Profile

HOULKER, James
(Service number 6/1527)

Aliases
First Rank	Captain	Last Rank	Major

Birth

Date	17/06/1880	Place of Birth	Blackburn, Lancashire, England

Enlistment Information

Date		Age
Address at Enlistment	Nelson, New Zealand
Occupation	Barrister and Solicitor
Previous Military Experience	Nelson College Cadets
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Mrs William HOULKER (mother), 18 Brougham Street, Nelson. Also Tom HOULER, Nelson.
Religion	Church of England
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	3rd Reinforcements
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	Canterbury Infantry Battalion
Date	14 February 1915
Transport	Tahiti
Embarked From	Wellington	Destination	Suez, Egypt

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With	Canterbury Infantry Battalion

Military Awards

Campaigns	Gallipoli
Service Medals	1914-15 Star; British War Medal; Victory Medal. Gallipoli Medallion.
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

Wounded in action early in campaign, hospitalised, recovered and returned to the frontline (after convalescing at an island in the Mediterranean). Wouned in the August Offensive, 1915, when he received a gunshot wound to the thigh. He was taken from Anzac Beach to the hospital ship Valdivia on 8 August 1915.

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	10 August 1915	Age	35 yrs
Place of Death	At Sea, HM Hospital Ship Valdivia ex Gallipoli
Cause	Died of wounds
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Lone Pine Memorial, Lone Pine Cemetery, Anzac, Turkey. Buried at sea, near Anzac Cove, 10 August 1915.
Memorial Reference	Panel 73
New Zealand Memorials	Memorial tablet in Nelson Cathedral.

Biographical Notes

Son of William & Hannah (Anna) Jane HOULKER, of 18 Brougham Street, Nelson. His Webley Revolver is in the Auckland Museum collection. Was a partner in a Nelson legal firm. Well known in Timaru, having been in the office of Messrs Perry, Perry and Kinnerney in Timaru for some years (in Timaru in 1905-1906). Educated at Nelson College. Graduated with B.A. in 1902, LL.B. in 1904. Scoutmaster for many years. Active in cricket, football, musical circles. One of the first to offer his services when war broke out. Date of death may be 1 October 1915. See BIO. Captain HOULKER (of Nelson, formerly of Timaru) was one of the local officers chosen to go with the South Canterbury Regiment, as second in command of the Infantry, who left Timaru on 14 August 1914, an appointment which was keenly awaited. It appearsthat he did not embark in 1914. .

Sources

Cenotaph Database [21 December 2013]; CWGC [31 January 2014]; Timaru Herald, 14 August 1914, 14 August 1915, 17 August 1915, Nelson Evening Mail, 5 August 1916 (Papers Past) [21 December 2013, 2 February 2014; 12 September 2014]

External Links

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