Profile

RUSCOE, Herbert Lyttelton
(Service number 25948)

Aliases
First Rank	Rifleman	Last Rank

Birth

Date	24 February 1875	Place of Birth	At sea

Enlistment Information

Date	20 May 1916	Age	41 years
Address at Enlistment	Foxton
Occupation	Railway employee
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	Married. Eight children.
Next of Kin	Mrs Isabella RUSCOE (wife), 12 Martin Street, Wellington
Religion	Church of England
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 9½ inches. Weight 140 lbs. Chest measurement 34-37½ inches. Complexion dark. Eyes hazel. Hair black. Sight, hearing & colour vision all normal. Limbs well formed. Full & perfect movement of all joints. Chest well formed. Heart & lungs normal. No illnesses. Free from hernia, varicocele, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Vaccinated. Good bodily & mental health. No slight defects. No fits. Mark of burn front of left shoulder. Never absent from work owing to illness. Fit.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	New Sealand Rifle Brigade
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	11th Reinforcements, 1st Battalion, E Company
Date	25 September 1916
Transport	Devon
Embarked From		Destination	Devonport, Devon, England

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals	British War Medal; Victory Medal
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	25 December 1917	Reason	No longer physically fit for War Service on Account of Wounds received in Action.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Gunshot wound to neck

Post-war Occupations

Liftman

Death

Date	2 July 1934	Age	59 years
Place of Death	Wellington
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Karori Cemetery, Wellington
Memorial Reference	Area 10, Block B, Row 10, Plot 021
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Herbert Lyttelton Ruscoe was born on 24 February 1875 at sea, the eldest son of Henry and Elizabeth Ruscoe. Five siblings were born after the family reached New Zealand. The family seems to have moved about as Herbert was educated at several different schools - Timaru, Leeston, Albury, Fairlie, Temuka. He married Isabella Sweeney on 12 December 1896 at Napier. Herbert and Isabella had eight children born in the following 14 years - Mabel born on 15 April 1898 at Napier, Nellie Ettie born on 16 July 1899 at Napier, Hugh born on 15 July 1900 at Napier, Isabella born on 29 February 1904 at Wellington, Margaret born on 13 August 1905 at Wellington, Bett born on 3 June 1908, Henry born on 8 November 1911, and Alfred born on 22 January 1912 at Wellington. Their greatest grief must have come in 1917 when their eldest son, Hugh Grenville Ruscoe, was killed in action. Young Hugh was only 17 years old, having put up his age when he enlisted. Alfred Cooper (Alfie) Ruscoe, a brother of Herbert, was killed in action in the second battle of Ypres. he had gone to England and joined the 1st Life Guards, Household Cavalry. And his youngest brother, Frederick Walter Ruscoe, also served in World War One.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [23 January 2017]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5550 01000693) [03 February 2017]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [19 March 2015, 23 January 2017]; Karori Cemetery headstone transcription [19 March 2015]

External Links

Researched and Written by

Currently Assigned to

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!