WEST, Charles Edward
(Service number 7/767)
| First Rank | Trooper | Last Rank |
|---|
Birth
| Date | Unknown | Place of Birth |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | |||
| Occupation | |||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Married | ||
| Next of Kin | Mrs M. West (wife), Public Library, Fairlie, New Zealand | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | 2nd Reinforcements | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | Canterbury Mounted Rifles | ||
| Date | 14 December 1914 | ||
| Transport | Verdala or Willochra or Knight of the Garter | ||
| Embarked From | Wellington, New Zealand | Destination | Suez, Egypt |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | |||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | Gallipoli Medallion | ||
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 |
Death
| Date | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | |||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | |||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Charles West He was born 27 November 1875 in Timaru. He was a self-employed builder from a family with a tradition of service. Charles’ father, Daniel, was in the Timaru City Rifles. Charles himself served in the South Canterbury Mounted Rifles before joining the 2nd Contingent for the South African War which left on 20 January 1900. Charles served as a gunner for a Hotchkiss platoon (a type of machine gun) and was discharged in 1902. At the time of his enlistment for the South African War he was employed as a carpenter for P. Foster of Timaru, who had the contract for the Fairlie library.
Charles married Mary Letita Bagg on 7th April 1906 in Dunedin. She was the Mackenzie County librarian and they lived in the flat upstairs above the library in Fairlie. Charles attested for service in World War One in Timaru on 2 October 1914, joining the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, commencing duty with the 2nd Reinforcements on 20 October, and embarking from New Zealand on 14 December 1914. His enlistment address was “Public Library, Fairlie” (after the war his service record was given as “Box 4, Fairlie”. He was in the Egyptian Theatre in 1915-1916, including Gallipoli where he was wounded in action. He was wounded in the left arm on 16 August 1915. He went on to embark for France 8 April 1916 where he was attached to 2 ANZAC Headquarters. After suffering from Haemorrhoids he was admitted and operated on (unsuccessfully) at Etaples in August 1916. He was discharged 11-11-1917, no longer physically fit for war service. He had spent 2 years and 304 days overseas. Charles received a welcome home from the citizens of Fairlie, along with Corporal McDonald in 1917. He worked in the district, building the changing rooms at the public swimming pool on School Rd. However he was divorced in 1922 and later, in 1928,remarried to Ethel Maud Smith. He is buried in Timaru.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database (21 January 2015); SCRoll web submission by John Shears, 7 December 2014
External Links
Related Documents
No documents available.
Researched and Written by
Tony Rippin (South Canterbury Museum)
Currently Assigned to
Not assigned.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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