Profile

ATWILL, Mark
(Service number 16601)

Aliases Died as Mark Parry ATWILL
First Rank Trooper Last Rank Private

Birth

Date 31 August 1883 Place of Birth Waimate, New Zealand

Enlistment Information

Date 13 January 1916; 14 May 1918 Age 32; 34
Address at Enlistment 44 St Asaph Street Christchurch; 6 Tennyson Street Wellington, New Zealand
Occupation Traveller; medical orderly & self employed Fancy Goods Salesman
Previous Military Experience South Canterbury Mounted Rifles
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mr Edwin John Moses Atwill (father), Queen Street, Waimate, New Zealand
Religion Wesleyan
Medical Information 5 foot 7 inches tall, weight 10 stone 9 pounds, chest 34 1/2 - 38 1/4 inches, fair complexion, blue eyes, brown hair, teeth requiring attention, tattoos on both arms

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation Home Service
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Home Service
Date
Transport
Embarked From Destination
Other Units Served With C Squadron, 12th Reinforcements Canterbury Mounted Rifels & NZ Army Medical Corps
Last Unit Served With NZ Army Medical Corps

Military Awards

Campaigns Home Service
Service Medals
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 2 September 1916; 1919 Reason Medically Unfit (chronic rheumatism)

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Salesman?

Death

Date 11 August 1921 Age 37 years
Place of Death Wellington, New Zealand
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Name inscribed on parent's headstone Old Waimate Cemetery
Memorial Reference Plot 0015ME000379
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Mark, youngest son of Edwin John Moses (1845-1919) and Elizabeth Ann (1844-1883 nee Goldsworthy) Atwill, was born at Waimate on 31 August 1883. Unfortunately his mother died a few weeks after his birth. Edwin, his father, was born in Devonshire and had served in HM Navy as a boy before coming out to New Zealand in the ship St Lawrence, arriving in Timaru in 1874. He then proceeded to Waimate, where he worked as a saddler, and was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1899. In 1868 Edwin married Elizabeth, daughter of Mr Goldsworthy, of Devonshire, and had a family of three sons and two daughters. After Elizabeth died in 1883, he remarried in 1905 to Mrs Annie Jane Ottley (1867-1909 nee Lack).

When Mark enlisted on 13 January 1916, he was employed as a traveller and was residing at 44 St Asaph Street, Christchurch. Mark had had some previous military experience with the South Canterbury Mounted Rifles. He was described as being single, aged 32, a Wesleyan, 5 foot 7 inches tall, weighing 10 stone 9 pounds, chest measuring 34 ½ to 38 ¼ inches, of fair complexion with blue eyes, brown hair, but his teeth were requiring attention and he had tattoos on both arms. His initial posting was to C Squadron, 12th Reinforcements, Canterbury Mounted Rifles, but he was transferred to the reserve squadron on 4 April 1916, then to the Headquarters Staff on 11 May. He was then discharged after serving 233 days, as medically unfit on 2 September 1916, suffering from chronic rheumatism.

In 1918 he was balloted back into the army under the Military Service Act, entering camp at Awapuni on 14 May 1918. At this time he was a self-employed fancy goods salesman living at 6 Tennyson Street, Wellington. His posting this time was to the Army Medical Corps on Home Service. On 28 June 1918 he was transferred to the NZ Medical Corps at Featherston, then on 30 July to Hanmer, again on 18 February 1919 back to Featherston, and finally on 25 February was granted leave without pay until demobilization. On 11 April he was back in camp at Featherston until 23 April when he was transferred to Hanmer Sanatorium. A little over a month later, on 7 June he was moved back to Featherston Military Hospital until on 19 August he was transferred to the Dunedin Military Hospital. It is not clear if these postings were as a serving soldier or patient.

In the 1919 Electoral Rolls he is listed as residing at 6 Picton Avenue, Wellington South, occupation soldier, 41 Frederick Street Dunedin, NZ Army Medical Corps, and Hanmer Springs, NZ Army Medical Corps. He died in Wellington on 11 August 1921, aged 37, and his name is inscribed on his parent’s headstone in the Waimate Old Cemetery. Two other brothers also served during World War 1: 14049 Trooper Thomas Atwill who served in France with the 5th Reinforcements, NZ Rifle Brigade; and 47300 Private Joseph Henry Atwill who served in France with the Canterbury Infantry Regiment.

Sources

Auckland War memorial Museum Cenotaph Database (June 2017); WWI Military personnel file, courtesy of Archives New Zealand; Assorted records at Ancestry at ancestry.com; 'Twelfth Reinforcements: Christchurch quota' in the Star 21 December 1915 p3, courtesy of Papers Past at https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Ted Hansen, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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