Profile

KIRBY, Timothy
(Service number 60948)

Aliases	Tim
First Rank	Private	Last Rank	Lance-Corporal

Birth

Date	23/02/1905	Place of Birth

Enlistment Information

Date		Age
Address at Enlistment
Occupation	Grain grader
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status
Next of Kin	J. KIRBY (father), 58 High Street, Timaru
Religion	Roman Catholic
Medical Information

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	30th Reinforcements Canterbury Infantry Regiment, C Company
Date	13 October 1917
Transport	Corinthic
Embarked From	Wellington	Destination	Liverpool, England

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

Labourer, storeman; no occupation (1938)

Death

Date	28 April 1944	Age	62 yrs
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Bromley Cemetery, Christchurch
Memorial Reference	Block 3F RSA, Plot 14
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Son of John & Catherine (nee REARDON) KIRBY, Timaru. Brother of Michael who was killed in action 13 Jan 1918 & of James who also served. Both Jim and Tim were serving in France when their brother Michael was killed in action in January 1918. When he enlisted, Tim was employed by National Mortgage and Agency Co., whose wool and grain store employees presented him with a wristlet watch, a shaving outfit and a tobacco pouch, as a token of the warm esteem in which he was held. The storeman spoke very highly of his sterling qualities. Tim was in the South Canterbury quota of the 32nd Reinforcements who left Timaru by the north express on 23 July 1917. They were given a farewell send-off at the Drill Shed where they paraded and were put through a few movements. They received gift parcels from the ladies of the Patriotic Society, then addressed heartily by the Mayor and the Rev. J. H. Rogers, acting-vicar of St Mary's. In May 1918 from "Somewhere in France", Tim was one of the Timaru boys to acknowledge the gifts sent to the Front out of the Mayoress's Fund. Tim returned to New Zealand per the 'Carpentaria', due on 17 May 1919 at Lyttelton, and which actually arrived on the 18th after an uneventful trip. The Timaru men reached town by train on the 19th, to a hearty reception by relatives and friends, by the Mayor and the Reception Committee. The ladies of the Patriotic Society distributed fuit and cigarettes. The Mayor (Mr W. C. Raymond) addressed the men extending the heartiest of welcomes on behalf of the citizens of Timaru, he hoped they would soon forsake the uniform for civilian clothes and would take up civilian duties, and he was sure they would be as successful as they had been at the front. On his return to New Zealand Tim was again employed as a storeman for the N. M. and A. Company. In December 1920 Tim immediately jumped in and tried to rescue a six-year old boy who had fallen into the water at the wharf but had to be rescued himself by a stronger swimmer.

Sources

Cenotaph Database [30 July 2013]; CCC burial records (Bromley Cemetery) [2013]; Cemetery headstone transcription (South Canterbury Branch NZSG New Zealand Cemetery Records microfiche collection) [27 April 2014]; Timaru Herald, 7 June 1917, 19 July 1917, 24 July 1917, 22 May 1918, 7 May 1919, 19 May 1919, 20 May 1919, 18 & 20 December 1920 (Papers Past) [01 November 2013; 25 April 2014]

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