MARCHANT, Eric Lachlan
(Service number 3/601)
| First Rank | Captain | Last Rank | Major |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 13 December 1881 | Place of Birth | Timaru |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | 18 Boulcott Street, Wellington | ||
| Occupation | Surgeon | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Miss R. MARCHANT (sister), Timaru | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | No. 1 Stationary Hospital | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | New Zealand Medical Corps | ||
| Date | 21 May 1915 | ||
| Transport | Marama, then transferred to Moldavia | ||
| 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 | 3 February 1976 | Age | 94 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Upper Hutt | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Karori Crematorium, Wellington | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Eric Lachlan Marchant was the older son of Frederick William and Sarah (née King) Marchant. His father had come from England and married in New Zealand. He later returned to England for his health and died there. His mother, a sister of Truby King, died in Dunedin in 1927. Major E. L. Marchant was in the Marquette disaster. He was mentioned in Despatches and awarded the Order of the British Empire (O.B.E. Military) (London Gazette, 3 June 1919]). Eric returned to New Zealand aboard the “Chupra”, one of 732 soldiers who arrived at Lyttelton on 28 July 1919. The “Chupra” left Tilbury on 8 June, and went by Port Said and Colombo. About half way across the Indian Ocean the transport ran into a monsoon, all on board having a fairly bad time for three days. “They are the most contented and best behaved lot of men I ever had anything to do with,” said the officer commanding the troops on board. . . . The vessel is most unsuited for a troopship as there is practically no deck, but-the men made the most of their time and contrived to get a good deal of pleasure out of the voyage." There was no sickness on board;and the food was stated to have been good from London to Port Said, and from Colombo:to New Zealand, but between Port Said and Colombo the meat was affected by the heat, and the men could not eat it. Apart from this the men had no complaints to make except that they did not like the way they were cooped up, witli practically no opportunity of getting any exercise.
Eric’s younger brother, Captain Frederic Norman Marchant, died of wounds in Egypt in 1916. Eric married Kathleen Maud Lucas on 20 July 1921 at Auckland. Kathleen died in 1935, and Eric married Estelle Mary Hooper in 1936.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [18 March 2020]; NZBDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [22 March 2020]; Karori Crematorium record (Wellington City Council) [25 March 2020]; New Zealand Times, 4 July 1919, Evening Post, 29 July 1919, Timaru Herald, 29 July 1919 (Papers Past) [March 2020]
External Links
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG
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Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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