Profile

MEAGHER, Martin Joseph
(Service number 58556)

Aliases
First Rank	Private	Last Rank

Birth

Date	16/12/1890	Place of Birth	Waimate

Enlistment Information

Date	25 May 1917	Age	26 years
Address at Enlistment	Gorge Road, Waimate
Occupation	Farmer
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Mrs Emily EDWARDS (mother), Shea's Road, Waimate
Religion	Roman Catholic
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 7 inches. Weight 158 lbs. Chest measurement 34½-37½ inches. Complexion dark. Eyes blue. Hair dark. Sight - both eyes 6/6. Hearing & colour vision both normal. Limbs well formed. Full & perfect movement of all joints. Chest well formed. Heart & lungs normal. No illnesses. Free from hernia, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Varicocele - small. Vaccinated (right arm). Good bodily & mental health. No slight defects. No fits. Right thigh broken 18 years ago. Posture(?) good. Class A.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	30th Reinforcements, Canterbury Infantry Regiment, C Company
Date	13 October 1917
Transport	Corinthic
Embarked From		Destination	Liverpool, Merseyside, England

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns	Western European
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	17 June 1919	Reason	On termination of period of engagement.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

General labourer

Death

Date	13 August 1951	Age	60 years
Place of Death	In sea at Lake Wainono (from Mayfield Road, Waimate)
Cause	Drowning
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Martin Joseph Meagher, born on 18 December 1890 at Waimate, was the third of the four sons of Martin Joseph and Emily (née Hughes) Meagher. His schoolmaster father died in 1895, and his mother remarried in 1899, to Henry Harris Edwards. Martin was educated at St Patrick's School, Waimate, where he received a prize for Standard IV arithmetic in February 1903. He was at first rejected as medically unfit for the Military Forces. It seems that Martin came back from the war in not a good state and in 1924 he was a patient in a mental Hospital. It was certified that his condition was caused by or aggravated by Military Service. Consequently he was classed as a "Service Patient" and his maintenance became a charge on the Defence Department. Martin's body was not recovered after he drowned at sea. After the coroner determined that he had drowned, his death was registered in February 1953..

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [07 July 2017]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5549 0079812) [09 July 2017]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [07 July 2017]; Timaru Herald, 13 August 1895, 6 September 1895, 7 March 1898, 11 February 1903, 25 June 1917, The Waimate Advertiser, 6 December 1902, Waimate Daily Advertiser, 11 September 1912, 24 December 1914, 9 May 1917, 5 May 1919, Temuka Leader, 9 December 1902, New Zealand Times, 3 May 1919 (Papers Past) [07, 08 & 09 July 2017]; Probate record (Archives NZ/FamilySearch) [07 July 2017]

External Links

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