Profile

SMITH, William James Tayler
(Service number 32585)

Aliases	William Taylor
First Rank	Private	Last Rank	Private

Birth

Date	15 March 1896	Place of Birth	Timaru

Enlistment Information

Date	26 July 1916	Age	20 yrs
Address at Enlistment	C/o G. B. Smith, Temuka
Occupation	Farm labourer
Previous Military Experience	2nd S. C. Regt. Senior Cadets
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	G. B. SMITH (father), Temuka
Religion	Roman Catholic
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 8 inches. Weight 144 lbs. Chest 31-26 inches. Complexion dark. Eyes green. Hair black. Both eyes 6/6. Hearing, heart and lungs all normal. Limbs and chest well formed. Full movement of joints. Teeth good. No illnesses. Free from hernia, varicocele, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Good bodily and mental health. No slight defects. No fits.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	20th Reinforcements Specialist Company, Machine-Gun Section
Date	2 January 1917
Transport	Opawa
Embarked From	Wellington	Destination	London, England

Other Units Served With	WWII (Home Defence)
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
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	28 March 1918	Reason	No longer physically fit for War Service on account of wounds received in Active Service.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

In November reported wounded (Casualty List No. 709).

Post-war Occupations

Farmer

Death

Date	27 February 1961	Age	64 yrs
Place of Death	Dunedin
Cause
Notices	Timaru Herald, 1 & 2 March 1961
Memorial or Cemetery	Temuka Cemetery
Memorial Reference	Services Section, Row 200, Plot 13
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

William James Tayler SMITH was the third son of George Burnside and Mary SMITH, of Temuka, South Canterbury. He was a brother of George Joseph Enzie SMITH who died in WWI. Their eldest brother Charles Hay SMITH, was called up but not required to serve. At the time of enlistment, William was a farm labourer at Fairlie. He left for camp on 26 July 1916, part of a full quota of South Canterbury men. A civic farewell in the form of a luncheon in Stafford Tea Rooms and speeches at the Drill Shed was provided. He was also farewelled at an enthusiastic gathering in the Temuka Drill Hall. William returned to New Zealand in December 1917, on a hospital ship, with 546 others among whom there were 88 cot cases, two totally blind, ten mental cases, and numerous with artificial limbs. In March 1920 he drew Lot 3, of 932 acres, of the Golden Downs Estate which had been bought by the Government for soldier settlement. This was under renewable lease with right of purchase. On 19th May 1941, he was classified by a Medical Board sitting at Burnham as Grade IV permanently unfit for service. He suffered abdominal pain, flatulence and vomiting while in camp in 1941 and for about two years prior to this. William was of Waimate at the time of his death, and late of Cave.

Sources

Cenotaph Database [11 October 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives ref. AABK 18805 W5922 0107264) [24 April 2014]; TDC headstone image (Temuka Cemetery) [27 October 2013]; Timaru Herald, 3 June 1916, 25 July 1916, 26 July 1916, 7 November 1917, 31 December 1917, 1 April 1920 (Papers Past) [24 April 2014]; Timaru Herald, 1 & 2 March 1961 (Timaru District Library) [24 April 2014]

External Links

Researched and Written by

Currently Assigned to

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

Tell us more

Do you have information that could be added to this story? Or related images that you are happy to share? Submit them here!