Profile

MURPHY, Ernest Manfred
(Service number 6 /3107)

Ernest Murphy, circa 1916 — (Weekly Press, 31 January 1917 )

Cave District War Memorial, ANZAC Day 2015 — (Courtesy of J Sutherland )

Cheese, bread, and jam? — A group photograph featuring Ernest Murphy (2nd from left, back row). Also pictured are James Turnbull 6/3185 from Pleasant Point, James Arnold Kearton 6/3059, and Christopher Cooper 6/2988 from Cave (positions not given) (Courtesy of I Davidson, "Unknown Warriors of the NZEF" )

Memorial plaque, Ernest Murphy — (South Canterbury Museum 2017/111.01)

Memorial plaque receipt and envelope, Ernest Murphy — (South Canterbury Museum 2017/111.01b)

King's letter accompanying Memorial plaque, Ernest Murphy — (South Canterbury Museum 2017/111.01c)

A nephew of Ernest Murphy, pictured visiting the Caterillar Valley Memorial in 2017 — (Courtesy of MD Murphy )

Aliases
First Rank	Private	Last Rank	Private

Birth

Date	14/12/1893	Place of Birth	Ladbrooks, Christchurch

Enlistment Information

Date	14 May 1915	Age	22
Address at Enlistment	Cave
Occupation	Farm hand
Previous Military Experience	2nd SC Regiment (4 years)
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Michael John Murphy (father), Cannington Cave, Timaru
Religion	Church of England
Medical Information	5ft 9in, 145lbs, fair complexion, grey eyes, brown hair

Military Service

Served with	New Zealand Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	7th Reinforcements, Canterbury Infantry Battalion
Date	9 October 1915
Transport	Aparima, Navua or Warrimoo
Embarked From	Wellington, New Zealand	Destination	Suez, Egypt

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With	Canterbury Infantry Regiment

Military Awards

Campaigns	Egyptian, Western European
Service Medals	British War Medal, Victory Medal, 1914-1915 Star
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		Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	26 September 1916	Age	23
Place of Death	Somme, France
Cause	Killed in action
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Caterpillar Valley (N.Z.) memorial,Somme, France
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials	On Memorial wall, Timaru; Cave First World War Memorial, Cannington District War Memorial

Biographical Notes

Ernest Manfred Murphy was born at Ladbrooks near Christchurch on 4 December 1893, to Michael John and Harriet Murphy. He was schooled at Lincoln from 1902 to 1903, before moving to Rolleston School until December 1910.

At the time of his enlistment on 14 May 1915 he was working as a farm hand on his father’s farm at Cannington, Cave. He had had four years’ experience with the local volunteer/Territorial unit, the 2nd SC Regiment. His medical describes him as being 5ft 9in, 145lbs, with fair complexion, grey eyes, and brown hair, single, and beonging to the Church of England. He joined the 7th Reinforcements, Canterbury Infantry Battalion and went into training at Trentham Camp. There he contracted measles in July, spending some time in hospital before embarked for Suez and Egypt on 9 October 1915.

Erbest served in Egypt until February 1916. He then embarked for France on the 'Franconia' on 6 April 1916 and proceeded to the Somme. After a battle on 26 September 1916 Murphy was reported, missing, then wounded and finally killed in action. Corporal J Williams stated: “In the morning of the 27th, the day after the advance of the 12thNelson Coy … I had occasion to go forward to the front line. Just in front of the wire … I saw Pte Murphy. He was dead. I knew Murphy well. I am certain of his identity.“

Murphy was buried in Caterpillar Valley Cemetery.

Sources

Auckland War memorial Museum Cenotaph Database (August 2013); Commonwealth War Graves Commission website (http://www.cwgc.org/); Unknown Warriors of the NZEF [Facebook Page] at https://www.facebook.com/Unknown-Warriors-of-the-NZEF-1629775073978020/ [September 2016]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records [June 2021]; "WWI: Monument to brotherly loss" in the New Zealand Herald at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11320497 . WW1 Service Personnel CD v3; NZ BMDs 1894/18509; School records [June 2021]

External Links

Researched and Written by

Maree Bowen, SC branch NZSG; Carol Bell, 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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