Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Herbert was born at Waihola, Otago, on 9 December 1889, the eldest son of Adam Arthur (1860-1922) and Frances Clara (1864-1941 nee Wilson) Scott. His father Adam was a former ships chief officer who also held his masters certificate, farmer and insurance agent, before moving to Timaru where he was working as a grain broker for J.R. Bruce, Flour Millers and biscuit makers. Herbert received his primary education at Waihola, and Kaikorai and Mornington Schools at Dunedin, before attending Otago Boys High School where he was a member of the school cadets. When the family lived in Gore he was also a member of the Gore Defence Cadets and the Gore Rifle Volunteers.

At the outbreak of World War One, Herbert was working as a shepherd for Mr Murray Roberts at Gledbrook in Middlemarch Otago when enlisted at Timaru on 20 October 1914. He was then single, aged 24, 5 foot 6 inches in height, weighed 136 pounds, Presbyterian, had a fair complexion, brown hair, grey eyes, his chest measured from 33 to 35 inches and had fair teeth with the upper set being false. He was posted to serve with the Canterbury Mounted Rifles as a Trooper, but was very soon, on 26 October, promoted to Sergeant. His unit left with the 2nd Reinforcements on 14 December 1914 from Wellington aboard HMNZT 13 SS Verdala, for Suez Egypt, arriving at Alexandra on 3 February 1915.

During training in Egypt, on 3 February, Herbert reverted to his earlier rank of Lance Corporal; then again back to Trooper on 20 March. In April 1915, the bulk of the NZMR were to remain training in Egypt and to defend the Suez Canal against the Ottoman Turks, but in May they had been selected to reinforce the ANZAC Corps on Gallipoli. For some reason Herbert did not proceed with the main body and remained in Egypt where, on 16 July 1915, he was admitted to hospital in Cairo suffering from cellulites, transferred to the Lady Godley’s Home at Zeitoun on 12 August, before being discharged back to duty on 22 September. On 14 December he was again admitted to the NZ General Hospital at Abbassia with jaundice. He was discharged on 5 January 1916 back to his unit which, by this time, had returned from the Dardanelles to the camp at Zeitoun, where training resumed.

In 1916 the NZMR were to remain in Egypt as part of the ANZAC Mounted Division where they took on an offensive role to take the fight to the enemy and destroy or neutralise his bases in the Sinai Peninsula. On 30 July 1916 Trooper Scott was transferred to the machine gun squadron. From 8 to 11 September he had a short visit to the NZ Field Medical Unit for treatment for boils and on re-joining his unit he was promoted again to Lance Corporal on 20 September. By the end of the year the Egyptian Expeditionary Force had won a series of actions against the Ottoman forces and had driven them out of the Sinai, and reached the border of Palestine in one of the most successful Allied campaigns of the war. On 28 January 1917, Herbert was promoted again to Signals Corporal. 1917 was to see the NZMR Brigade, along with the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, take part in three battles for Gaza. Corporal Scott was involved in the first and second battles before taking sick again with debility, and was admitted to the 24th Hospital at Kantara on 29 May. He was then transferred from 27 General Hospital Abbassia, to the Aotea Convalescent Home at Heliopolis, before discharge back to duty on 2 July. He then spent a short time in the Training Regiment before re-joining the Machine Gun Squadron in the field on 18 July, in time for the third successful battle for Gaza, which cleared the way to advance towards Jerusalem.

As with others, iIllness was to pepper Herbert’s service - on 27 February 1918 he was admitted to the NZ Field Medical Unit for treatment for tonsillitis. He transferred to the Aotea Convalescent Home Heliopolis, on 10 March, where he remained until discharge to the NZ Base at Moascar on 20 May. On 20 June he was again admitted to the 14th Australian General Hospital with influenza. On 11 July 1918 he embarked aboard SS Port Darwin for his return to New Zealand. Herbert was discharged from the army on 1 January 1919 as no longer physically fit for war service on account of illness contracted on active service (debility). He had served a total of 4 years and 74 days for which he was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

The 1919 to 1928 Electoral Rolls show Herbert as being at Sefton Street Timaru, operating as a commission agent. On 26 February 1920 he won a soldier’s ballot for a section of land on the Rhoboro Downs settlement of 13,031 acres at a yearly rent of 165 pounds. Whether he farmed or sold this land is not known. In 1928, at St Mary’s Church Timaru, he married Miss Gladys Mary Andrews (1897-1954). From 1935 to 1951 they are listed as being in Dunedin in the same occupation of commission agent.

During World War II he volunteered for further service. This time he served as Private H.W. Scott (no. 806900) with the 4th Battalion National Military Reserve, located at Area 11 Dunedin. Entering camp on 7 August 1941, he served a further 1 year and 152 days, before being discharged on 11 May 1943. This additional service earned him the War Medal 1939-1945 and the New Zealand War Service Medal.

Herbert died on 25 July 1951 aged 61, at his home 8 Grater Street, Maori Hill, Dunedin. His ashes were scattered in the Anderson’s Bay Cemetery. Two of his brothers also served overseas during World War One; Captain Eric Arthur Scott (no.9/205 ) with the Otago Mounted Rifles in Egypt, Gallipoli and Western Europe, and Trooper Frank Douglas Scott (no.402055) with NZ Mounted Rifles in Egypt. Frank also served in the NZ Air Force during World War II.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [September 2016]; New Zealand ANZACs in the Great War 1914-1918 (University of New South Wales) at http://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=228136; "New Zealand Mounted Rifles" at New Zealand History at http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/keyword/new-zealand-mounted-rifles [September 2016]; Assorted records at Ancestry.com [September 2016]; "Returning Home" in Sun 12 August 1918 p7 and "Land for Soldiers" in Sun 26 February 1920 p5

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Ted Hansen, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

TS