Profile

McJENNETT, Frank James
(Service number 22442)

Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank Sergeant

Birth

Date 30 November 1888 Place of Birth Oamaru

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment
Occupation Bookseller
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status
Next of Kin R.W. McJennett,(brother) York St, Timaru, New Zealand
Religion
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 Canterbury Infantry Battalion, C Company, 16th Reinforcements
Date 21 August 1916
Transport Mokaia
Embarked From Wellington, New Zealand Destination Plymouth, England
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With Canterbury Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion

Military Awards

Campaigns Western Europe 1916-17
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

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 13 June 1917 Age 28
Place of Death Belgium
Cause Killed in action
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Messines Ridge Memorial,Messines Ridge British Cemetery, Belgium
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials On Memorial wall, Timaru; Knox Church Memorial, Christchurch

Biographical Notes

Fifth child of John and Margaret McJennett of 49 Wansbeck St, Oamaru, New Zealand. Brother of John (b.1876), Maria Isabella (b.1880), Margaret (b.1881), Robert William (b.1885), and Andrew (b.1884).

Frank attended Oamaru South School from 1894 to 1902, when he left to go to work. At some stage Frank moved to Christchurch, where he joined the staff of Messrs Simpson and Williams Ltd, booksellers. When he left to go to the non-commissioned officers' training camp in February 1916, Frank, was presented with a wristlet watch by his fellow workers. Frank’s brother Robert McJennett, then resident at York St, Timaru, was designated next-of-kin and it was he who received the telegram from the Defence Department advising that Frank was killed in action on June 13 1917.

The Timaru Herald reported that “the young soldier belonged to C. Company, 16th Reinforcements. He belonged to Oamaru, but left for camp from Christchurch." On 13 June 1918 brother R. W. (Robert) McJennett recorded in memorium for his “dear brother Private F. J. McJennett, 16th Reinforcements, who fell in the fight at Messines, on June 13, 1917. Oft do our sad thoughts wander, To your grave so far away; Where they laid our loving brother, Just one year ago to-day.”

Frank’s memorial is included in Messines Ridge Commonwealth War Cemetery. A memorial to members of the Knox Church (Christchurch) congregation who died in the Great War also includes Frank McJennett. Frank was unmarried and produced no known descendants, although Frank’s nephew, anotherFrank McJennett, was an RNZAF pilot killed in action in the Second World War.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Cenotaph Database (Nov 2013); War Census CD (Nov 2013); CWGC (Nov 2013); NZ War Graves (Nov 2013); NZBDM 1888/11225 (Nov 2013); SCRoll web submission by J Cameron, 20 April 2015

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Janette Clarke, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

JCl

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