Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Hugh Joseph Wade, known as Joseph or Joe, was the fourth son of James Wade and the third son of Winifred Wade (Winnie, née Gallen; later Mrs Harnett), of Fairlie. James Wade who hailed from Southend on Sea, England, married Frances Rawson (Fanny) in 1875 at Akaroa, New Zealand. Fanny died at Christchurch in August 1888, leaving James with three daughters and one son, two daughters having died in infancy. James was a stevedore when he married Winifred Gallen on 10 June 1890 at the Priest’s house, Timaru. Winifred who was born in 1866 on the border of counties Tyrone and Donegal, Ireland, came to New Zealand at an early age to join her older brother (William Gallen) and older sister (Catherine Dick). Many siblings (Eleanor, Hugh, Edward, Hannah, Michael, Joseph) followed at different times, all settling in South Canterbury (Mackenzie Country). James and Winnie had two daughters and six sons (two dying in infancy) before James died on 21 May 1904 at Timaru. James Wade was a most respected member of the Timaru community, flags at the harbour being flown at half-mast out of respect. His funeral left the Catholic Church, into which he had been received, for the cemetery, Brethren of the Loyal Timaru Lodge attending. In 1906, Winifred married Timothy Harnett, a widower with two sons and a daughter. Winnie and Timothy had one daughter.

Hugh Joseph Wade was born on 22 July 1895 at Timaru and baptised Roman Catholic on 11 August. He was educated at the Marist Brothers School in Timaru and then from August 1904 until December 1910 at Fairlie School, where he gained his Certificate of Competency. In mid-October 1905, the Fairlie Football Club made its first venture at a sports meeting and was very successful. J. Wade finished third in the Boys’ Sheffield Handicap. The 1909 Fairlie annual sports and prize-giving took place on the Athletic Grounds on 17 December. There was much excitement among the children competing in the sports events in the afternoon. The principal races were two quarter-mile events. “These races discovered a strong and stylish runner in Joe Wade.” At the Mackenzie Caledonian Society annual sports at Fairlie in November 1910, J. Wade won the 100 Yards Boys Sheffield, earning 20 shillings in doing so. In 1911 he was placed second in the School Boys’ race.

Hugh Joseph Wade was medically examined on 29 January 1916 at Fairlie. Standing at 5 feet 6½ inches, weighing 135 pounds, with a chest measurement of 35¼-38¼ inches, he had a fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. His sight, hearing and colour vision were all good, his limbs and chest well formed, his heart and lungs normal, but his teeth only fair. He had had no illnesses and was free from diseases, was vaccinated, and was in good bodily and mental health. A carpenter at Fairlie and belonging to the 2nd South Canterbury Regiment, he enlisted (simply as Joseph Wade) on 6 April 1916 at Trentham. Single and Roman Catholic, he named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs T. Harnett, Fairlie. He was posted to the 15th Reinforcements.

Rifleman J. Wade embarked with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade of the 15th Reinforcements, departing from Wellington on 26 July 1916 per the “Waitemata”. Disembarking at Devonport, England on 3 October, he marched into Sling. He left for France on 20 October 1916 and marched in at Etaples the next day, joining the 3rd Battalion, New Zealand Rifle Brigade on 5 November. He rejoined his Unit on 2 April 1917 after a detachment of three weeks with the Working Battalion. Casualty List No. 601, published in June 1917, listed Joseph Wade (next-of-kin - Mrs T. Hartnett, Fairlie, mother) among the wounded. Wounded in Action on 7 June 1917, Joseph Wade was admitted to the Field Ambulance then to the 9th Australian Casualty Clearing Station. He was then admitted to the 7th General Hospital at St Omer in France on 8 June 1917 with multiple severe gunshot wounds. As of 9 June 1917, he was dangerously ill in hospital, having suffered a gunshot wound which caused a compound fracture of his femur. As of 17 June, he was still there and still dangerously ill. On 24 June he was removed from the dangerously ill list and was progressing favourably after the amputation of his leg. The official hospital progress report issued at the end of June 1917 had listed J. Wade of Fairlie as still dangerously ill. Casualty List No. 613 issued a few days later noted that Private J. Wade of Fairlie had been removed from the dangerously ill list.

Having received word sometime back that her son, Joseph Wade, was seriously wounded while taking part in the Messines battle, Mrs T. Harnett, Fairlie, received further particulars in early September 1917 from her son who was in hospital in France and was progressing favourably. He had both legs smashed with shell, one leg having to be amputated, while the other was broken in two places. It was thought that he would have to lose both legs, but the skill of the surgeons attending him made the remaining leg sufficiently strong for him to use crutches. He was shortly to embark for England to have an artificial leg fitted. Mrs Harnett hoped that he would return home safely in due course. At this time, she had two other sons in the firing line. William, who went away with the Australian Forces, and Edward, who enlisted with the 19th Reinforcements, were both in France.

Embarking from St Omer for England per the “St Dennis” on 10 August 1917, he was admitted to No. 2 New Zealand General Hospital at Walton-on-Thames (England), as a consequence of the gunshot wounds to his left thigh and fracture of his left femur and the amputation of his right leg. Joe was in hospital when his brother William died in October 1917. In February 1918, Joseph was reported to be progressing well after his leg amputation. On 15 April 1918 he was transferred to the Mechanical Transport Depot, having been supplied with an artificial left thigh on 19 February, and was detailed for a Course of Instruction at Rockhampton House. After the course of instruction, he reported to No. 2 New Zealand Convalescent Hospital at Walton-on-Thames on 19 June 1918. On 6 August 1918 he was supplied with an artificial limb (right). In his file there is confusion between dates and places and also between left and right. Joe did lose a leg. A bullet passed through his left thigh and nicked his right heel. The left thigh wound healed well but the small wound to his heel turned gangrenous and his leg had to be amputated at the thigh.

Classified unfit by the Medical Board in the UK on 3 September 1918, he embarked at London on 8 December 1918. Returning Draft 205 (“Ruahine”) arrived in New Zealand on 21 January 1919, bringing 18509 J. Wade, Fairlie. On 31 January 1919, the Fairlie Public Hall was crowded on the occasion of a welcome home social tendered by the Patriotic Social Committee to a number of returned men. This was the first social after the influenza epidemic had put a stop to such gatherings. The proceedings were characterised by much heartiness and enthusiasm. During the evening the soldiers, who included Rifleman Joe Wade, paraded on the stage and were accorded a rousing reception. A speech of welcome and congratulation were delivered, thanks being returned to those present for the cordial reception. Resounding cheers were given again and again for the soldiers, and before they left the stage they were given musical honours. Songs were sung and a recitation was given, all being encored. Dance music was played and refreshments provided. The proceedings closed with the singing of the National Anthem and with cheers for soldiers at home and abroad. Prior to the commencement of the social the Fairlie Brass Band had played a number of patriotic airs in front of the hall. It had its inception at the celebrations in connection with the signing of the armistice. The Pipe Band had played on the returning soldiers’ arrival at the station.

It was not until 18 November 1919 that Joseph Wade was discharged, no longer physically fit for War Service on account of wounds received in Action (gunshot wounds to right thigh). He had spent over two years overseas, much of that time in hospitals, and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Perhaps Joseph was the J. Wade who along with five others received £5 given by Mr A. S. Elworthy in soldiers’ classes at the Timaru A. and P. show in November 1919. Joseph returned to the family home at Gorge Road, Fairlie, and resumed his carpentry work. In the early 1920s Joe became a regular in the hunt. Hunting was quickly growing in popularity at Fairlie, a gathering of between 40 an d50 riders assembling for the meet in July 1921. Among those following were J. Wade on Heat Wave and E. Wade on Drafty. The initial meet of the 1922 annual series of the South Canterbury Hunt Club runs in the Fairlie district was held on 18 April, about seventy followers assembling to participate. Among the followers were J. Wade on Voltage and E. Wade on Jum. In April 1923, J. Wade was elected a new member of the South Canterbury Hunt.

He married Catherine Jane Fox in 1922. Joe and Catherine had two sons – Colin Joseph born in 1926 and Charles Edward born in 1928. Sometime in the 1920s they moved to Epworth near Temuka, and Joseph took up farming. There they remained for some twenty years or more. Mrs J. Wade was elected to the committee at the annual meeting of the Arowhenua Native School in March 1935. At the Timaru Magistrate’s Court in March 1935, Hugh Joseph Wade was fined 5 shillings and 10 shillings costs for parking a car in Stafford Street for a longer period than 20 minutes. On the night of 20 February 1936, Timaru and South Canterbury experienced the heaviest rainfall recorded for a great many years. Between the Manse and the Temuka traffic bridges, the Temuka River broke through the property of Mr J. Wade, at Epworth, and swept across the Waitohi road into the low-lying land in front of the Arowhenua Hall. The road became impassable to all traffic and a cow, caught by the flood in a paddock near the hall, was drowned. Local residents were standing by in the early hours of the morning, ready to assist in rescuing people from the houses in the vicinity if necessary. J. Wade and others wrote to the River Board (Geraldine County Council) asking for repairs to embankments damaged by the floods. In March 1939, Mr J. Wade, Epworth, wrote offering suggestions to overcome the flooding caused by the Temuka River on Epworth property. Mrs H. J. Wade enjoyed success in WDFU and Women’s Institute competitions, while Mr H. J. Wade won prizes for his draught horses.

“Valuable information relating to the problems with which ex-soldier settlers are faced, for the guidance of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers Association in formulating a Dominion land policy, was collected by the executive of the Temuka Branch when it met representative farmers at a special meeting” in early November 1937. Twenty settlers responded to the executive’s request for information and their evidence was such that a comprehensive report would be compiled. When it was prepared the contents would be reviewed by a special committee of settlers comprising Mr J. Wade and five others who were to act in conjunction with the executive. Joseph suppled to the Ashburton Dairy Company at Clandeboye. Both Joseph and his brother Edward were pall-bearers at the funeral of their uncle William Gallen at Fairlie in June 1938. Letters from Messrs J. Wade and W. H. Palmer to the South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society in April 1940 suggested that the area from between the Manse Bridge and the Temuka Traffic Bridge on the Temuka River be declared a sanctuary. The letters stated that there was a big dam in the Raupo creek about 400 yards from the Temuka River, and 500 young ducks were reared there every season. Trouble had been caused by shooting near the house. The rangers were appointed to investigate the proposal. Mr J. Wade was a winner of cards at a euchre party and dance held in November 1941 at St Joseph’s Social Club, Temuka. Mrs Wade was a winner on subsequent occasions.

Retiring in the 1950s, Joseph and Catherine moved into Temuka. Catherine Jane Wade died at Timaru on 7 April 1956 and was buried at Temuka. Hugh Joseph Wade died at Timaru (of Temuka) on 6 April 1970, aged 74 years. Following a Requiem Mass at St Joseph’s Church, Temuka, he was buried with Catherine in the Temuka Cemetery, members of the Temuka RSA attending his funeral. He was survived by his two sons, seven grandchildren and one sibling, his half-sister Mary (Harnnett) Keenan. His next-of-kin was his son, Mr C. Wade, Epworth, Temuka. Joseph bequeathed his farm lands to his son Colin Joseph Wade, and his shares in his house property, credit in investment account, motor cars caravans and household items to his son Charles Edward Wade.

Brothers William Wade and Edward James Wade also served in World War One and were both fighting on the Western Front at the same time as Joe. This was a family with an exceptionally brilliant war record - William was awarded the Military Medal and D.C.M.; his brother Edward was awarded the Military Medal; another brother, Hugh Joseph (Joe) Wade, had a leg amputated. Both Edward and William were in France when Joseph had both legs smashed with shell. Then Edward and Joseph were both in hospital in England when Willie died of his wounds. Yet another brother, John Wade, the youngest son of Winifred and brother of Willie, Edward and Joe, and stepbrother of John and William Harnett, was called up in July 1917 when he had just turned 20. He was appealed for by his mother. Of her four sons and two stepsons, five had already enlisted. A sine die adjournment was granted. The Wade brothers were cousins of the Dick brothers who served in World War One – Joseph Andrew Dick who was killed in action in 1917 and James Alfred Dick, they being sons of Winnie’s sister Catherine (Kate) née Gallen. Two Gallen cousins also served in World War One – William James Gallen, son of Winnie’s brother Hugh, and John James Gallen, son of her brother Edward. At least one Gallen relative served in World War Two – Anthony Edward Timothy Gallen, whose brother John Hugh Gallen was drawn in a ballot. Cousins James Cornelius Gallen and Patrick Bede Gallen (sons of Michael) were also drawn in World War Two ballots. William Henry Loomes, a son of Louisa Wade, a half-sister of Edward, Joseph and Willie Wade, served in World War Two. Winifred Harnett (Winnie, formerly Wade) was accidentally killed. What a stoic, brave yet quietly proud woman she must have been. Her fourth son (James) had died in 1899 at five months; her youngest son (Albert James) died in 1904, he too five months old; her husband James Wade died in May 1904, leaving four children of his first marriage and six of his second; her eldest son died of wounds in France in October 1917; her third son lost a leg in France in 1917. Mrs Winifred Harnett, one of the oldest and best-known residents of the Mackenzie Country, an excellent wife and mother, and a generous and large-hearted lady, fell from a trap when the horse shied near Timaru on 6 June 1922. She was killed on the spot, but “not before a kindly Providence ordained that at that moment Father J. O’Connor, S.M., of Geraldine, should come upon the scene, and imparted to the dying woman the last absolution.”

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [27 August 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK18805 W5557 0117607) [20 December 2015]; Temuka Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [26 August 2013]; Timaru Herald, 4 March 1899, 26 February 1904, 23 May 1904, 14 October 1905, 21 December 1909, 12 November 1910, 21 January 1911, 17 November 1911, 23 June 1917, 3, 7 & 13 July 1917, 8 September 1917, 10 December 1917, 16 February 1918, 13 & 15 January 1919, 5 & 8 February 1919, 10 November 1919, 19 July 1921, 24 April 1922, 28 April 1923, 29 March 1935, 22 February 1936 [sup], 3 March 1936, 22 & 23 March 1937, 5 November 1937, 2 July 1938, 8 April 1940, 21 November 1941, NZ Tablet, 2 June 1904, 22 June 1922, Auckland Star, 22 June 1917, Otago Daily Times, 22 June 1917, Sun, 22 June 1917, Star, 22 June 1917, Otago Witness, 18 July 1917, NZ Times, 13 January 1919, Press, 30 June 1917, 23 March 1937, 9 April 1956, 7 April 1970 (Papers Past) [20 September 2013; 02 & 06 November 2013; 09 September 2014; 03 March 2018; 03 August 2020; 22 May 2023; 25 January 2026]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [07 May 2014]; Probate record (Archives NZ Collections – Record number TU179/1970) [25 January 2026]; Timaru Herald, 7 April 1970 (Timaru District Library) [15 April 2015]; School Admission record (South Canterbury Branch NZSG); Christchurch Catholic Diocese Baptisms Index CD (held by South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [07 May 2017; 26 October 2020]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [10 April 2017; 22 January 2026]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file
• Other military personnel file

Related Documents

• WADE Hugh Joseph - newspaper clippings (pdf, 104.6 KB updated 02-Apr-2026)

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

TS