Profile

RUSSELL, John Richard Clayton
(Service number 24/561)

Aliases
First Rank Rifleman Last Rank Rifleman

Birth

Date circa 1883 Place of Birth England

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment Papanui Station, Ruanui, Mataroa
Occupation Station hand
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin John Clayton Russell (father), 36 Alexandra Road, Bedford, England
Religion
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation New Zealand Rifle Brigade
Unit, Squadron, or Ship B Company, 2nd Battalion
Date
Transport HMNZT 31 Tahiti
Embarked From Wellington Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With New Zealand Rifle Brigade

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals 1914-1915 Star, 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 18 June 1917 Reason No longer physically fit for war service on account of illness contracted on active service

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 30 November 1918 Age 35
Place of Death Fairlie Hospital
Cause Influenza
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Fairlie Cemetery, MacKenzie District
Memorial Reference Block 1. Lot 46. (C. of E. Portion.)
New Zealand Memorials On Memorial wall, Timaru; Mackenzie War Memorial, Fairlie, 2016 additions

Biographical Notes

John was born about 1883 in the United Kingdom, the son of John Clayton and Blanche Morris (nee Batley) Russell. His parents had married in the March quarter of 1882 at Windsor.

At enlistment he was working at Papanui Station, Mataroa, near Taihape. In 1914 the owner of the station was Henry Matawai Korte.

He enlisted in Wellington on 22 April 1915 and boarded the "Tahiti on 9 October 1915 for Suez, Egypt. At the time his parents lived in High St, Bedford, England.

John returned to New Zealand, only to be caught up in the influenza epidemic of 1918. After his death at the Fairlie hospital he was buried in the Fairlie cemetery where a headstone was erected by his parents.

It is unknown what John was doing in Fairlie, but his personnel records indicate is intended address on discharge was New Zealand – C/o- Mr Gillingham (a private attorney) of Fairlie. Russell’s medals were sent to Gillingham in Fairlie in 1922.

Sources

External Links

Related Documents

Researched and Written by

Jennifer Cordes, Mackenzie Genealogical Group

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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