Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Eric was born in Orange, NSW, Australia, on 28 April 1893 son of Isaac and Sarah Jane (nee Noble) Sarginson. His father, born in 1861 at Carlisle, Cumberland, England, was the Rev I. Sarginson, minister of the Congregational Church, who served in Australia and New Zealand. Eric attended the Phillipstown and Christchurch East Primary schools and later was a trainee aboard the Amokura. The New Zealand Training Ship Amokura, formerly HMS Sparrow, was purchased by the New Zealand Government in 1905, with the aim of training boys for a life at sea. The first trainees joined on 19 March 1907. In October 1909, he joined the training ship Dartford, ex Amokura, as a cadet, where he was still serving, aged 16, as an apprentice in October 1912.

At the outbreak of war, Eric enlisted at Timaru on 12 August 1914. At this time he was aged 21, single and serving as an officer in the mercantile marine with the Union Steamship Company, Dunedin. He was described as being of the Congregational religion, 5 foot 6 ½ inches tall, having grey/green eyes, a dark complexion, dark hair, weighing 8 stone 9 lbs, chest measuring between 32 – 36 inches and his teeth were good. He gave his father, the Rev Isaac Sarginson of Theodosia Street, Timaru, as his next of kin and current address. He also listed as having had previous military experience as a trainee on the NZGTS Amokura. After training with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion, he left aboard the Tahiti or Athenic from Wellington with the Main Body, on 16 October 1914, bound for Suez, Egypt, arriving 3 December 1914. The day after sailing he was promoted to Lance Corporal. While in Egypt he fought against the Turks at the Suez Canal, and on 12 April, he embarked from Alexandria for service on the Dardanelles.

On 5 May 1915, Eric received a gunshot wound to the back of his right knee and was admitted to Number 5 Indian General Hospital at Alexandria on 11 May. He then embarked for further hospital treatment in England on 15 May, and admitted to the 1st South General Hospital at Birmingham, on 4 June 1915. On 24 July he was admitted to Monte Video Camp at Weymouth, and on 17 November, boarded the Ruahine for return to NZ, arriving at Auckland on 4 January 1916. Found unfit for further military service, Eric was discharged from the army on 24 February 1916, after having served 1 year and 196 days. For this service he was later awarded the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. In early 1916 he rejoined the merchant navy serving on the Karori as second officer. After the war he was also awarded a UK campaign medal for WW1 merchant seamen.

On 9 August 1917, Eric married Miss Selina Murfitt in the Parish Church of St Matthew, Ardwick, Manchester, England. In 1917, they were back in NZ living at St Clair, Dunedin, and in 1919, he was living in Stanmore Road, Richmond, Christchurch and stated his occupation as farmer. In September 1919, he won a ballot for a Canterbury Land Board section in the Avonhead Settlement, Riccarton, for disabled soldiers – section 4, 15a, 3r, 21p. In 1920 he was also awarded a pension of 20 shillings for suffering from a gunshot wound to his right knee and deafness in his left ear. In 1928, he was living in Stuart Street, Hawthorndale, Invercargill, and employed as an electrician. From 1934 to 1939 he is listed as living at Uxbridg, England and he died at Middlesex, West Drayton, England in June 1962, aged 69 years.

Sources

Assorted records at ancestry.co.au; University of New South Wales, Canberra NZEF Project "New Zeland Anzacs in ther Great War 1914-1918" at http://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=226232; Family History UK, genealogical forums at http://www.forum.familyhistory.uk.com/archive/index.php/t-18209.html (accessed 8 April 2016); Te Ara, the Encylopedia of New Zealand, ":Amokura" at http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/ships-famous/page-9 (accessed 8 April 2016); Topedo Bay Navy Museum, "New Zealand Training Ship Amokura" at http://navymuseum.co.nz/worldwar1/ships/new-zealand-training-ship-amokura (accessed 8 April 2016); Dominion 7 October 1919 p7, The Press 5 September 1919 p9 & 28 April 1941 p3, Evening Post 29 February p8, & Poverty Bay Herald 10 June 1915 p6 via Papers Past at http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/; NZSG Index V5

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Ted Hansen, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.