Profile

HUNT, Albert Ernest
(Service number 2/2648)

Aliases
First Rank Gunner Last Rank Corporal

Birth

Date 26 January 1891 Place of Birth Christchurch

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment Craigmore, Timaru
Occupation Motor driver
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status
Next of Kin James HUNT (father), Waipara, North Canterbury
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 New Zealand Field Artillery, 9th Reinforcements
Date 8 January 1916
Transport Maunganui
Embarked From Destination Suez, Ehypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With NZ Field Artillery

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
Military Awards Mentioned in Despatches

Award Circumstances and Date

16/17 September 1918

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

Farmer

Death

Date 27 April 1976 Age 85 years
Place of Death Christchurch
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Albert Ernest Hunt, who was born on 26 January 1891 at Christchurch, was the youngest son of James John Hunt and his first wife, Elizabeth Ann née Lancaster. Elizabeth died in 1895, leaving her husband and five young children. James was remarried to Clara Novella Langford in 1896, and lived in South Canterbury at Hilton and Totara Valley for many years before moving to Waipara sometime before 1915.

Albert and his siblings were in the first decade in the Ruapuna School and he attended the Hilton School after his father James John Hunt bought a farm at Hilton. When Albert left school he worked at Craigmore and later was a motor driver for Mr H Elworthy.

When he enlisted Abert was still working as a motor driver for H Elworthy of Craigmore, Timaru. When his brother was wounded in September 1916, Albert was serving in the medium trench mortar battery. Corporal A. E. Hunt, 2/2648, New Zealand Field Artillery, was mentioned in despatches on 16/17 September 1918. After the war, Albert married Winifred Mary Ellenor Quigley in 1922. He also went into farming, taking over his father's farm at Waipara, North Canterbury, that he had purchased in the Glenmark Settlement ballot. Albert sold that farm and purchased 1100 acres on the Main North Road near the Glenmark Church at Waipara, where he farmed until retiring to Amberley. In his later life Albert had served his communty again, this time as chairman of the Waipara County Council in the early 1950s.

Albert's oldest brother, William James Eugene Hunt, a married man with two children, was also listed in the Reserve Rolls in 1917, but died in 1918; his other brother, Frederick Charles Hunt, also served in World War I. Alfred and Frederick sent wreaths when William’s widow died in 1930 in Christchurch, as did their father and step-mother.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [05 June 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [05 June 2020]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [05 June 2020]; Lyttelton Times, 22 June 1895, Otago Witness, 4 December 1918, Press, 21 March 1919, 21 March 1930, 3 November 1942 (Papers Past) [05 June 2010]; SCRoll web submissions by G Hunt, 18 October 2021 & 22 March 2022.

External Links

Related Documents

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Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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