Profile

LOOMES, Harold
(Service number 4/1054)

Aliases
First Rank Sapper Last Rank Corporal

Birth

Date 15 October 1891 Place of Birth Fairlie, New Zealand

Enlistment Information

Date 2 August 1915 Age 23
Address at Enlistment 80 Grey Road, Timaru, New Zealand
Occupation Motor Mechanic
Previous Military Experience 2nd (South Canterbury) Regiment
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mrs Rose Loomes (mother), Eversley, Fairlie
Religion Church of England
Medical Information 5 foot 10 inches tall, fair complexion, brown hair, brown eyes, 144 lbs in weight, chest 34 1/2 inches, good teeth

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation 6th Reinforcements
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Divisional Signals
Date 14 Aug 1915
Transport Willochra or Tofua
Embarked From Wellington, New Zealand Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With Divisional Signals

Military Awards

Campaigns Egyptian, Gallipoli, & Western Europe
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 2 May 1919 Reason End of war

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Motor mechanic

Death

Date 2 January 1981 Age 89
Place of Death Timaru, New Zealand
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Salisbury Park Crematorium, Timaru
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Harold, eighth son of Charles and Rose (nee Morgan) Loomes, was born at Fairlie on 15 October 1891.

Working for Adams Ltd in Timaru as a motor mechanic, he enlisted there on 2 August 1915, having had previous military experience with the 2nd South Canterbury Regiment. His last address was 80 Grey Road, Timaru. He was described as being Anglican, aged 23, 5 foot 10 inches tall, of fair complexion, brown hair, brown eyes, 144 lbs in weight, chest measuring 34½ inches, good teeth, and single. His mother, Mrs C.I. Loomes, of Eversley, Fairlie, was listed as his next of kin. Harold embarked from Wellington very soon after entering camp on 14 August, aboard SS Willochra or Tofua, with the 6th Reinforcements, Divisional Signals, bound for Suez, Egypt. After service in Egypt, he joined his unit at Gallipoli on 26 October 1915. Later, on 7 April 1916 he embarking for France where he was to serve as a despatch rider with Divisional Signals. It is thought that during this period, for a short time, he had held the European land speed record on a motor cycle, before it was broken two weeks later. Loomes' leather helmet, wages books, and photographs are held by the South Canterbruy Museum. Corporal Loomes returned to NZ aboard SS Hororata on 15 March 1919, and was discharged 2 May 1919. For his war service he received the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

In 1919 he married Eliza Christina Seyb. After her death, in 1936, he remarried to Ethel Newman. Harold continued with his civil employment as a mechanic and worked for Burnett’s, where he drove a daily service from Timaru to Mt Cook, and later worked for Hervey Motors until his retirement. Being a keen fisherman, he was also a council member on the South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society. Harold died in Timaru on 2 January 1981, and was cremated at Salisbury Park Crematorium, Timaru.

Sources

Auckland Museum Cenotaph database (June 2015); Archives NZ (Personal File); NZSG Index V5; NZSG Burial Locator V2; phone conversation with son David Loomes (Craighead St Timaru) April 2015

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available.

Researched and Written by

Ted Hansen (SC branch NZSG)

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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