waverley Domain for many years, distributed by the NZ Government, as a War Trophy, until it was removed in 1934 and returned to the 13th Battery RNZA.
. 
Scrolling through all these war records, now digitalised on the internet is like a portal into the past. They are either typed with strong, smudgy characters or hand written with a fountain pen in flowing Edwardian script. Coming across little notes written in red ink pen like the one on ex-Waverley Primary School pupil; Merson Brett’s War Records, in the words he wrote himself: ‘To Nancy Cecil Gore Brett, my sister, watch worn on my wrist & paybook returned in favour of Mrs Kate Brett, all back pay owing to me up to the date of my death’ & then scrolling down to see that he was killed at Somme at the age of 21, does take your breath away.  They went with such calm certainty.
 
Albert Symes had the same clarity and acceptance of his possible fate when he sold his farm and enlisted in May 1916 at the age of 44. When I spoke to two of Bert’s children, Leonie and Harold, they told me about this man with a great sense of duty, and a high bar of achievement. Bert had begun his farming career in partnership with his brother Alfred at Waverley and together they won many prizes for their livestock. He was captain of the Waverley Football Club in the 1890’s and played at Rep level for the province during this time. His love of rugby was something that stayed with him all his life. Bert’s first wife and first child had sadly died in childbirth several years earlier and he had his own farm at Whenuakura by the time WWI was declared. As the War escalated and more local men enlisted, Bert made the decision to sell his farm and ‘do his bit’ He had tried to enlist at the beginning of the War, but was turned down due to an irregular heartbeat. Obviously they became less fussy as the War went on. Bert was a pragmatic thinker who would have seen how difficult it was to find able bodied men to look after farms during this time, and he would have doubted his chances of returning from the Battlefields he was heading to. But he was one of the lucky ones, and did return, injured, four months before the War ended.  He talked very little about his war years except to comment on occasion about how narrow the trenches were, how hard it was to get the wounded out and supplies in through the mud of the battlefields of Passchendaele, and how difficult it was to find fodder for their horses in those  appalling conditions. During the War he was offered a commission to become an Officer  but turned it down, he just wanted to be one of the team. On his return he bought another farm on Brewer Rd. Five more farms were purchased during his long life. Bert was the second President of the Waverley RSA in 1921, and was involved in many community organisations. The solitude and peace of being back on his farm on his horse with faithful working dogs at his side must have been heaven after Passchendaele. He died a few months before his 100th birthday.
 
His younger brother Oscar did not have such a fortunate escape from the effects of War. Oscar was 31 years old when WWI was declared and was working on a sheep station his family owned in Hawkes Bay. Like his brother Bert, he was a talented Rugby player, playing at Rep level. He played full back for Hawkes Bay against the Lions in Napier in 1908. Oscar left as a Trooper in the NZ Veterinary Corps, with the first fleet to leave NZ in October 1914, he would have looked after the horses on the way to Egypt. By the end of the War he had been promoted to rank of Staff Sergeant. He arrived back in NZ in early 1919. Oscar was mustard gassed somewhere in France near the end of the war & spent years as an invalid, living with his mother in Hawera, dying 26 years later. Harold remembers going to visit his grandmother, and Uncle Oscar was always too unwell to come out of his bedroom.
 
The O’Reilly brothers who farmed in recent years at Whenuakura both have interesting  
War stories. James & Frank enlisted together in early in 1917, & were both Riflemen fighting in the same Battalion on the Western Front. James was taken as a prisoner of war to Parchim in Germany in May 1918 & wasn’t released until 1 January 1919, arriving back home four months later. Younger brother Frank had been working for the Elmslie’s before he enlisted, another valuable farm worker gone for a while. Frank was badly wounded two months before the end of the War, with shrapnel in his back. But this didn’t stop the brothers from taking up a Soldiers Ballot Farm at Weraweraonga, inland from Ngutuwera. Their experiences there read like a Frank Anthony story. The country was inaccessible & backbreaking. But in spite of the conditions they made a go of it and developed it into a farm that was worth something when they sold it after WWII. They then moved to the farm on the corner of O’Reilly Rd at Whenuakura. Frank was the last of the O’Reilly family to bear the surname when he died in 1974.
 
Harold G Dickie OBE was prominent in the formation of the Waverley RSA, on his return from WWI. His twin brother Charles had stayed home to run the family farm ‘Awatea’ at Waverley during the War. Harold went on represent the Patea electorate in Parliament for the Reform (later known as the National Party) from 1925-43. Harold like many other returned Waverley men, saw the importance of an organisation to provide comradeship and support for those who had fought for the Empire. Membership of the Waverley RSA, and events they organized had fluctuated over the years and by the time WWII came along Waverley and Waitotara had combined. On 19 October 1944 the name was changed to Waverley-Waitotara RSA, ready for a whole new set of returned WWII soldiers, with the same needs their fellow fighting men had 25 years earlier. The RSA Hall, next to Dr Harvey’s home, at 117 Weraroa Road, was officially opened on 27 August 1955. It was previously the Waverley Gospel Hall and was extended to double its original size in the months before its grand opening. But by 1977, with membership dwindling, it had become unviable and the Waverley RSA Hall was sold.
 
Waverley has a strong military backbone, which is evident in the calibre of soldiers that it produced. The Wairoa Rifle Volunteers were formed in 1868 by early settlers to defend the town from the Hau Hau uprisings. (Waverley was known as Wairoa until 1876). By the early 1880’s the need for volunteer soldiers had gone, but the enthusiasm for military training & competition remained. At tournaments around the North Island they would win the majority of trophy’s & prize money. When The Boer War began the Wairoa Mounted Rifles, as it was then known, numbered 94 men, 48 of them went to South Africa to fight. The four Elmslie brothers played a big part in the success of the WMR...and two of them played a big part in WWI.
 
The Elmslies War story is huge and harrowing, punctuated with acts of bravery and selflessness. The beautifully written book: ‘The Elmslies of Waverley’ by Andrew Honeyfield of Te Aroha, describes the War time sacrifices of his great Uncles: James and Ewen in meticulous detail. Another descendent, Prue Hyland of Ngutuwera has painted a stunning portrait of her Great Uncle James in uniform on horseback. James, third eldest of the ten Elmslie children, had a long military history by the time WWI arrived.  He had served with distinction at the Boer War in his early twenties. By 1911 he was Captain of the Wairoa Mounted Rifles, the same year it merged with the Wellington Mounted Rifles & moved its head quarters from Waverley to Stratford. Long, hard days developing the family farms from the bush were also a big part of his life, & he was a valuable player on the rugby field, playing rep games around the country for Wanganui. He resigned his commission as Captain of WMR in 1913 & had thought his Military life was in the past when he married Markie (Martha Jean) Hamilton of Sydney in February 1914. But when WWI was declared, he was immediately offered the position of Major, in command of the 2nd Squadron of the Wellington Mounted Rifles, a job he couldn’t turn down. He sailed with the first fleet on 16 October 1914, destined for Egypt at the age of 37.

In Egypt Major James Elmslie was pleased to have many local men in his regiment. His sister Bella’s husband’s brother, Duncan McDonald was one of his Sergeants and James held him in high regard. Duncan was killed in the first two months of the Gallipoli campaign. (Duncan’s wife presented a Memorial Trophy to the Waverley Dog Trials Club in his honour after the War). James arrived at Gallipoli, on 12 May 1915. At the end of May, James & his men were fighting the Turks at close range when Waverley man Jim Moore was severely wounded, & lay helpless, out in front of the trench. Telling his men to cover him, & with bullets tearing up the ground, James ran to his side & bandaged up the wound under fire at close range. James had his cap shot off, another bullet drilled through his pocket book & three others went through the folds of his uniform, but miraculously he was unharmed. Apparently quite unperturbed, he hoisted his wounded friend on to his shoulders and carried him back to safety. This was the first of James Elmslie’s three acts of gallantry at Gallipoli. (James was recommended for a VC, but General Godley refused to recommend any Officer for a VC, saying “they should not need any such incentive”.
 
James Elmslie and his men were instrumental in taking ‘Table Top’ the commanding position below Chunuk Bair, on 6/7 August 1915. They held this post as Colonel Malone led his men upwards to Chunuk Bair the following day. James and his men moved up to the fierce fighting on Chunuk Bair on the night of 8 August to reinforce the great losses of Colonel Malone’s infantry. James was shot through the neck and shoulder on the morning of 9 August as he was running forward to occupy a vacant Turkish trench. Picking himself up, he dived into the trench, his men following him. His last words were: “I can’t help you much more boys, but go on, you are doing splendidly”
 
James’s younger brothers Andrew and Alec didn’t go to War, they were married with children and had the Elmslie farms to look after. But the youngest of the Elmslie children, 25 year old Ewen, did. Ewen had been training at Trentham when he got news of his brother’s death  and within two months he had left NZ. When he arrived at Zeitoun Camp in Egypt he writes of walking down the horse lines and recognizing James’s horse and several other horses’s belonging to Waverley boys who had died at Gallipoli. Ewen was also in the Wellington Mounted Rifles and his war was fought on horseback in the desert – the Sinai Campaign. On 9 January 1917 in a battle near Rafa, Ewen was shot in the knee while he was taking extra ammunition to a machine gun post. His wound wasn’t considered life threatening, & he rode back with the others, but the tourniquet was left on too long & the leg became gangrenous. In those days before penicillin nothing could be done for him. Ewen died 4 days later at Lowland Field Hospital in Egypt.  
 
Four months after the death of his youngest son the Patriarch, Peter Elmslie, who had arrived in Waverly in 1868, died at the age of 76.  James and Ewen’s sister Bessie lost her husband Major William Greig Menzies, a Solicitor from Waikato, at the Battle of Messines Ridge in France at the age of 35 on 26 March 1918. Their only child Jean had died before the War, at seven months old from whooping cough. The widowed Bessie returned to the Elmslie family homestead ‘Hillside’ on Waitangi Road to live with her sisters Barbara and Nellie and their mother Anne. All things considered, they lived lovely lives, happy and full of memories of rambling gardens, veges for all the district, tending their 25 beehives, and providing a magical haven for their nieces and nephews for many decades. Bessie and Nellie retired to town (Waverley) in 1957, and Hillside became home to the next generation, Jim and Doris Elmslie. James and Ewen’s WWI uniforms still hung in a wardrobe at Hillside until it burnt to the ground in 1964. James and Ewen’s names continued on to the next generation, with their brothers Andrew and Alec naming their sons in their honour. Young Jim and Ewen Elmslie both served in WWII; Jim was a Lancaster Bomber pilot and Ewen was a bomb-aimer. Both fortunately returned to Waverley and continued farming after WWII. In spite of their hard losses during those First World War years the family name/legacy continues proudly in Waverley and around the country
 
Trooper Jim Moore, who James helped that day as he lay wounded in no man’s land, did survive the war and returned to NZ after months of treatment at Hornchurch Convalescent Hospital in England. His war records go into great detail about the wound the bullets caused that day – the neatly written ‘Casualty Form’ on blue card shows he was treated on the  Hospital Ship Gascon off the coast of Gallipoli on 31 May 1915. “Admit GSW thigh and foot” is written in fountain pen (GSW: gun shot wound) and as fate would have it the man who signed his Enlistment Form back in August 1914 was: James Elmslie, Major. James Rorio Moore came back home on the Arawa in March 1916, and was discharged ‘unfit for military service’.  Then sadly on 18 November 1918 he died of influenza at Paihiatua Hospital with his wife Mrs A R Moore at his side.
 
Two Doctors went to War from Waverley. Dr Harold William Wilson was born and educated in Waverley but went to England to do his medical training. From there he joined a British Regiment during WWI and served as a Medical Officer for three years. On his return to NZ in June 1918 Captain Wilson spent part of his leave with his parents at Waverley. He was a guest speaker at a Waverley Patriotic League meeting, speaking of his experiences in the War which had been entirely in the field – in the trenches rendering first-aid to the wounded and at casualty clearing stations. The second Doctor from Waverley who went to War was the legendary Dr Arthur George Harvey. Somehow he managed to leave his busy practice, his wife and four children, and go to the front for 18 months at the age of 49. He corresponded on a regular basis with the Waverley Patriotic League, acting as a distribution base for the money and hundreds of items they sent to make their Soldier’s lives easier. In November 1916 a letter was received from Dr Harvey from ‘somewhere in France’ giving detailed accounts of the expenditure of the money entrusted to him by the WPL. He also stated how he intended dealing with funds in the future. In conclusion Dr Harvey said. “This must be a time of great anxiety to you all. When on the spot one is utterly unable to get definite information...the scale of operations is beyond comprehension and the difficulty of tracing individuals is extreme, but I am one of many who do all that seems possible to relieve your anxiety. An army of doctors and nurses is doing all it can for the sick and wounded”.  The Waverley Patriotic League was formed at a meeting held at Waverley on 16 July 1915 and continued its good work all through the War Years.
 
Bill Hone of Kohi has collected many studio photos of Waverley WWI Soldiers over the years, giving an amazing insight into the faces behind many of the names.  Bill’s father and Uncle, Sheldon and Cliff Hone went to WWI. Sheldon left New Zealand in mid 1917, returning home in July 1919. He was fortunate as time would show, to get Trench Fever and was evacuated to Hornchurch Hospital to recover. When he did return to the Front only nine of the 24 Soldiers in his Company were left. Bill showed me the photo of his Dad and the 23 other men of the 3rd Battalion Rifle Brigade, they had all signed the back of the photo with their name and serial number. Over half of them didn’t see the end of the War. Bill has a button from his Dad’s uniform, its brass that has been blackened, as all Riflemen’s buttons were, so they didn’t reflect the light when they were standing to shoot above the trenches. Sheldon and Cliff Hone were given a small, beautifully engraved gold medal each, along with many other Waverley Returned Soldiers on the evening of Friday 20 Aug 1920 at a ‘Welcome Home Dinner’ held by the town.

The settlement of Omahina, 12km inland from Waverley was a growing settlement at the time of WWI, it had a school operating from the home of Thomas and Mary Allan, (a small school was later built in 1918) there was a dairy factory managed by Mr Bisset, and the Moturoa Gorge kept this community isolated and self sufficient for many years. Charles Dassler, known as Max, was a farmer in Omahina and left the district for the King Country after his marriage to Mary Copeland of Bulls. Sadly Mary died soon after giving birth to their son Ian in 1915. By 1916 Max decided to enlist in the Army and leave his 4 month old son in the care of relatives to head overseas for fight for King and Country. He had a pre-existing valvular disease of the heart VDH, which amongst other injuries, signalled his return to NZ in 1917.
 
Ernest & Frederick Matthews were in their late teens when they moved to the Waverley area in 1912 when their father Frederick bought a farm at Ngutuwera. The elder of the two, Ernest was working on the farm when War was declared and his parents had retired to town and were living on Smith Street in a house called ‘Caerleon’. He would have found it difficult to find staff to look after the 1000 acre farm at Block 8 but by early 1917 he was on his way to the front as a Trooper with the Wellington Mounted Rifles, probably taking his own horse. In a book written by family historian Raymond Collett in 1978, Ernest’s story is told.  His destination was Palestine, to secure the Suez Canal. He had been there just under a year, when General Allenby launched a raid across the River Jordan, from Jericho, in an attempt to capture Amman. They did not succeed, but were able to blow up the railway line. On their return to the Jordan River, Ernest’s horse brigade was ambushed. They were in open terrain with nowhere to take cover, riding at top speed was their only escape. Ernest was shot dead four days before his 25th birthday on 1 April 1918.
Their nephew, Ray Matthews, told me how his grandparents were told Ernest was missing in action on 8 April 1918, seven days after he had actually been killed, it took days more until they were told he was dead. A few years later when Ray’s oldest brother was born on that same day: 8 April, he was called ‘Ernie’, after his brave Uncle. And Ernie Matthews of the Moeawatea is a name we all know & remember well.
 
Younger brother Fred had enlisted over a year earlier than Ernest, & after six months training left NZ  in May 1916. He was a Sergeant in the NZ Cyclist Battalion. Before that he had studied Law in Wellington & was doing legal work for the Public Trust Office in the Capital. On 15 May 1918 he was awarded the Military Cross for Acts of Gallantry in the Field. His Military Records don’t go into detail about what brave deeds he did exactly, but within two months Frederick was dead. His last battle was at a time that was to mark the turning point of the War; the 2nd Battle of Marne. The Germans were 40 miles from Paris when Fred arrived with a company attached to a British Division on the night of 19 July. General Foch ordered them straight into attack. They broke the German Line at a village called Marfaux. The next day the Germans started a full retreat across the Marne River. Fred was killed on 23 July going forward through at Wheatfield at Marfaux.
 
Ernest and Frederick’s older sister Charlotte is the only women I’ve found so far that went to WWI from Waverley. Charlotte had trained as a nurse in Masterton, where the Matthews family farmed before they moved to Waverley. By the time the War came around Lottie was 28 years old & had the rank of ‘Sister’ when she enlisted with the NZ Army Nursing Service. She left NZ for Alexandria on the NZHS Marama on 3 December 1915. Most of her War Nursing was spent in Egypt. She returned to NZ on 8 March 1919, nursing soldiers on NZHS Willochra as it sailed home. The ship had set sail from Southhampton with 1200 wounded NZ Soldiers on Board, who had spent the time since WWI ended recovering from injuries that delayed their return home. Lottie returned to a Nursing job at Rotorua, but by 1925 she was Private Nursing in Durban, South Africa . While she was there she met local man Colin Brander, they were married, and she lived the rest of her life there, on a large farm, with Colin and their children.
 
Three of Isaac and Margaret Lupton’s ten children went to WWI, George, David & Thomas. Isaac was one of the first settlers in the area, arriving around the same time as Peter Elmslie. Isaac had died five years before the War began and his five sons were running the farms. David & Thomas were called up in 1916 and served in Egypt and Palestine. Older brother George enlisted the following year and left NZ as a Trooper with the Wellington Mounted Rifles, soon after his first child, Norma Margaret was born. George’s wife Daisy left their home on the farm at Waverley while he was away, and stayed with her parents in Hastings until his return in September 1919. Even though the war had finished in November 1918, it was many months before NZ Soldiers saw the shores of home again. George’s youngest daughter Marge Honeyfield of Whenuakura told me her Dad never spoke of the War, and wasn’t a RSA man. He just wanted to put it all behind him, get back to his family, farm, and familiar faces back in his home town. He did tell Marge once, that the hardest thing he had to do in the War was shoot his horse in Egypt when the War ended.

Rangihiwinui Hiroti died in France of pneumonia in June 1916 at No.14 Stationary Hospital and his name is on the Waverley Clock Tower Memorial. Unfortunately his name is written as ‘Hiroti Rangi’ on the Memorial, so it took a bit of searching to find him. Rangihiwinui enlisted as a Bugler with the Maori Pioneer Battalion at the end of 1914 and arrived in Egypt in March 1915, one of about 2500 Maori who went to WWI with the Maori Battalion. He spent six months at Gallipoli, arriving in June and leaving with the mass evacuation at the end of December 1915. He survived the cold winter months at Gallipoli but died at the start of summer in Boulogne, he was 21 years old. Rangihiwinui had been working at the Moumahaki Experimental Farm before the War. This revolutionary venture was one of six Government owned farms in the North Island. The Moumahaki Farm was in existence from 1893-1925, it employed up to 27 staff at the beginning of the War. That would have dwindled to a fraction of that number as men were called up.
 
There is an old proverb that says you die twice...firstly at the moment you draw your last breath, and secondly when your name is said for the last time.  We will keep their names alive, these men and women from Waverley who went to WWI. They will be remembered.
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I’d like to acknowledge Hugh Cunningham, who told me I should do this for Waverley,
and Ursula Cunningham for telling me who I should talk to. 

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