Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Edward Gordon Weight, known as Gordon, was the elder son of Mr Edward Francis and Mary Jane (née McManaway) Weight, of Wellington. His father was a printer in the Government Printing Office. Born on 28 September 1887 at Wellington, he was educated at the Marist Brothers’ School there. His name featured in the 1894 prize list – first in Catechism for second Primer Class. He may well have been involved in the excellent entertainment given by the pupils. The next year he received a prize for Standard I punctuality. G. Weight and other lads read an address of welcome at the school in August 1897 in honour of the Provincial of the Marist Brothers of Australasia who was visiting. The boys were granted a half-holiday on this occasion. In 1897, when Gordon was awarded a prize for Standard II recitation, the accommodation of the Exchange Hall was insufficient to seat the large audience which gathered for the concert and prize-distribution. The Weight family was very active in church affairs, and Gordon did his bit. In 1908 he was a member of the committee which arranged the Home of Compassion Christmas tree and fete fund in aid of brightening Christmas for incurable children, he himself collecting £1.17s.6d towards the surplus handed to Mother Aubert. He was again a member of the committee which arranged the children’s Christmas day at the Home of Compassion in 1910. In September 1909, Gordon Weight was best man at a wedding in the Wellington Sacred Heart Basilica. Amateur performers of the Wellington Catholic Club gave an excellent performance in the Municipal Concert Hall of the lively farce, “Mendle’s Marriage”, in June 1910, the part of Lieutenant Allison taken very well by Mr Gordon Weight. A repeat performance was given in August. Representing T. Ballinger and Company’s Victoria Street warehouse, Gordon took part in a miniature rifle shooting competition in July 1910, and he finished among the highest five scorers for his team.

Edward Gordon Weight, a traveller, was living at home (15 Alpha Street, Wellington) with his parents and brother in 1911. When he enlisted on the outbreak of war, he was stationed at Timaru as an ironmonger and hardware traveller for John Edmonds and Company, and gave his address as the Empire Hotel, Timaru. He enrolled and passed the medical examination on 12 August 1914, in a very lively and busy Drill Shed; he was not one of those rejected because they were over or under age, insufficiently developed, had no experience, or were over-weight (the regulation weight was 12 stone). Twenty-six years 11 months old, single and Roman Catholic, Gordon named Edward F. Weight, Alpha Street, Wellington, as his next-of-kin. He stood at 5 feet 9½ inches, weighed 144 pounds, had a chest measurement of 33¾-36½ inches, and had a dark complexion, grey eyes and black hair. His sight, hearing and colour vision were all good, his limbs and chest well formed, his heart and lungs normal. He had full movement of all joints and good teeth, was free from diseases and defects, and in good bodily and mental health. No vaccination mark was evident. Weight had completed nine years of service with the Artillery and Engineer Volunteers, being a popular officer in the old Submarine Miners Company, and in D Battery.

Trooper Weight embarked with the Canterbury Mounted Rifles of the Main Body on 16 October 1914 at Wellington, disembarking at Alexandria on 3 December. On 9 January 1915 he was appointed (unpaid) Lance Corporal and on 5 March promoted to Corporal Signalling. He embarked at Alexandria on 9 May for the Dardanelles. The next news was not good. The casualty notices in June 1915 reported that Corporal E. Gordon Weight, of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, had been wounded and had arrived at Malta. Having suffered a shell wound to his right shoulder and forearm on 29 May at the Dardanelles, he was admitted to the New Zealand Field Ambulance at Anzac, transferred to Mudros, and was admitted to St Andrews Hospital at Malta from the Hospital Ship on 4 June, with shrapnel in his right arm. Fit again for Active Service on 12/13 August, he embarked per Hospital Ship “Karoa” to rejoin his unit at the Front, only to be reported missing from 28 August. By September there was a correction with regard to Corporal Weight and five troopers – “reported wounded, should have been reported as missing”.

In January 1916, as the result of a Court of Enquiry held at Zeitoun, Corporal Edward Gordon Weight was “declared missing, believed to be dead” – killed in action. It was determined that he had been killed in action on 28 August 1915 at Gallipoli, aged 27 years 11 months. . There had been, however, an agonising five-month wait for his family to learn the official news. He was killed in action in The August Offensive. At Cape Helles on August 6, 26,000 British men and 13.000 French soldiers were sent against 40,000 Turks. British losses on the first day numbered 3,480; the Turks lost 7,510. His name is engraved on the Hill 60 (New Zealand) Memorial in Turkey, beneath the inscription – “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of New Zealand who fell in the actions of Hill 60, August 1915, and in September 1915, and who have no known grave.” He was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, which were sent to his father, as were the scroll and memorial plaque.

Gordon’s grandmother, Mrs M’Manaway, died in September 1916 in Wellington. Her daughter, Mrs Edward Weight, had lost a son in the war, had four daughters in the convent, and had another son and two daughters surviving. His parents, E. F. and M. J. Weight, often inserted an In Memoriam in the Evening Post – “In fond and loving memory of Corporal Edward Gordon Weight, 8th South Canterbury Mounted Rifles, Main Body, who was killed on Gallipoli on the 28th August, 1915. R.I.P.” In July 1919, when donations were being accepted for a monument over Father Dore’s grave at Foxton, Mr Weight gave £5, “in memory of his son, Corporal E. G. Weight”. Irish-born Father Dore left Foxton to serve as a New Zealand military chaplain at Anzac Cove, where he was critically wounded. He was awarded the Military Cross for his gallant conduct on Chunuk Bair. He was repatriated to New Zealand, but with spinal damage and his nerves shattered, he died in 1918. Mrs Weight died in November 1921, and Mr Weight in January 1929, predeceased by his son Gordon and two of his religious daughters. Their headstone in Wellington’s Karori Cemetery bears an inscription to their beloved son. All but one daughter are buried in Karori Cemetery. Gunner Edward Gordon Weight, a nephew of Corporal Weight and also known as Gordon, was a prisoner at Stalag 8B in World War II. Another nephew, Edward Spencer Staveley, also served in World War II, and his brother-in-law, Frank Spencer Staveley, died in the 1918 influenza epidemic.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [03 June 2016]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5557 0120411) [10 June 2016]; CWGC [03 June 2016]; New Zealand Times, 21 December 1894, 20 December 1895, 22 September 1915, Evening Post, 22 December 1897, 11 January 1909, 30 September 1909, 17 August 1910, 14 June 1915, 24 September 1915, 25 September 1916, 28 August 1917, 30 August 1918, 28 August 1919, 27 August 1921, 14 January 1929, New Zealand Tablet, 3 September 1897, 7 January 1898, 21 January 1909, 28 October 1909, 7 July 1910, 7 October 1915, 24 July 1919, 17 November 1921, Dominion, 28 June 1910, 21 July 1910, 24 December 1910, 15 June 1915, Timaru Herald, 13 August 1914, 24 September 1915, Otago Daily Times, 12 June 1915, 22 September 1915, 21 January 1916, Press, 12, 14 & 16 June 1915, Evening Star, 15 & 21 June 1915, Star, 21 June 1915, Sun, 21 September 1915, Waimate Daily Advertiser, 21 January 1916 (Papers Past) [10 January 2016; 03 June 2016; 14 & 21 August 2016; 30 April 2020; 01 May 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [03 June 2016]; Karori Cemetery headstone transcription [3 June 2016]; Karori Cemetery headstone image (Wellington City Council) [4 June 2016]; School Inspector Returns (Archives NZ Wellington) [30 April 2002]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [01 May 2020]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

TS