Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Demetrius Mangos was born on 5 September 1895 at Lyell, Westport, eleventh child and sixth son in the family of fifteen of Demetrius Nicolas and Mary Ann (née Williams) Mangos. Demetrius Nicholas who was born in Greece in 1833 and was naturalized in 1874, worked first as a boatman on the Buller River. He and Mary Ann who was born in New Zealand in 1862 married at Nelson in 1878. Most of their children were born at Lyell where Demetrius was a hotel keeper, two dying at birth. Demetrius Nicholas Mangos (also known as Peter) who was a pioneer of the West Coast, worked as a boatman on the Buller River before becoming a publican at Lyell; he died in November 1901 at Nelson Hospital. He bequeathed all his estate to his dear wife and, upon her decease, to the children of their marriage equally; should all have predeceased him, the proceeds were to be shared by the Westport Hospital and St Mary’s Industrial School, Stoke.

Nicholas Demetrius Mangus, the second son of the family, was a telegraphist in Timaru from about 1902. D. Mangos was elected to the management committee of the Celtic Football Club (Timaru) at the annual meeting on 31 March 1915. He represented the Post and Telegraph against the C.F.C.A. in a hockey match on 26 August 1915. D. Mangos passed the medical examination at Timaru in September 1915 and was sworn in for service at the Front. He stood at 5 feet 5½ inches, weighed 126 pounds, and had a chest measurement of 30-34 inches. His complexion was dark, his eyes and hair dark brown. His sight, hearing good, colour vision and teeth were all good, his limbs and chest well formed, and his heart and lungs normal. He was without illnesses and diseases, vaccinated, and in good bodily and mental health. He had a triangular scar on the inner side of his right knee, about 1½ inches from apex to base. Having left for Trentham on 18 October, with South Canterbury’s quota for the Ninth Reinforcements, Demetrius enlisted on 19 October 1915 at Trentham. He had registered for compulsory training at Timaru, and was serving with the New Zealand Territorials and belonged to the P & T Corps. A Post Office employee (postal clerk), his address Craigie Avenue, Timaru, single and Roman Catholic, he named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs Mary Anne Mangos, C/o N. D. Mangos, Timaru (10 Harper St).

Rifleman D. Mangos embarked with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade of the 3rd Reinforcements, departing from Wellington for Suez, Egypt per the “Tahiti” on 8 January 1916. He was promoted to Corporal the next day on Transport No. 38. Disembarking at Suez on 8 February, he was transferred from the Rifle Brigade to the 2nd Canterbury Infantry Battalion at Moascar on 10 March 1916 and posted to his unit, reverting to the rank of Private. On 8 April 1916, Mangos embarked at Alexandria for France per the “Ascania”. Having rejoined his unit on 20 May 1917, he was detached to Signal School the next day and rejoined again on 24 May. Then on 1 June 1917 he was admitted to the New Zealand Stationary Hospital at Hazebrouck, France, sick (slight Otitis Media), on 9 June to No. 1 Canadian General Hospital at Etaples, on 25 June to No. 20 General Hospital at Camiers (scabies), and on 30 June to No. 6 Convalescent Depot at Etaples. It was 3 July when he was attached to the New Zealand Infantry and General Base Depot at Etaples, France. On 15 July 1917, however, he was admitted to No. 24 General Hospital at Etaples, suffering from a carbuncle on his right knee. As of 21 July, he was improving. Discharged to the Convalescent Depot on 25 July, he was again attached to the New Zealand Infantry and General Base Depot at Etaples. He was transferred to the 3rd Canterbury Infantry Regiment on 15 August 1917 and posted to the 2nd Company. He was then transferred to the 2nd Canterbury Infantry Regiment on 4 September [1917] and, posted to the 2nd Company the next day, he was appointed Lance Corporal. After proceeding to England on leave on 7 September, he rejoined his unit on 20 September. Admitted to No. 2 New Zealand Field Ambulance then to No. 10 New Zealand Stationary Hospital at St Omer, sick (not yet diagnosed, mild), on 25 September 1917, he was discharged from there to the Base Depot in France on 3 October and attached to the Strength of the New Zealand Infantry and General Base Depot at Etaples a few days later. Having been detached to the School of Instruction on 22 October 1917, he rejoined his unit in the Field on 23 November.

Demetrius Mangos was slightly wounded in France on 31 January 1918 and, although he remained with his unit, he was admitted to No. 2 New Zealand Field Ambulance and was evacuated to hospital. It was in mid-February that Mrs Mangos received word from the Minister for Defence stating that her son, Signaller D. Mangos, had been wounded. Shortly after, it was reported that he had been admitted to hospital. He was discharged to the Reinforcement Camp and was able to rejoin his unit on 12 February, only to be severely gassed on 21 February and admitted to the New Zealand Reinforcement Field Ambulance then admitted to the 53rd General Hospital at Boulogne on 23 February, suffering from gas shelling (mustard). He had been wounded with gas on two occasions and admitted to hospital. Embarking for England per Hospital Ship “St Denis” on 6 March 1918, he was admitted to No. 2 New Zealand General Hospital at Walton the next day, gassed with mustard shell solution. He was transferred from Walton to the New Zealand Convalescent Hospital at Hornchurch on 30 March, then discharged to Codford on 8 May and granted leave till 23 May 1918. A Westport soldier writing from Hornchurch Hospital in April, said: “At Richmond Hospital there were only four New Zealanders, but here there are two thousand. We have our own doctors and nurses; in fact, everything in New Zealand.” He mentioned that he had seen Demetric Mangos, of Lyell, who had been gassed, but was pretty well right again. Demetrious was, however, admitted to the 3rd New Zealand General Hospital at Codford on 26 May, afflicted with scabies. Admitted to the hospital again on 26 June, suffering from influenza, he was discharged on 28 June. Having developed pneumonia, he was placed on the Seriously Ill list on 1 July 1918 and removed from that list on 6 July. Mrs Mangos had received a telegram from the Minister of Defence regretting to inform her that a cable was received reporting that her son, D. Mangos, was seriously ill from pneumonia in New Zealand General Hospital. Demetrius was transferred from the 3rd New Zealand General Hospital to the Convalescent Hospital at Hornchurch on 1 August. Discharged from there on 14 September, he reported to Codford on 23 September. It was at Hornchurch in August that he was admonished for neglecting to obey orders – allowing soapy water to be in buckets. Mangos was granted leave from 4 October 1918 to 4 November 1918 (perhaps spent in Scotland).

Private D. Mangos, of Timaru, returned home in Draft 211, with over a thousand men aboard, per the “Briton” which left Plymouth on 24 December 1918 and was due at Lyttelton in late January 1919. 23/1725 Lance Corporal D. Mangos, 141 Church St, Timaru was Medically Boarded at the Drillshed, Timaru on 26 February 1919. He was discharged on 26 March 1919, no longer physically fit for War Service on account of wounds received in action (gas-poisoning, pneumonia) and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. On 14 July 1919 he was granted a War Pension. From October 1919, by which time he was back at Lyell via Reefton, his War Pension was increased.

Demetrus may have joined his brothers in farming at Lyell in late 1919. He married Dorothy Susan Trimm in 1920. They had two sons – Kenneth born in 1921 and Peter Colin born in 1923. Demetrius and Dorothy moved to Christchurch where he was a patient at the Military Sanatorium at Cashmere in 1925. He had been in very indifferent health since the war. In late November 1924, Miss A. Mangos, of Ngakawau (West Coast), had left for Christchurch, where her brother, Mr D. Mangos, was ill from the effects of gas during the Great War. This was probably Althea, the youngest of the Mangos family.

Demetrius Mangos died at Christchurch on 31 March 1927, aged 31 years. The cause of death was chronic pulmonary tuberculosis and haemoptysis. He was buried in the Services section of Bromley Cemetery, Christchurch. He was survived by his wife and two sons, and by his mother, four older brothers and seven sisters. On 23 September 1918, he declared that he had made a Will which was deposited with Mrs N. D. Mangos, Timaru (his sister-in-law). He signed a new Will in May 1926 when he was at the Cashmere Sanatorium. He bequeathed all his household effects to his wife and made provision for the education and bringing up in the Roman Catholic religion and in a manner suitable to their station in life of his sons (and daughters); he appointed his sister Athena Mangos to be the guardian jointly with his wife of his children during their minorities. Dorothy Susan Mangos (née Trimm) married Archie Finch in 1929. She died at Christchurch on 2 May 1978, the mother of Peter Mangos, John Finch and the late Ken Mangos.

Demetrius’s brother William Mangos died in France in August 1917 of wounds accidentally received. Other brothers were listed on the Reserve Rolls, some having several children. His elder son Kenneth was lost on air operations in Germany in February 1945. A nephew, George Gordon Drummond Mangos (stepson of George), was a prisoner of war and was lost at sea in February 1942. Four other nephews served in World War Two – Demetrius Nicholas Mangos (son of Constantine); Arthur Demetrius Mangos and Bernard Eric Mangos (sons of Nicholas Demetrius); Allan Godfrey Turnbull (son of Mary Mangos and Charles Adam Turnbull). Others were drawn in ballots. Mrs Mary Ann Mangos died at her Greymouth residence in November 1930 and was buried with her husband at Wakapuaka Cemetery, Nelson. She was survived by four sons and six daughters, predeceased by Sophia, Bill and Demetrius. Constantine Mangos, the eldest of the family, died in 1950 at the Post Office Hotel, Lyell, the very place where he had been born 70 years earlier and had never left. A Memorial fountain to mark the association of the Mangos family with the former township of Lyell (Upper Buller) was blessed on 11 November 1979. The Mangos family was associated with Lyell throughout its history and members of the family were the last people to live there. The hotel was burned down in 1963.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [17 November 2014]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5544 0077434) [02 September 2016]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [19 June 2016]; Bromley Cemetery burial record (Christchurch City Council) [19 June 2016]; Bromley Cemetery headstone transcription; Timaru Herald, 9 April 1915, 26 August 1915, 14 September 1915, 18 October 1915, 13 July 1918, 25 January 1919, Marlborough Express, 14 February 1918, Inangahua Times, 15 February 1918, Evening Star, 25 February 1918, Lyttelton Times, 9 March 1918, Sun, 11 March 1918, 13 July 1918, 25 January 1919, Greymouth Evening Star, 29 November 1901, 22 June 1918, 29 November 1924, 1 April 1927, 29 November 1930, Grey River Argus, 8 & 9 July 1918, 1 April 1927, Hokitika Guardian, 1 April 1927, Press, 3 May 1978 (Papers Past) [17 November 2014; 05 July 2017; 01 & 26 September 2020; 26 October 2025]; Probate record (Archives NZ/FamilySearch) [02 September 2016]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [02 September 2016; 25 & 26 October 2025]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

• MANGOS Demetrius, William - newspaper clippings (pdf, 99.9 KB updated 21-Nov-2025)

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

TS