Profile

HUTCHINSON, Becher Alexander Colin
(Service number 12/100)

Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank Private

Birth

Date 6 October 1889 Place of Birth England

Enlistment Information

Date 14 September 1914 Age 25
Address at Enlistment Te Kuiti, King Country
Occupation Farmer
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin G.W.C Hutchinson, 53 Brannocks Rd, Ilfracombe, Devon, England
Religion Church of England
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation Main Body
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Auckland Infantry Battalion
Date 16 October 1914
Transport HMT 12 Waimana
Embarked From Auckland NZ Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With Auckland Infantry Battalion

Military Awards

Campaigns Gallipoli
Service Medals 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 30 May 1915 Age 25
Place of Death Gallipoli, Turkey
Cause Died of wounds
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Lone Pine Memorial, Lone Pine Cemetery, Anzac, Turkey
Memorial Reference 72
New Zealand Memorials On Memorial wall, Timaru; Geraldine War Memorial; Woodbury War Memorial

Biographical Notes

Becher, son of George William Caldwell and Louisa Catherine Hutchinson nee Hutchinson was born in England 6 October 1889. He had two sisters, Phyllis Irene born 8 January 1887 and Enid Frances born 16 April 1891. The family may have had some “blue” blood in their veins as they are mentioned in The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal Being Complete a table of all the descendants now living of Edward III King of England.

Becher’s last NZ address was given as TeKuiti King Country where he was employed by John Rolleston, TeKuita, as a farmer. Becher enlisted into the Auckland Infantry Battalion as a Private on 14 September 1914 and embarked from Auckland 16 October 1914 on HMT 18 Waimana for Suez, Egypt, arriving 4 December 1914. He is described on enlisting as being aged 25, chest 38 inches, weight 140 lbs, height 5 foot 9 ½ inches, eyes blue, hair light brown and complexion fair.

Becher died of wounds in the New Zealand Field Hospital Dardanelle’s on 30 May 1915 and is commemorated on the Lone Pine Memorial, panel 72. Medals, plaque and scroll were forwarded to his father care of Rev A. Churchill, Berrynarbor Rectory near Ilpacombe, North Devon, England at wars end.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph database (March 2014); Latter Day Saints Family Search; SCRoll web submission by P Hickford, 27 September 2016 (confirming transport as HMT 18 Waimana, courtesy of information from the National Anzac Centre in Albany, Western Australia)

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Carol Bell, SC branch NZSG & Timaru Herald; Ted Hansen (SC branch NZSG)

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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