FINDLAY, John
(Service number 8/205)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank | Private |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 22 October 1875 | Place of Birth | Waimate |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Church Street, Mosgiel | ||
| Occupation | Platelayer | ||
| Previous Military Experience | South Africa War - 18 months | ||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Robert FINDLAY, Church Street, Mosgiel | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | Main Body | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | Otago Infantry Battalion | ||
| Date | 16 October 1914 | ||
| Transport | Ruapehu or Hawkes Bay | ||
| Embarked From | Port Chalmers, Dunedin | Destination | Suez, Egypt |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | Otago Infantry Battalion | ||
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 | 26 April 1915 | Age | 39 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Gallipoli, Turkey | ||
| Cause | Killed in action | ||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Lone Pine Memorial, Lone Pine Cemetery, Anzac, Turkey; East Taieri Cemetery, Mosgiel - memorial on parents' headstone | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | Dunedin Railway Station Roll of Honour; Railways Roll of Honour board, Wellington Railway Station | ||
Biographical Notes
John Findlay was born on 22 October 1875 (not 1877 as recorded in his military file) at Waimate, the eldest of the ten children of Robert and Margaret (née Steel) Findlay. John and his sister Helen were born at Waimate before the family moved to the Taieri. John was educated at North Taieri School. He had served for 18 months with the 5th and 8th contingents in the South African War, earning the Queen’s South African Medal and Clasps for 1901, 1902, Rhodesia, Transvaal and Orange Free State. At the time of enlisting, he was a platelayer for New Zealand Railways.
Private John Findlay was killed in action on 26 April 1915 at Gallipoli, aged 39 years. He is remembered on the Lone Pine Memorial, and in New Zealand on the Dunedin Railway Station Roll of Honour and the Railways Roll of Honour board at Wellington Railway Station. His brother Walter Findlay was skilled in action at Gallipoli on 27 August 1915, There is a memorial to the brothers on their parents’ headstone in the East Taieri Cemetery. Their youngest brother, Duncan Findlay, served in both World War I and World War II.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [16 May 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal affairs) [16 May 2020]; Evening Star, 15 June 1915, Otago Daily Times, 15 June 1915, Otago Witness, 16 June 1915 (Papers Past) [16 May 2020]
External Links
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC brnach 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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