Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Walter Oliver Bain, known as Oliver, was the younger son of Walter and Elizabeth Ann (Bessie, née Oliver) Bain, and twin of Elizabeth Ann Bain (Annie). He was born on 24 February 1897 at Redcliff near Waimate. Scottish-born Walter Bain married Bessie Oliver at her Redcliff, Waimate home in 1892. Elizabeth was born at Eweburn, Otago of early Scottish settlers. Walter and Bessie had two sons and three daughters. Young Walter’s mother Elizabeth had died at the Waimate Hospital on 30 December 1902, leaving Walter (senior) with five young children. Elizabeth was buried at Oamaru with family. In January 1904 at Redcliff, Walter married Mabel Eleanor Goodeve, a daughter of Mr H. E. Goodeve (a South Canterbury teacher). They had two daughters born after moving to the Tycho/Rosewill district. The sale of Mr Walter Bain’s farm of 416 acres at Redcliff at a satisfactory figure was reported in January 1903. Walter Bain, Glenavy, was successful in acquiring a section in the Rosewill Settlement in March 1904 when the Levels Estate was cut up for farms. In the ensuing years, advertisements were placed with regard to Mr Walter Bain’s farm at Levels Valley or Pleasant Point (Spring Farm). In November 1914, Walter Bain was instrumental in having the proceeds of 5 sacks of wheat given to the Home Relief Fund. In July 1917 he donated to the Red Cross Fund. Mr Walter Bain, of Spring Farm, Levels Valley, brought to this office (Timaru Herald) yesterday (20 April 1917) a sample of a dye which he has manufactured out of certain noxious weeds that can be obtained all too easily. The dye is ineradicable, and can be used for branding sacks or for lighter work. It can be made cheaply and blended to suitable colours. According to Mr Bain, if the manufacture of the dye is properly taken up it, will obviate the necessity for importing dyes. Having sold his farm at Taiko, Mr Walter Bain gave instructions for a clearing sale to be held on 26 May 1943. After 38 years’ residence in the Taiko district, and settling into retirement in their new home, Mr and Mrs Bain were presented with an easy chair by the folk of Taiko district in appreciation of their contribution to the social life and their hospitality. Walter and Annie were admitted to Redcliff School in April 1902, coming from Levels, and left there for Levels in April 1904. They and two sisters were admitted to Taiko School in May 1906, having come from Redcliffs School. The family was now living at Rosewill. Walter turned up at Pleasant Point School in December 1909, while Annie left Taiko in 1911. At the Redcliff School breaking up event on 18 December 1903, Walter and Annie Bain received a Standard I prize.

At a farewell to Tycho soldiers in August 1915, Mr Oliver Bain supplied some bagpipe music for the scotch dances. At another send-off for Tycho soldiers in October 1915, the Scotch dances were done to the accompaniment of Highland music stirringly played by Mr Oliver Bain. At a farewell function at Tycho for Private John Naughton in early August 1917, bagpipe music was supplied for the scotch dances by Piper W. Bain, of Tycho – Walter or William? Piper W. Bain’s bagpipe music was much appreciated at a farewell social and presentation to Trooper J. Hall, this one at Pleasant Point in early October. A very nice social and dance were held in the Pleasant Point Oddfellows’ Hall in late October 1918, in aid of the Red Cross shop fund. Oliver Bain (violin) was one to supply music, and the Bain Bros. gave several selections on the bagpipes.

Walter Oliver Bain, farm labourer, Levels, who was drawn in the fifth ballot in mid-March 1917, enlisted at Timaru on 27 March 1917. He had registered for compulsory military training at Pleasant Point and he belonged to the 2nd South Canterbury Regiment. A farm labourer for his father at Levels, single and Presbyterian, he named his father as next-of-kin – Mr W. Bain, Levels Valley. When Walter Oliver Bain was medically examined at Timaru on 27 March 1917, he stood at 5 feet 9½ inches, weighed 136 pounds, and had a chest measurement of 30-33½ inches, a fair complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. His sight, hearing, colour vision, heart and lungs were all normal, his limbs well formed, but not his chest. He had had scarlet fever. He was free from fits and most diseases (not from varicocele) and was vaccinated, but he was not in good bodily and mental health. He has lost the last phalanx of his forefinger on his right hand. His general condition and his physique were poor. He was not likely to benefit by training. He was, thus, classed C2 (permanently unfit for active service but fit for service in New Zealand). Walter was re-examined by the C2 Re-examination Board on 21 November 1917. Results were similar, except that his chest was now well formed and he was in good bodily and mental health. There were slight defects but not sufficient to cause rejection – namely physique and loss of the 1st phalanx of his forefinger. He had never been certified for consumption, had never been under treatment in a sanatorium or mental institution, and had never been absent from work through ill-health or accident. He was classified C1 (likely to become fit for service overseas after special training).

When the Second Canterbury Military Service Appeal Board sat at Timaru on 26 February 1918, Walter Oliver Bain, farmer, Levels, was allowed till 8 April. He had asked for time to get the harvest over. The South Canterbury quota to the seventh C1 draft left for camp on 8 April 1918. Among those under orders to proceed was W. O. Bain. On 8 April 1918 Private W. O. Bain was posted to B Company, C1. A Medical Board was assembled at Tauherenikau on 14 May 1918 to examine and report on the state of health of Private Walter Oliver Bain. His original disability, which was due to trauma which existed prior to enlistment, was the loss of one joint of his trigger finger. Consequently, he was unable to carry out rifle handling. His progress was unsatisfactory. He was considered permanently unfit for Active Service but fit for Territorial Service and Home Service. It was recommended that he be discharged from the Expeditionary Force (C2). A few days later (17 May 1918) he was granted leave with pay until further orders on Demobilization.

After the war, Walter continued his farm work, at Levels Valley, Tycho and Pleasant Point, probably with his father. He also kept up his musical offerings, supplying dance music (violin) at the Tycho bachelors’ ball in July 1920; bagpipe items at a farewell at the Tycho School in December 1922; music at one of the most successful dances of the season, the spinsters’ and bachelors’ ball in the Cave Hall in July 1924; bagpipes at the annual ball of the residents of Sutherlands in September 1925. Mr Oliver Bain was the best man when his sister Minnie married Charles Henry Struthers at Pleasant Point in April 1922. He acted as MC on the occasion of the retirement of a teacher at Tycho School in February 1926. Oliver Bain, a member of the Temuka Pipe Band, received a gold medal for first place in the bagpipes solo, scoring 84 points for his “Leaving Lochalsh” March, at the Temuka competitions in October 1927. At the funeral of Mr James Stewart, a very popular Pleasant Point identity, on 23 December 1927, Piper Oliver Bain, of the Temuka Pipe Band, played a lament on the way to the burial plot, and at the graveside. At the Pleasant Point Caledonian Society’s festival a few days, he was placed second in the marches. He was placed second in the bagpipes solo at the Temuka competitions in 1928. When his father and stepmother celebrated their silver wedding at their Levels Valley residence in February 1929, Oliver supplied music for the dance and bagpipe selections after the toasts were honoured. On 12 November 1931, Walter Oliver Bain was convicted and fined 10/- for riding a motor-cycle at Pleasant Point at night without a headlight.

A very pretty wedding took place at St John’s Presbyterian Church, Pleasant Point, on 22 October 1934, when Walter Oliver Bain and Violet Monteith, from Northern Ireland, were married. Mr and Mrs Oliver Bain would make their home in Pleasant Point. Three children were born to Oliver and Violet – Walter Monteith in 1935, Dorothy Ann in 1937 and Maureen Violet in 1942. Mr Oliver Bain and his sister provided music for the dancing, and he was an efficient MC at a farewell and presentation at the Tycho School in late March 1935.

Walter O. Bain, Pleasant Point, was called up from the reservists (married men from 41 to 45 years) for service in the Armed Forces in December 1942 (Nineteenth Ballot). When the Armed Forces Appeal Board sat in Timaru on 20 May 1943, Mr W. T. Wilson, section controller of the Emergency Precautions Services, Pleasant Point, appealed against Home Guard service for Walter Oliver Bain, 'described as a “helpful member of the medical section of the E.P.S. and a regular attender at weekly parades.” The appeal was adjourned sine die.

Mr Walter Bain (senior) sold his farm at Taiko in May 1943. A large number of Taiko residents gathered at the Pleasant Point home of Mr and Mrs Walter Bain, to show their appreciation for their contribution to the district, where they had resided for 39 years, and express their best wishes for a happy retirement. Both Oliver and his father entertained with items. Oliver and Violet moved to Cave in the mid-1940s. Walter O. Bain had sold land and a dwelling in Harris Street, Pleasant Point in February 1944. It was at Cave in May 1945 that a dance sponsored by the War Services’ Committee in honour of soldiers of the Second N.Z.E.F. who had recently returned from the Middle East, was held. The guests were piped on to the stage by Piper Oliver Bain.

Oliver and Violet next moved to Raukapuka, Geraldine in the 1950s. There he took on linen flax work, retiring in the early 1960s. Walter Oliver Bain died at Timaru on 25 June 1968, aged 71 years. Following a service at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Geraldine, he was buried at the Geraldine Cemetery. When Violet died in October 1985, she was buried with him. Walter was survived by Violet and his three children (Walter, Dorothy Thomson and Maureen Mullen). Walter appointed Pyne Gould Guinness Limited and his son Walter Monteith Bain of Geraldine, farmer, as executors and trustees of his Will. After payment of just debt, funeral and testamentary expenses, his estate was to be held in trust for his wife Violet, and in the event of her predeceasing him, for his children.

Walter’s older brother, William George Bain, also enlisted for World War One. Walter Bain (senior) died on 13 October 1947 at his Pleasant Point home and was buried with his son William. Mabel remarried in 1948.

Sources

NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5520 0011406) [27 August 2017]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs); Geraldine Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [27 August 2017]; Personal family research; Timaru Herald, 26 June 1968 (Timaru District Library); School Admission Records (Waimate Branch NZSG & South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [27 August 2017]; North Otago Times, 31 December 1902, 22 December 1903, Oamaru Mail, 23 January 1903, Timaru Herald, 19 March 1904, 4 November 1914, 11 August 1915, 19 October 1915, 14 March 1917, 21 April 1917, 27 February 1918, 10 April 1918, 30 October 1918, 9 July 1920, 6 May 1922, 14 December 1922, 9 July 1924, 9 September 1925, 26 February 1926, 27 October 1927, 24 & 30 December 1927, 8 February 1929, 13 November 1931, 10 November 1934, 1 April 1935, 23 December 1942, 12 May 1943, 21 May 1943, 22 June 1943, 15 May 1945, Waimate Daily Advertiser, 14 March 1917, Press, 27 October 1927, 23 December 1942, 10 February 1944, 26 June 1968, Temuka Leader, 27 & 29 October 1927, 27 October 1928, Otago Daily Times, 27 October 1927 (Papers Past) [13 February 2016; 27 August 2017; 16 September 2022; 26 March 2026; 04 April 2026]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [26 March 2026; 07 April 2026]; Probate record (Archives NZ Collections – Record number TU310/1968) [07 April 2026]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

• BAIN Walter Oliver - newspaper clippings (pdf, 95.7 KB updated 14-May-2026)

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

TS