Profile

PELVIN, Richard
(Service number 10/3843)

Aliases Appears to have enlisted as James Bruce
First Rank Private Last Rank Private

Birth

Date 02/04/1895 Place of Birth Waitaki

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment Raetihi
Occupation Bushman for the County Council, Raetihi
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status
Next of Kin A. Pelvin (father), Mill Road, Waimate
Religion Presbyterian
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 10th Reinforcements, Wellington Infantry Battalion, B Company
Date 4 March 1916
Transport Willochra or Tofua
Embarked From Wellington, New Zealand Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With New Zealand Field Artillery

Military Awards

Campaigns Western European 1916-1918
Service Medals British War Medal and 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 6 June 1919 Reason Discharged on termination of period of service

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 2 November 1942 Age
Place of Death Waimate
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Richard (Dick) Pelvin was born on 2 Apr 1895 in Waitaki (and regitered in Waimate), to Mary Robertson and Alfred Pelvin. Before the war Richard was employed by the County Council as a bushman at Raetihi. He was not quite 20 when he enlisted for World War One at Wanganui on the 15th Nov 1915. He gave his grandfather's name "James Bruce" as his own at his medical and next of kin address was for his father Alfred Pelvin in Mill Road Waimate. After the initial military training, he left New Zealand on 4 March 1916 with the NZ Expeditionary Force with the 10th Reinforcements, Wellington Infantry Battalion, B Company. They disembarked at Suez, Egypt on 10 April 1916 and were transhipped from there to Etaples, France. Richard became ill in July 1916, and was invalided for a period at the London Chelsea Hospital. Later in 1916 was transferred to the Firled Artillery where he served as a driver for the remainder of the war. After hostilities ceased Dick left for NZ from Liverpool on the "SS Kia Ora" on 27 Mar 1919, having served 3 years and 206 days, ultimately being discharged from the Army on 16 June 1919. For his service he received the British War Medal and Victory Medal. Following the war Richard married Emily Priscilla Kate (Queenie) Orman in Oamary on 26 April 1922. Richard was living in Waimate where he was employed as a railway surfaceman. The couple went on to have six children: Alfred (1923-2002), Queenie (1925-2005), a still-born child born in 1930, Norma Margaret (1935-1977), Mary Priscilla, and Rose. Richard died at Waimate on 2 November 1942.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database (19 June 2015); SCRoll web submission by W Griffin, 4 December 2015 & 5 May 2018; "Dick & Emily Priscilla Kate Pelvin" (Family hisotrey web page) at http://winsomegriffin.com/Pelvin/Richard_EmilyPelvin.html

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available.

Researched and Written by

Tony Rippin (South Canterbury Museum)

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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