Kookaburra Posted 19 August , 2006 Share Posted 19 August , 2006 Following information gleaned from CWGC site: Name: CRUICKSHANK, JOHN HERRING Initials: J H Nationality: New Zealand Rank: Rifleman Regiment/Service: New Zealand Rifle Brigade Unit Text: 3rd Bn. Age: 46 Date of Death: 08/05/1917 Service No: 20107 Additional information: Husband of Mrs. F. J. E. Cruickshank, of 237, Upper Willis St., Wellington, New Zealand. Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead Grave/Memorial Reference: II. K. 3. Cemetery: WIMEREUX COMMUNAL CEMETERY At the time of enlistment John was a farmer and his nok address was listed as Manakau, NZ. I have his Probate Record and also know that his widow remarried a Jack Dent in 1917. Does anyone know when John's battalion left NZ and the theatres of war etc. Any help appreciated. Cheers, Diane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eltoro1960 Posted 19 August , 2006 Share Posted 19 August , 2006 I think they went to France via Egypt ,perhaps this link may shed some light, best of luck 3rd Bn New Zealand Rifle Brigade. Formed in New Zealand Sep 1915. To Egypt Mar 1916 and joined the 3rd New Zealand (Rifle) Brigade. http://www.warpath.orbat.com/anzac/nz_army.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kookaburra Posted 20 August , 2006 Author Share Posted 20 August , 2006 I think they went to France via Egypt ,perhaps this link may shed some light, best of luck 3rd Bn New Zealand Rifle Brigade. Formed in New Zealand Sep 1915. To Egypt Mar 1916 and joined the 3rd New Zealand (Rifle) Brigade. http://www.warpath.orbat.com/anzac/nz_army.htm Great site!! Thank you very much. Cheers, Diane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Nelson Posted 20 August , 2006 Share Posted 20 August , 2006 Hello Diane, Some prelim info for you. Riflemen Cruickshank was most likely in the 11th reinforcements. This left New Zealand on the 1st April 1916. His regimental number indicates to me he did not leave NZ any earlier. I will look up the date of his death to see what the NZ rifle Brigade was up to on that date. I know they were in the Messines area preparing for the big push on the 7th of June 1917. Will see what else I can dig up for you. regards Aaron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kookaburra Posted 20 August , 2006 Author Share Posted 20 August , 2006 Hello Diane, Will see what else I can dig up for you. Aaron you are my knight in shining armour. I am truly amazed and very thankful for the information you have supplied me with today. Thank you very much. Cheers, Diane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alliekiwi Posted 20 August , 2006 Share Posted 20 August , 2006 Aaron you are my knight in shining armour. I am truly amazed and very thankful for the information you have supplied me with today. Thank you very much. He does that a lot - I think he's aiming to collect a bevy of swooning maidens. It's wonderful how helpful the people are here, and what fonts of knowledge there are. Allie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Nelson Posted 20 August , 2006 Share Posted 20 August , 2006 He does that a lot - I think he's aiming to collect a bevy of swooning maidens. Allie Who.......me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Nelson Posted 20 August , 2006 Share Posted 20 August , 2006 Dianne, You may not be aware, but Rifleman John Cruickshank died of disease. Therefore he may have been out of the line for some time prior to 8th May 1917. As I find more info I will just post here. regards Aaron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kookaburra Posted 20 August , 2006 Author Share Posted 20 August , 2006 You may not be aware, but Rifleman John Cruickshank died of disease. Therefore he may have been out of the line for some time prior to 8th May 1917. Hmm....... yes that stands to reason. Thanks for bringing that to my attention Aaron. Cheers, Diane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kookaburra Posted 20 August , 2006 Author Share Posted 20 August , 2006 He does that a lot - I think he's aiming to collect a bevy of swooning maidens. It's wonderful how helpful the people are here, and what fonts of knowledge there are. Allie I'm absolutely blown away by the information I've gleaned from this forum in just 1 day. Cheers, Diane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alliekiwi Posted 20 August , 2006 Share Posted 20 August , 2006 Diane, I don't know who else you and your group are researching, but I just found an old NZ book scanned online which may be of interest. It won't specifically help with the ones you've mentioned so far on this forum, but has interesting descriptions of the trip to Egypt, life and times about camp plus training etc, which gives quite a good picture of what life was like in Egypt and Gallipoli. The New Zealanders at Gallipoli by Colonel Fred Waite. First published 1919 (I think). Allie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kookaburra Posted 20 August , 2006 Author Share Posted 20 August , 2006 Now that's an excellent link Allie. The first link I clicked on I found our Father Patrick Dore, who is reported to possibly be the last New Zealand casualty from the Gallipoli campaign. He died in Auckland under going an operation from the bullet he received in the spine at Aghyl Dere. Many thanks. Cheers, Diane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Nelson Posted 21 August , 2006 Share Posted 21 August , 2006 Hi Diane, Here is some more info for you regarding Rifleman Cruickshank. He was actually in the 10th reinforcements, this was the first batch of reinforcements with the new regimental format. Being a straight number eg 20107, instead of the bar format being 23/1919 for example. Anyway. The 10th reinforcements was made up of 2 ships, thier details are given below. Transport number 47 Willochra Departed NZ 4th March 1916 Arrived Suez 8th April 1916. Transport number 48 Tofua Same dates as ship above. In April of 1916, the New Zealand Division shipped from Egypt to Marsellies in France. Then from May 1916 to August 1916 the New Zealanders took over a sector of the front line at Armentieries. This sector was regarded a 'quiet' sector. However the New Zealanders sustained casualties on almost a daily basis. Then in August 1916 they moved south to the Somme, providing John Cruickshank did not take ill, he would have seen action in this battle, particularly on the 15th and 16th of September 1916, when his unit, the Rifle Brigade was involved in heavy fighting. The New Zealanders were at the somme for 23 days. After the Somme they moved again back to Armentieries, where they spent the winter of 1916/17. The winter was spent occupying the trenches in the coldest winter on record for approx 30 years. In April of 1917 they moved to Messines to take over that part of the line and prepare for the big attack planned on the 7th June 1917. As I mentined earlier, Rifleman Cruickshank could have been out of the line for some time prior to his death. He died of disease, possible pneumonia, contracted during the winter. However this is pure speculation on my part. to be absulutely certain you will need to order his service records from Archives New Zealand. If you want to do this its a cost of $25.00, and here are the details to quote Archives NZ. Archives New Zealand, Head Office, Wellington PO Box 12-050 10 Mulgrave Street Wellington Ph: 04 499 5595 Fax: 04 495 6210 Email: reference@archives.govt.nz Please quote this information to request this record title years CRUICKSHANK, John Herring - WW1 20107 - Army 1914 - 1917 agency series accession box / item record part alternative no. AABK 18805 W5537 2 0030603 Trust that helps your noble cause. Best regards Aaron. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kookaburra Posted 21 August , 2006 Author Share Posted 21 August , 2006 Before yesterday Rifleman John Herring Cruickshank had been languishing in my too hard basket. I'm going to make an assault on National Archives next week. I've heard it takes 4 hours to reproduce each WW1 file from the films and some files can turn out illegible. I'm planning to pre-order 5 files to be ready for when I arrive. Thank you for this extra information, I appreciate the time and effort it has taken you to produce it. Cheers, Diane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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