Profile

BLAIR, John
(Service number 1407)

Aliases
First Rank		Last Rank

Birth

Date	4 February 1885	Place of Birth	Green Island, Dunedin

Enlistment Information

Date	20 February 1917	Age	32 years
Address at Enlistment	C/o A. Gould, Selwyn Street; 14 Hatton Street.
Occupation	Fisherman
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	Married
Next of Kin
Religion	Presbyterian
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 11¼ inches. Weight 178 lbs. Chest measurement 39¾-41¾ inches. Complexion ruddy. Eyes blue-gray. Hair dark brown. Sight - both eyes 6/6. Hearing & colour vision both normal. Limbs well formed. Full & perfect movement of all joints. Chest well formed. Heart & lungs normal. Free from heria, varicocele, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Vaccinated (left arm). Slight defects but not sufficient to cause rejection. No fits. Not in good bodily & mental health. Illness - rheumatism - 4 years ago, in bed 5 months, still pains in back. Class C2.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation
Unit, Squadron, or Ship
Date
Transport
Embarked From		Destination

Other Units Served With
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		Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Wharf labourer

Death

Date	1 July 1942	Age	57 years
Place of Death	Sunnyside mental Hospital, Riccarton, Christchurch
Cause	Chronic valvular disease of heart
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Timaru Cemetery
Memorial Reference	General Section, Row 136, Plot 243
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

John Blair was the son of Thomas and Anne Nichol (née Cathro) Blair. He was called up in November 1916. At the time he was a fisherman and residing in Selwyn Street, Timaru. Two weeks later he appealed almost, saying that he had a wife and child, having married in January 1916. He already had one brother at the front. John had owned a fishing boat for four years, which he had been working in Dunedin before coming to Timaru. On 21 May 1917 action was taken under Section 48 of the Military Service Act. John Blair was certainly a well built man, standing almost six feet tall, weinging in at 178 pounds, and with a chest expansion of clost to 40-42 inches. But obviously the rheumatism he had suffered four years before his call-up had taken its toll. After 5 months in bed he still suffered pain in his back. Thus he was classed fit for home service only.

Sources

NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5520 0015433 [08 January 2017]; Timaru Herald, 25 November 1916, 1 January 1917, 13 December 1917, 10 June 1918 (Papers Past) [27 December 2016]; Probate record (Archives NZ/FamilySearch) [03 January 2017]; Timaru Herald, 3 July 1942 (Timaru District Library) [30 December 2016]

External Links

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

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