HAWKINS, Harold
(Service number 80017)
| First Rank | Rifleman | Last Rank | Rifleman |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 15 March 1898 | Place of Birth | Waimate, New Zealand |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 20 May 1918 | Age | 20 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Timaru Road, Waimate, New Zealand | ||
| Occupation | Chaffcutter Hand | ||
| Previous Military Experience | 2nd South Canterbury Regiment | ||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Mr Walter Hawkins (father), No. 39 Timaru Road, Waimate, New Zealand | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Rifle Brigade | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 42nd Reinforcements, B Company | ||
| Date | 2 August 1918 | ||
| Transport | HMNZT109 Tofua | ||
| Embarked From | Wellington, New Zealand | Destination | London, England |
| Other Units Served With | NZ Rifle Brigade Reserve Battalion | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | NZ Rifle Brigade Reserve Battalion | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | British War Medal | ||
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 |
Death
| Date | 28 September 1981 | Age | 83 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Waimate, New Zealand | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Waimate Lawn Cemetery | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Harold, the second son of Walter (1858-1924) and Eliza (nee Doel 1875-1956), was born at Waimate on 15 March 1898. He was educated at the Waimate Public School where he was awarded, in December 1909, a merit award in Standard 2. His father was born in Stoke Lyne, Oxfordshire, England and had come out to New Zealand, aged about 16, with his family on the Sussex, arriving in Dunedin in 1874. His mother Eliza was born in Waimate where the Doel family were active in the brick making industry using a kiln on the Timaru Road.
When Harold enlisted on 20 May 1918, he was employed as a chaff cutting hand by the Lane Brothers at Waimate, and nominated his father Mr Walter Hawkins of 39 Timaru Road, Waimete, as his next of kin. He had had some previous military experience with the 2nd South Canterbury Regiment, and was described as being single, Anglican, 5 foot 10 ½ inches tall, chest measuring 33 ½ to 35 inches, weighing 147 pounds (67 kgs), having dark brown hair, grey eyes and dark complexion. He left Wellington aboard (HMNZT 109) SS Tofua on 2 August 1918 with the 42nd Reinforcements, B Company, NZ Rifle Brigade, bound for London, England, arriving on 4 October 1918.
Harold was immediately transferred to the NZRB Reserve Battalion at Sling Camp. On 9 November he was on the NZ General Hospital, Hornchurch, Debility Roll with bronchitis. On 3 December 1918 he boarded the SS Tahiti at Liverpool for his return to New Zealand, arriving home on 12 January 1919 and immediately granted leave on full pay. Harold was discharged from the army on 9 February 1919 at the end of his engagement, as he was suffering from influenza. He received the Silver War Badge on 17 February 1919. For his service of 266 days, he was awarded, in 1924, the British War Medal.
Harold returned to live in Waimate where electoral rolls record him in 1919 as living in Timaru Road, giving his occupation as ‘labourer’. In 1926 he married Miss Margaret Josephine Foley (1900-1970). In 1928 electoral rolls listed him as an engine driver. In 1935 to 1938 he was at Centre Street and worked as an engine driver, and in 1938 he had taken over his mother’s threshing mill business. From 1946 onwards, he was given as living at O’Brien’s Road where he listed as an engine driver, a carpenter (1957), and then retired (from 1963).
Harold died aged 83, at Waimate on 28 September 1981, and is buried in the Waimate Lawn Cemetery, Catholic area, next to his wife Margaret (plot 985), who died in 1970. Harold’s older brother 52605 Private Walter Hawkins also served overseas with the Wellington Infantry Regiment.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [June 2017]; New Zealand ANZACs in the Great War 1914-1918 (University of New South Wales) at http://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=110422Assorted records at Ancestry.com [June 2017]; Waimate District Coucnil cemetery records at http://gis.waimatedc.govt.nz/GIS/wab/?config=cemetery.json#; 'Local family has long association with Waimate timber industry' on Pearls Family History website at http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/pearlw/newspaperh.htm
External Links
Related Documents
No documents available.
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.
Tell us more
Do you have information that could be added to this story? Or related images that you are happy to share? Submit them here!