BLANCHETT, John
(Service number N/N)
| First Rank | Last Rank |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 24 April 1969 | Place of Birth | Timaru |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 7 March 1916 | Age | 46 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | 120 Adelaide Road, Wellington | ||
| Occupation | Bushman | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Elizabeth BLANCHETT (mother), Timaru | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | |||
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| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | |||
| Date | |||
| Transport | |||
| Embarked From | Destination | ||
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | |||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | |||
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 |
Death
| Date | 11 September 1928 | Age | 59 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Wellington | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Timaru Cemetery | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
John Blanchett was the oldest son of Augustus Ferdinand and Elizabeth (née Husk) Blanchett. His parents had married in the Channel Islands and migrated to Canterbury, New Zealand, in 1863. They settled at Timaru, where nine children were born. John was very likely educated at the Timaru Public School (Main). As a young lad John did get into a bit of strife. Along with ten other boys he engaged in widespread larrikinism on New Year's Eve 1881/82. In mid 1882 he was in court on a charge of larceny. These offences seem to have resulted in admission to the Caversham Boys' Industrial School for three years. In 1883 and again in 1884, his father was threatened with imprisonment if he continued to neglect to pay towards the support of John at the Reformatory (Industrial School).
By 1896 John was living in Wellington, worrking initially as a chef. He was there when he enlisted, aged 46 years, although he lowered his age. Strangely he named his mother as next-of-kin, yet Mrs Blanchett had died in May 1915. John died at Wellington and was buried with his parents at Timaru. His brother William served in the South African War, another brother Thomas served in World War I under a false name, and his nephew Thomas Buller Blanchett also enlisted.
Sources
NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [12 November 2019]; Industrial School Admission records [12 November 2019]; Timaru Cemetery headstone transcription [12 November 2019]; South Canterbury Times, 18 January 1882, 27 June 1882, 6 February 1883, 19 October 1883, Lyttelton Times, 21 June 1884 (Papers Past) [12 November 2019]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [11 November 2019]
External Links
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG
Currently Assigned to
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Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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