Profile

STRACHEY, Claude Otto
(Service number 1294)

Aliases Otto
First Rank Private Last Rank Private

Birth

Date Unknown Place of Birth Christchurch

Enlistment Information

Date 3 December 1914 Age 26
Address at Enlistment Fiji
Occupation Clerk
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status single
Next of Kin M Strachey, 148 Worcester Street, West Christchurch, NZ
Religion Rationalist
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with Australian Imperial Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation Australian Infantry AIF
Unit, Squadron, or Ship 1st Battalion, 2nd reinforcement
Date 11 February 1915
Transport Seang Bee
Embarked From Sydney, Australia Destination Alexandria, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With Australian Infantry AIF

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 2 May 1915 Age 27
Place of Death Gallipoli, Turkey
Cause killed in action
Notices Press, Volume LII, Issue 15531, 6 March 1916, Page 7
Memorial or Cemetery Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli
Memorial Reference Panel 15
New Zealand Memorials On Memorial wall, Timaru; Waimataitai School War Memorial

Biographical Notes

Son of Claude Mainwaring and Emily Chisholm Mackintosh Strachey (nee Macpherson) of Christchurch NZ.

Strachey‘s family had lived in Timaru before leaving to live in Christchurch in 1909. Claude was working in the Colonial Office in Fiji when war was declared. Eager to enlist, he travelled to Australia and joined the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). He sailed to Egypt in February 1915, going on to the Dardenelles in April 1915. He was reported missing on 2 May 1915 but was not confirmed dead until January 1916. His father had written to the army and was told that the prisoner lists had been checked and Otto was not on the list. A court of enquiry in January 1916 had a witness said that Otto was wounded an hour after landing at Anzac. A shrapnel shell had burst and about 12 people were wounded, including Otto. The witness saw him fall and later saw him lying on the beach. Did not see him again but believed he was badly wounded.

Otto has no known grave and his father again wrote to the army in 1926 to ask if his body had ever been found - the reply was no. Claude’s brothers Richard Clive Strachey (no.39115) died on 4 August 1917 in France, while Ewen Macpherson Strachey (no.6/1991) survived the war.

Sources

Australian war record, Australian Archives, https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au ; Paperspast http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/ ; Births, Deaths & Marriages online www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz

External Links

Related Documents

Researched and Written by

Liz Shea, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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