Profile

O'BOYLE, Alexander
(Service number 88174)

Aliases	Alex
First Rank	Private	Last Rank	Private

Birth

Date	01/10/1889	Place of Birth	Timaru, New Zealand

Enlistment Information

Date	20 July 1917	Age	27
Address at Enlistment	Tycho Flat, Timaru, New Zealand
Occupation	Farmer
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Mr P. O'Boyle (brother), Washdyke, Timaru, New Zealand
Religion	Roman Catholic
Medical Information	5 foot 10 1/2 inches tall, weight 147 lbs (67 kgs), chest 34-37 inches, fresh complexion, blue eyes, black hair

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	Did not embark
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	Did not embark (47th Reinforcements)
Date
Transport
Embarked From		Destination

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With	47th Reinforcements, NZEF

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
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	Placed on leave waiting demob 29 November 1918	Reason	End of war

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Farmer, labourer

Death

Date	23 February 1945	Age	55
Place of Death	Christchurch, New Zealand
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Ruru Cemetery, Christchurch
Memorial Reference	Block 6, Plot 83
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Alexander was born at Timaru on 1 October 1889, the youngest of seven sons and seven daughters of Neil (1825-1918) and Mary Jane (nee McCann, 1849-1912) O’Boyle. His parents were both born in Cushendall, Antrim, Ireland and had migrated to New Zealand. They arrived in Lyttelton with eight children on the ship “Orari” in 1878, and went farming the “Limestone Block“ at Tycho Flat.

Alexander’s name was drawn in the First Division 9th Ballot for South Canterbury in June 1917, so he was enlisted at Timaru on 20 July. At this time he was a self-employed farmer and gave his address as Tycho Flat, Timaru. His brother Patrick of Washdyke, Timaru, was nominated as his next of kin. He was described as being 5 foot 10 ½ inches in height, weighing 147 pounds (67 kgs), chest measuring 34-37 inches, having a fresh complexion, blue eyes and black hair. At his medical board he was classed as being B2 grade and his entering camp was deferred for three months. He was again re-attested at Timaru on 21 November 1917 and in January 1918, he filed for a further deferment. He stated that he had 275 acres in crop and had two brothers serving with the Second Division. One had been killed in France and one had returned but was unable to take over the farm. Alexander was granted another three months deferment. This was followed by another application in June which was approved until 12 August 1918. Finally he entered camp on 10 November 1918, but was placed on leave without pay from 29 November, waiting for demobilisation as the war had ended. In 1920 Alexander was farming at Saltwater Creek in Timaru. In 1925 he filed for bankruptcy as the farm he was leasing suffered two bad years of flooding and he lost everything. He eventually died in Christchurch. Prior to his death he had been working in the Mayfield district. Two of Alexander’s brothers served in Egypt and France during the First World War: 7/2111 Rifleman James O’Boyle served with the Canterbury Mounted Rifles and was wounded in action, returning to New Zealand and discharged on 31 January 1918; and 7/2112 Private Joseph John O’Boyle served with the Canterbury Infantry Regiment and was killed in action on 15 September 1916 whilst serving on the Somme. Joseph was buried in the Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval, Somme, France.

Sources

The Ninth Ballot. South Canterbury Names' The Press 1 July 1917 p8, 'Military Appeal Board' Timaru Herald 24 January 1918 p9, 'Military Appeal Board' Timaru Herald 24 January 1918 p9, 'Due to Flooding: Farmer's Bankruptcy' Press 3 July 1925 p14, and 'Deaths' Press 26 February 1945 p1, courtesy of Papers Past at https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/; Christchurch City Council cemetery records at http://heritage.christchurchcitylibraries.com/

External Links

Military personnel file

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.

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