Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Thomas Joseph McGuinness (Tom), born on 1 December 1891 at Greymouth, was the third son of Irish-born parents, Edward Michael and Catherine (née Gaffney) McGuinness. Edward and Catherine married at Reefton in December 1892, having already had five children, and three more following. On 31 December 1931, young Thomas McGuinness who was working for a baker at Brunner, was kicked by a horse, with the result that his leg was broken. He was removed to the Grey River Hospital, where his needs were attended to. Mr Edward McGuinness died in the Greymouth Hospital on 12 July 1911 after a long illness, and was buried at Karoro Cemetery, Greymouth. Thomas was well-known in boxing circles, fighting as “Bendy” McGuinness. In September 1912 at Greymouth, he was challenged to box a match for the sum of £25 to £50. A culprit appeared in the Grey Magistrate’s Court on 18 November 1912, charged with four counts of theft, one of the charges being that on the 15th October at Blackball he did steal one albert and medal of the value of £5 10s, the property of Thomas McGuinness. Thomas McGuinness, a coal miner, employed at the Blackball coal mine, said that he knew accused who came to the Club Hotel, Blackball as cook on the 7th October. At that time witness was boarding at the same hotel. During the time accused was at the hotel witness missed a watch and chain, with a gold medal attached, and a sovereign case hanging in his vest on the door. He saw them on the 15th October and on the 17th they were missing. When he discovered his loss, he reported the matter to the police. He valued the property at £5 10s. Detective Campbell showed him a portion of the property at Blackball last Saturday. The articles produced were the mountings of a leather guard and on the medal could be discerned “Boxing Association, T. McGuinness, light-weight championship.” He also believed that the rest of the property was his. The property appeared to have been burnt. He had given no authority to anyone to remove the property. Detective Campbell said that on the 13th inst. he found in a trunk belonging to accused the articles produced. He told accused that the medal belonged to a man named McGuinness at Blackball, and charged him with the theft to which accused pleaded guilty. . . . . All the things produced were found in the trunk. This was the evidence for the prosecution. Accused pleaded guilty and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence, where he received a short term of imprisonment.

Had Thomas been at St Andrews from where his future hailed, or did they meet at Featherston? Thomas Joseph McGuinness and Alexandra Emery (Alice) married on 20 March 1916 at Wellington. Thomas Joseph McGuinness was medically examined on 9 September 1916 at Featherston. He stood at 5 feet 10 inches and weighed 168 pounds. His complexion dark, his eyes brown and his hair black. His sight was sufficient 6/6, his hearing, colour vision, heart and lungs all normal, and his limbs and chest well formed. He was free from diseases, vaccinated and in good bodily and mental health. His teeth were defective but not sufficient to cause rejection. He was one of the Wairarapa men who attested in early October to fill up the gaps, received their first pay and was going to leave with the 24th Reinforcements. He enlisted at Featherston on 4 October 1916, for some unknown reason giving his birthplace as Redfern, Sydney, Australia, and saying he and his parents had been in New Zealand for seven years. One form suggested he had served for 9 months in the Motor Divisional Train in the USA, having left the USA 2 years ago. He was a motor mechanic and Roman Catholic, his address Royal Hotel, Featherston. He named his wife as next-of-kin – Mrs T. J. McGuinness, St Andrews, South Canterbury (C/o Geo Emery, St Andrews).

Private Thomas McGuinness who was posted to the Specialists Company, Machine Gun Squadron, 25th Reinforcements on 2 January 1917, was transferred to the 26th Specialists on 3 April then to the infantry Details three weeks later. A daughter - Pearl Kathleen McGuinness – had been born to Thomas and Alexandra on 20 January 1917 at Timaru. Private T. J. McGuinness embarked with the 26th Reinforcements, Specialists Company, Machine-Gun Section, departing from Wellington per the “Willochra” (No. 85) on 9 June 1917 and disembarking at Devonport, England on 16 August, marching into Sling that day. There at Sling, he was transferred from the 3rd Wellington Infantry Regiment to the Army Service Corps on 27 April 1918. Driver McGuinness marched into the New Zealand Reserve Brigade on 27 September 1918. Private McGuinness proceeded overseas to France on 1 October 1918, marched into the New Zealand Infantry and General Base Depot at Etaples on 4 October, then marched out to his Division on 6 October. After joining the New Zealand Divisional Train, he was transferred to the Army Service Corps and was attached to No. 2 New Zealand Field Ambulance in the field on 8 October. On 12 October 1918 Thomas was, himself, admitted to No. 3 New Zealand Field Ambulance, sick (vomiting). The next day he was admitted to the 18th Casualty Clearing Station, afflicted with pyrexia (fever) of unknown origin. He was next admitted to No. 16 General Hospital at Le Treport on 16 October 1918. On 25 October per the “Gloucester” he went to England where he was admitted to the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley on 27 October.

Private T. J. McGuinness, of the Twenty-second Reinforcements [sic], and well-known to boxing enthusiasts as “Bendy,” is a member of a draft of soldiers shortly returning to the Dominion. [Grey River Argus, 8 January 1919.] Thomas returned home per the “Tahiti” (Draft 204), embarking at Liverpool on 3 December 1918 and arriving on 12 January 1919. He was discharged on 9 February 1919, on the termination of his period of engagement, and awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He headed initially to St Andrews, Timaru. From there Thomas and Alexandra moved to Featherston. Five more children were to be born to Thomas and Alice – Patrick Edward (1920), Beatrice Vera, known as Betty (1922), Thomas George (1925), Neil Arnold (1928) and Mary Rita, known as Marie (1931). The older children later attended the Catholic School in Timaru, Marist Brothers’ School in Timaru and Timaru Main School before the family moved away.

When Thomas Joseph McQueen attested again on 19 March 1920 at Wellington, he gave his correct birthplace (Greymouth) and the correct day and month for his birth. Then a motor mechanic at Featherston, he was willing to be enlisted in the New Zealand Army Service Corps. His next-of-kin was his wife. Little changed at his medical examination, his teeth being only fair and there being a gas scar in the middle of his back. His chest measurement was 37-39 inches. On 16 June 1920 he was promoted to Corporal with the Army Service Corps, then on 3 December 1920 at Pukeora Military Sanatorum, Waipukurau, appointed Temporary Sergeant. But all was not well. The Medical Superintendent of Pukeora Sanatorium wrote to Defence Headquarters on 21 September 1921 – re 41408 Sgt. McGuinness T J. – “I regret to have to request that arrangements be made either for the transfer or termination of service of the above-mentioned N.C.O., and that this request be given effect to at the earliest possible moment. The difficulty we have experienced for along time past with McGuinness has been that he has not proved reliable when sent away on trips with motor vehicles. Times without number he has left the Institution with a vehicle at a certain time and with a certain number of men to perform a certain duty, and his return has been unduly delayed because he has attended to his own private affairs before returning with the vehicle. The consequence has been that the men sent down to load coal have wasted their time, and that supplies urgently required have not been forthcoming as arranged. I spoke to McGuinness on these matters and pointed out that the reminder given him should be sufficient to cause improvement in the future – this has not been the case. In addition to these faults he has on more than one occasion taken an afternoon off on his own account without asking for leave, or even notifying those under him that he would not be at hand to do certain duties. Coupled with the foregoing is the fact that his returns for the month of August have been much delayed. These returns could well have been in earlier had he performed his duty in the way mapped out for him. If you have a capable mechanic able to do the work, and for whom you have no further need, I should be glad to learn of same. If not, however, please notify me so that I may make arrangements with my own Department for a substitute.” McGuinness had been notified by the Officer in charge of A.S.C. Headquarters, Alexandra Barracks, on 10 August 1921 that he would be demobilized as from 31 October 1921. “Should you desire to continue service under the Public Health Department you should apply through the Medical Superintendent of the Hospital to the Public Health Department accordingly.” Sergeant McGuinness was demobilized on 30 November 1921.

By 1922 Thomas and Alexandra were at Waipukurau, where he was a motor mechanic. It was on 25 August 1922 at the Napier Supreme Court that Thomas McGuinness of Waipukurau who had been charged with the theft of a Ford car, valued at £120, the property of Henry A. L. Monteith, was acquitted. The question involved was whether McGuinness had authority to sell the car. His Honour, in summing up, said the question for the jury was whether accused had authority to sell the car. If he had no authority, he had committed theft. In a conflict of testimony the jury must look at surrounding circumstances. His Honour pointed out that although at first accused had pleaded that he had a lien over the car on account of repairs, he had pleaded in court that he had authority to sell it. It had been pleaded that accused was of good character. So were many men brought before the court. Nor could the law acquit a man because he had been to the war. The jury retired at 3.45 p.m. and returned in 20 minutes with a verdict of not guilty. At the Magistrate's Court, Waipukurau, on 8 December 1922, T. J. McGuinness and another were charged with unlawfully converting to their own use a motor-car which belonged to F. J. Lloyd. After lengthy evidence, the charge against McGuinness was dismissed; the other pleaded guilty and was fined.

In about 1925 Thomas and Alexandra moved back to St Andrews where he was employed as a surfaceman, and a few years later they moved into Timaru. In the Timaru Magistrate’s Court in March 1928, Thomas J. McGuinness was awarded £12 8s 6d in a civil case. At a general meeting of Timaru’s unemployed held on 9 December 1931, T. McGuinness was nominated for the position of chairman but lost out on the ballot. It was at Timaru in May 1932 that T. J. McGuinness was nominated for the executive of the South Canterbury Returned Soldiers’ Association. Thomas Joseph McGuinness appeared in the Timaru Magistrate’s Court in mib-February 1934, charged with being found unlawfully on the premises at 91 King Street. Defendant pleaded guilty. Sergeant Hodgson said that in consequence of a message a constable went to the place where he found defendant asleep in the car. “No doubt the man had had a certain amount of liquor and had wandered in there to sleep it off. He had no criminal intention. He was married with six children, and had not been before the Court previously. Defendant expressed regret for what had happened and for any inconvenience he had caused to the occupants of the house. He explained that he had suffered a head wound at the war and on feeling a dizzy spell coming on he went into the garage but had no further recollection of what he did. He agreed he had had too much liquor, but said that he experienced the same feeling when he had had no drink. In convicting and ordering defendant to come up for sentence if called upon within six months, the Magistrate imposed a condition that he must refrain from taking liquor during that period. He declined defendant’s application for suppression of his name.” “Thomas McGuinness, aged 44, married, of Timaru, who has been working on the tunnel on the Eglinton Valley-Milford highway, slipped from the decking of a lorry on Sunday and injured an ankle. He was admitted to the Southland Hospital yesterday and his condition is satisfactory.” [Southland times, 14 May 1936.] It was probably later in 1936 that Thomas and Alexandra and family had moved to Claverley, in Marlborough. Mr T. J. McGuinness, Claverley, was one of the passengers who suffered bruising and slight shock when a mail-van (railway) was involved in a train smash at Aylesbury in late March 1938, killing a fireman. He was a labourer at Conway and Claverley when, in 1939, he gave evidence against a man accused of murdering his wife.

In the early 1940s, Thomas and Alexandra moved to his home-town (Greymouth). Mr Tom McGuinness, a former Brunner bandsman, who was visiting the district, spoke on the progress made by the Band at a banquet held in early February 1942. “When he was in it there were only a handful of men struggling to make something of their band. Now there were 25 uniformed members,” In March 1942, Tom McGuinness had a spell as a patient in the Greymouth Hospital. Tom McGuinness contributed in 1943 to the election campaign fund of the Westland Labour Representation Committee. On 5 February 1945 at the Greymouth Magistrate’s Court, Thomas Joseph McGuinness was charged that on December 19, 1944, at Greymouth, he did assault Edward Regan. Regan had been drinking at Revington’s Hotel, Greymouth, where McGuinness was the barman. Following words over the wrapping of a bottle of beer, it was alleged that McGuinness struck the complainant in the eye. He was severely knocked round and required medical attention. Defendant alleged that complainant had used insulting language to him and had hit him several times, though most were evaded. McGuinness had a bruise on his forehead, but Regan had been knocked round. “There was no evidence corroborating the alleged assault and no evidence for the defence. It is one of those unsatisfactory cases where for want of proof the Court can only dismiss the information,” said the Magistrate.

Patrick Edward McGuinness, the eldest son of Mr and Mrs T. J. McGuinness, of Greymouth, was married in the Church of St John the Evangelist in August 1945. Mr J. L. Darby, the husband of Patrick’s sister Betty was the best man. On 2 August 1948 at the Greymouth Magistrate’s Court, Thomas Joseph McGuinness, contractor, and another were charged with fighting, both pleading not guilty. The charge followed an altercation in Mawhera quay, Greymouth, on July 14, when the window of an umbrella shop was broken. “You must be slipping a bit if your opponent got the first blow in,” commented the Magistrate to McGuinness. “On all previous occasions you have got in with the first. Old age must be retarding your king-hit.” McGuinness was convicted and fined £3 with 10s costs. In December, the umbrella maker claimed the cost of replacing the broken shop window. The defendant, McGuinness, in evidence, said that “he thought he was a Samaritan” in going to “break up” Pettengill and a man named Thomson, who had begun a tussle. The magistrate said that, on the evidence which had been called he did not propose to enter judgment against McGuinness, who denied the breaking of the window, and he thought it unlikely that McGuinness could have broken it with his bare fists without there being some marks.

In early May 1949, a fire in a chimney at the residence of Mr T. McGuinness, Nelson quay, Cobden, led to the calling-out of the Cobden Fire Brigade yesterday. Only supervision was required from the brigade, however, a damp sack effectively quelling the outbreak, and no damage occurred. Just five days later, on 9 May, Alexandra (Alice), beloved wife of Thomas McGuinness, 16 Smith street, Greymouth, and loved mother of Patrick Thomas. Neil. Pearl, Betty, and Marie, died. Native of St. Andrew’s, Timaru, she was in her 57th year. After Requiem Mass at St Patrick’s Church, she was buried at Karoro Cemetery, Greymouth. Thomas Joseph McGuinness married Mary Elizabeth Kerry (née Scott) in 1950. He and Mary remained at Greymouth. Thomas Joseph McGuinness died at Christchurch, of Greymouth, on 29 May 1965, aged 73 years. His next-of-kin was his widow – Mrs M. E. McGuinness, 11 Tarapuki Street, Greymouth. Thomas was buried at Karoro Cemetery with Alice, after a funeral at Greymouth on 1 June. A services plaque marks his grave. He was survived by five of his children – Pearl (Mrs Rawlings), Betty (Mrs Darby), Tom, Neil and Marie (Mrs Williams). Patrick Edward McGuinness, the eldest son of Thomas and Alice, was murdered by his son at Dunollie in April 1965. He was survived, too, by his brothers Ted, Bill, Jim and Pat, and sisters Kate and Nora, and predeceased by sister Mary. Thomas’ mother had died while he was overseas. Catherine McGuinness died at her Greymouth residence on 31 December 1917. She was buried with Michael at Greymouth. At that time, her fourth son William McGuinness, was also serving at the front. William who was born at Reefton in 1893, had enlisted at Hamilton a day after Thomas, naming their youngest sister (Nora) as next-of-kin. Patrick Edward McGuinness, the eldest son of Tom and Alice, served in World War Two, as did four nephews – John Owen McGuinness (son of Edward John), Edward Michael Browne and Patrick Maurice Browne (sons of Mary Alice née McGuinness), and John McGuinness (son of Nora McGuinness), who named his uncle James as next-of-kin.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [17 July 2016]; N Z Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5544 0073648) [31 July 2016]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [31 July 2016]; Greymouth Evening Star, 31 December 1906, 12 July 1911, 18, 19 & 20 November 1912, 5 February 1945, 14 August 1945, 2 August 1948, 6 December 1948, 5 May 1949, 10 May 1949 [x 2], 11 & 26 May 1949, Grey River Argus, 4 September 1912, 19 & 22 November 1912,, 2 January 1918 8 January 1919, 31 March 1938, 29 December 1939, 10 May 1942, 24 March 1942, 2 September 1943, 11 December 1943, 3 August 1948, 10 & 11 May 1949, Wairarapa Age, 9 October 1916, Dominion, 6 January 1919, Daily Telegraph, 26 August 1922, 9 December 1922, Hawke’s Bay Tribune, 26 August 1922, Press, 22 March 1928, 31 March 1938, 10 May 1949, 20 & 24 April 1965, 26 August 1972, Timaru Herald, 10 December 1931, 21 May 1932, 19 February 1934, Southland Times, 14 May 1936, Ashburton Guardian, 7 September 1939, 25 October 1939 (Papers Past) [31 July 2016; 12 & 13 November 2025]; Karoro Cemetery, Greymouth headstone transcriptions [11 August 2016; 30 July 2016]; Karoro Cemetery, Greymouth headstone image (Find A Grave) [12 November 2025]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [31 July 2016; 12 November 2025]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

TS