Profile

BILLING, Percy Harry
(Service number 27205)

Aliases Born Harry Percival BILLING
First Rank Private Last Rank Private

Birth

Date 19 May 1888 Place of Birth Auckland

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment Pareora
Occupation Miner
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin George BILLING (father), Raetihi; Mrs T. W. LEACH (sister), 62 Albany Road, Ponsonby, Auckland
Religion
Medical Information

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 17th Reinforcements, J Company
Date 25 September 1916
Transport Devon
Embarked From Destination
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With Canterbury Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
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 12 October 1917 Age 29 years
Place of Death Ypres, Belgium
Cause Killed in action
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Tyne Cot Memorial, Tyne Cot Cemetery, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Percy Harry Billing was the son of George and Jane (née Topham) Billing. Percy was educated at Karangahake and Paeroa schools. He followed in his father's footsteps as a miner. When he attested he was employed at the Canterbury Freezing Works, Pareora, near Timaru. Percy's sister Maud married Thomas Wise Leach in 1914. At noon on 31 May 1916, South Canterbury’s quota of the 17th Reinforcements was entertained at dinner in Stafford Tea Rooms by the lady members of the South Canterbury War Relief Society. The soldiers assembled at the Drill Hall at 3.30 pm to be farewelled by the Mayor before leaving on the north-going express. In this quota was P. H. Billing, 27205. Percy is remembered on his parents' headstone in Waikumete Cemetery, Auckland.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [15 September 2019]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs); Waimkumete Cemetery headstone transcription [12 September 2019]; Timaru Herald, 31 May 1916 (Papers Past) [17 October 2015]

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Logo. 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!

Your Details
Veteran Details
- you may attach an image or document up to 10MB