War Diaries?

[jeanbrandwood@t]

John Graham/William George  (he changed his middle name to Graham but either name can appear on his records).

Auckland Infantry - ( I have been told he was in the Main Body)

Reg number 12/544

Private

Died of wounds on HMS Valdivia, Gallipoli - 13.8.15

 

 

It's a long while since I've been on this forum, so I hope I'm writing this in the correct place. Apologies in advance if not.

I've mentioned my Great Uncle John before on here and had some very helpful  responses. I think the information is archived on here. I know quite a lot about him and his family and his time in the marines prior to going to New Zealand and I have his service records thanks to a very kind forum member a few years ago. I also have details of where he is commemorated etc. and have a lovely photograph of him.

 

What I'm looking for are any war diaries that include him, as I was previously given some information about him that I think can only have come from one i.e. exactly how he was killed. His service records say that he was wounded in the abdomen but the information I was given was more specific saying that he was shot on 7.8.1915 in the abdomen by a sniper whilst sheltering in his dugout. I've been trying to contact the person that gave me this information to find the source but have been unsuccessful so far. I've been looking at some NZ Gallipoli War Diaries on Ancestry but can't find him mentioned.

 

Any help would be gratefully received. Thank you very much.

 

 

Edited 6 November , 2020 by jeanbrandwood@t

[jonbem]

Hi

You might find helpful information here

https://www.archives.govt.nz/search-the-archive/researching/research-guides/war/world-war-one-1914-1918

 

regards

Jon

[jeanbrandwood@t]

Thank you very much Jon! I'll take a look. 

Best wishes

Jean

[Lawryleslie]

Hello Jean

as far as I am aware unit war diaries rarely if ever mention ORs by name. They will give details of actions and also casualty numbers but I have never seen names other than officers and occasionally SNCOs of significance. 

[jeanbrandwood@t]

Thank you very much. It's curious as to where this information came from... 

[helpjpl]

 

1.  The original thread:

 

2.  The book - A District at War: Irlam and Cadishead's Part in the Great War 1914-1918 by Neil Drum and Pete Thomas - was published in 2010:

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/story/107845

 

3.  Irlam & Cadishead WW Association:

https://m.facebook.com/IrlamCadisheadAndRixtonWithGlazebrook/photos/a.1923075564442926/1923933421023807/?type=3

 

JP

 

[jeanbrandwood@t]

Thank you very much. I have this fantastic book and Pete Thomas was the person who gave me information. I'm trying to contact him to ask him about the source of some of the information but not been successful yet. I've sent him a message on Facebook. 

[SHJ]

Maybe the details came from a newspaper?  I found this reference to John Graham George 12/544 being wounded in the Wellington Dominion Sep 4th 1915. It doesn't mention the wound (many of the others are indicated).  There must be an earlier newspaper article that references him being missing and I guess one a little later detailing his death.

 

Regards

 

Simon.

[jeanbrandwood@t]

Thank you very much for that. Was this a NZ newspaper? 

[Guest]

New Zealand is well served as its historical newspapers have been digitised on a free searchable site called "Papers Past"  So God bless these folk for such a good resource:

 

 

John Graham George is,in sequence reported missing, then wounded, then died-  Casualty lists were repeated in several NZ papers but here is the sequence:

 

THE 71st LIST

EVENING POST, VOLUME LXXXIX, ISSUE 141, 16 JUNE 1915

 

 

WOUNDED

DOMINION, VOLUME 8, ISSUE 2558, 4 SEPTEMBER 1915

 

ROLL OF HONOUR

EVENING POST, VOLUME XC, ISSUE XC, 7 OCTOBER 1915

 

(With Thanks to Papers Past and to Fairfax Media)

 

     The  War Diaries for the Auckland Battalion are held in 2 different locations-  at Archives New Zealand in Wellington and also at the Australian War Memorial.

AWM  have very helpfully  digitised these diaries for April-July 1915 and they,again, are available for free. They are in:

 

AWM4 Class 35 - New Zealand Units

Hope that helps

Mike

 

 

Edited 17 December , 2020 by Guest

[jeanbrandwood@t]

That's really really kind of you Mike. And what an amazing resource! Thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and time. 

[SHJ]

16 hours ago, jeanbrandwood@t said:

Thank you very much for that. Was this a NZ newspaper? 

 

Yes, and Mike has provided all the details and more!  Newspapers can be an amazing resource.  Sometimes they can provide exquisite details.  For example, I was having a root around the British Newspaper Archive and came across the Boston Guardian 18th Sept 1915 which mentions on page 11 the death of a certain Private John Dawson of the Lincolnshire Regiment and it prints a letter from his commanding officer to his mother explaining when and how John had died and how he had been buried as well as the last letter she had received from John just few days before and a letter from her other son who was standing beside John when he died... anyone searching John Dawson or Private E Dawson or Lieutenant A H Padley would be hopping up and down with excitement.

 

Compare that to the page 10 of the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer of the 11th September 1915 which just prints hundreds and hundreds of names of killed and wounded, one after the other.   Finding the former when researching is gold-dust.  The latter is less insightful perhaps but is so emotionally wrenching.

 

[jeanbrandwood@t]

What an amazing find - yes hopefully a family member will come across that too one day! I've found a few little treats through the BNA too. Definitely heart wrenching - our current situation with Covid 19 is difficult but nothing to what these soldiers and their families had to deal with.