Profile

MINNISS, Samuel Henry
(Service number 7/117)

Waimate volunteers for the Main Body, 1914 — Those pictured are identified on the verso as (from left to right): BACK ROW: J Cochrane, J Ryan*, J McGillery, Wilson, J Jobin, J Horgan, M Duggan, A Hodgen, H Minniss*, Hunt, A Kirby, E Leonard, W Tavendale*; 2nd ROW: J Tennant, J Cochrane*, J Carr*, M Bell*, IMC Thatche(?), Lieut. Guinness*, Major P Wain, SM [Sergeant-Major] Dixon, AR Manchester, Hoskins, R Bee, Hunt; FRONT ROW: J Wall, Horgan, P Sullivan, R Frost, R J Waldie, L Wilson*, Robbins, A Martin, J Campbell*, J Gynes

NB: Those names marked with an asterisk (*) were underlined in red as "killed or died of wounds". (Courtesy of R Waldie. South Canterbury Museum L2014/025.01)

1st Contingent 8th S.C.M.R. to leave Waimate for the 1914-1918 War — Pictured are:
Back: Rainey, G; Frost, R; Julian, W; Cochrane, John; Tennant, John; Cochrane, James; Nichol N; Cameron, C; Robins; Rickman, E A; ?
3rd R: McKenzie, J (alexander John); Duggan, M; Tobin ,J; Tavendale, W; Campbell, J; Gynes; Hodgson, J; McKenzie, R S (Percy?); Samuels, H [actually Henry Samuel Miniss]; Copland; Fitzharris, P; Gill, J
2nd R: Fraser; Whitta, J H; Carr, J; Manchester, A R; Wain, P J; Finlay, John; Bailey, G C; Sloan, P; Bell, N; Menzies, W; Spencer, E; Ryan, E
Front: McGrath, W; Keane, T; Wall, T; Hunt; ?; Hogan, H (Courtesy of Waimate Museum & Archives, P2183 )

Aliases	Served as Henry SAMUELS
First Rank	Trooper	Last Rank	Gunner

Birth

Date	29/01/1883	Place of Birth	Remeura, Auckland, New Zealand

Enlistment Information

Date	14 August 1914	Age	31
Address at Enlistment	Waimate, New Zealand
Occupation	Labourer
Previous Military Experience	1st Infantry Regiment, Sydney (2 1/2 years)
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Mrs Nellie Samuels (mother), 119 Crystal Street, Petersham, NSW, Australia
Religion	Church of England
Medical Information	Height 5 foot 8 1/2 inches, fair complexion, light brown hair, grey eyes, weight 151 lbs, chest 33 1/2 - 36 1/2 inches, teeth good, circular scar on right outer elbow

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	Main Body
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	Canterbury Mounted Rifles
Date	16 October 1914
Transport	Tahiti or Athenic
Embarked From	Wellington, New Zealand	Destination	Suez, Egypt

Other Units Served With	NZ Field Artillery, NZDAC
Last Unit Served With	NZ Field Artillery, NZDAC

Military Awards

Campaigns	Egyptian, Balkans (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	13 May 1919	Reason	End of War

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

23 July 1914 - admitted hospital ANZAC/3 Fd Amb Mudros - neuralgia; 26 July transferred to EA Hospital Egypt then No 1 Stationary Hospital 28 August; 13 October 1914 - admitted hospital Mudros - neuralgia and transferred to Grey Towers England on 4 November 1914; 6 January 1917 - gun shot wound to leg, admitted to No 1 NZ Fd Amb France; 20 April 1917 - gun shot wound to leg admitted to No 3 NZ Fd Amb France - transferred to No 2 NZ Gen Hospital Walton England on 30 April 1917

Post-war Occupations

Railway employee in Australia

Death

Date	28 August 1962	Age	79
Place of Death	Sydney, Australia
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Samuel, eldest son of John and Ellen (nee Hobble) Minniss, was born at Remeura, Auckland, on 29 January 1883.

At the outbreak of war Samuel was employed as a labourer by Mr J. Gillon of Waihao Down, Waimate. He enlisted into the Canterbury Mounted Rifles at Timaru on 14 August 1914, under the name of Henry Samuels after failing a medical under his real name. His enlistment papers described him as being 31 years of age, single, Anglican, 5 foot 8 ½ inches tall, of fair complexion, light brown hair, grey eyes, weighing 151 lbs, chest measuring 33 ½ to 36 ½ inches, having good teeth and a circular scar on his right elbow outer. He stated he had had 2 ½ years previous military service with the 1st Infantry Regiment in Sydney, Australia. His mother, Mrs Nellie Samuels of 119 Crystal Street, Petersham, NSW, Australia, was listed as his next of kin but she could not be found at this address so an alternate next of kin was recorded as Miss M. Minniss of 14 Boulevard, Petersham, Sydney, NSW.

Samuel embarked from Wellington for Suez, Egypt, aboard SS Tahiti or Athenic, with the Main Body of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, on 16 October 1914. In Egypt he was transferred to the NZ Field Artillery and embarked for the Dardanelles on 9 May 1915 with the 9th Battery. On 23 July he came down with neuralgia and was admitted to the NZ Field Ambulance at ANZAC and transferred to 3 Field Ambulance at Mudros on 26 July, and again sent to the EA Hospital, Egypt, on 1 August then on to No 1 Stationary Hospital on 28 August. After discharge from hospital, he again embarked for Mudros on 27 September. October 13 saw him again being admitted to hospital in Mudros with the same complaint and on 4 November, he was sent to Grey Towers Hospital, England.

On 7 April 1916, Samuel once again embarked for service in France with the Field Artillery. On 6 January 1917, he received a minor gunshot wound to the leg and was admitted to No 1 NZ Field Ambulance and discharged back to duty on 9 January. He again received a gunshot wound to the leg on 20 April 1917, and admitted to No 3 NZ Field Ambulance, and on 30 April, was transferred to No 2 NZ General Hospital at Walton, England. On 19 May he moved to the Convalescent Hospital at Hornchurch, and was discharged to Chaddington on 14 June 1917. He embarked for France on 10 April 1918, where, on the next day, he was posted to NZDAC, where he finished his war service. Samuel boarded the SS Willochra at Southampton on 8 March 1919 for his return to NZ, and arrived home on 15 April. After having served a total of 4 years and 273 days, he was discharged from the army on 13 May 1919. For this service he was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medals.

On 20 May 1919, at Wellington, he made a declaration that his name was in fact Samuel Henry Minniss, his military records being amended to record that fact, and in June, left NZ bound for Australia. Samuel spent the remainder of his life living in the Campsie area of Sydney, NSW, Australia, where he worked as a railway employee, and died in Sydney on 28 August 1962, aged 79 years.

Sources

Assorted records on ancestry.com.au; Birth, Death and Marriage Historical Records at https://bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz; University of New South Wales, Canberra NZEF Project "New Zeland Anzacs in ther Great War 1914-1918" at http://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=225673; Facebook contact via DigitalNZ with grand-daughter, M Freeman, 23 November 2016.

External Links

Researched and Written by

Ted Hansen, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

Tell us more

Do you have information that could be added to this story? Or related images that you are happy to share? Submit them here!