Profile

SYMES, Henry Albert
(Service number 8/3416)

The Symes family children 1913 — Pictured are (from left to right) Gertrude Frances (1896-1977), Isabel Constance Esther (1907-1974), Henry Albert (junior) (known as Ab, 1892-1961), Grace Montgomery (junior, 1894-1917), and Vincent Gabriel Meldrum (1898-ca.1969). Another sibling, Francis Spence (1900-1902) had died by the time this image was taken.
(Courtesy of J Bray )

Henry Symes & comrades in Egypt — Henry is pictured on the end of the front row, with his arm on his neighbour's shoulder. (Courtesy of J Bray )

Aliases	Possibly known as Albert.
First Rank	Private	Last Rank	Lance Corporal

Birth

Date	07/02/1892	Place of Birth	Heriot, Otago

Enlistment Information

Date		Age
Address at Enlistment
Occupation	Railway porter
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Mrs G. M. Symes, Schoolhouse, Ashwick Flat, Fairlie
Religion	Presbyterian
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	8th Reinforcements
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	Otago Infantry Battalion
Date	13 November 1915
Transport	Willochra or Tofua
Embarked From		Destination

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

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	11 December 1961	Age	69 years
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Fairlie Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Henry Albert Symes was the eldest son of Henry and Grace Montgomery (née Wright) Symes. Henry Albert was educated at the Alexandra Public School and Macandrew Bay School, Dunedin, going on to Dunedin Technical Classes. His brother, Vincent Symes, served in World War I and World War II. Lance-Corporal was accorded a welcome home by the Ashwick Flat Patriotic Entertainment Committee.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [28 October 2019]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [28 October 2019]; Fairlie Cemetery headstone transcription [30 October 2019]; Timaru Herald, 14 May 1919 (Papers Past) [15 May 2014]

External Links

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, 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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