Profile

FONSECA, John
(Service number 15355)

John Fonseca, pictured prior to World War One — (Courtesy of D Giles )

Aliases
First Rank	Rifleman	Last Rank	Lance Corporal

Birth

Date	02/08/1893	Place of Birth	Timaru, South Canterbury, New Zealand

Enlistment Information

Date	4 April 1916	Age	22
Address at Enlistment	60 Richmond Ave, Grey Lynn, Auckland
Occupation	Seaman
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Mrs R. Fonseca, (Mother), 36 Selwyn St, Timaru
Religion	Church of England
Medical Information	5 foot 8 inches. Florid complexion. Grey/green eyes. Dark Hair. His Medical examination reported he was in good health, noting he had tattoos - a life buoy with Titanic on his left upper arm and a bull dog in a life buoy on his right arm.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	NZ Rifle Brigade
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	9th Reinforcement, 1st Battalion, E Company
Date	29 July 1916
Transport	Ulimaroa
Embarked From	Wellington, New Zealand	Destination	Devonport, England

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With	NZ Rifle Brigade

Military Awards

Campaigns	Western Europe 1916-18
Service Medals	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

30 April 1917 - Wounded in face; 24 August 1917 - Wounded left leg and left hand. Returned to England.

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	9 September 1918	Age	25
Place of Death	Havrincourt, France
Cause	Killed in action
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Gouzeacourt New British Cemetery
Memorial Reference	Sp.Mem. A 16
New Zealand Memorials	On Memorial wall, Timaru; Waimataitai School War Memorial

Biographical Notes

John was the son of Reuben A and Nancy Hannah Fonseca of 36 Selwyn St, Timaru. His siblings were Sarah Ann (b.1891), Isaac (b.1896) and Jessie (b.1908). John worked as a seaman for the Union Steam Ship Company based in Auckland.

While on active service in World War One he was wounded twice. Firstly early in 1917 he was wounded in the face, but was soon sent back to the front. Later that year he was wounded and had a period of convalsecent before being sent back to duty. The next year, on 9 September 1918, he was killed in action.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database (September 2013); Archives New Zealand (November 2014. 2017); NZ Birth Deaths and Marriages; SCRoll web submission by D Giles, 16 June 2023

External Links

Researched and Written by

Janette Clarke, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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

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