DRAKE, Martin
(Service number 43025)
| First Rank | Gunner | Last Rank |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 12/12/1889 | Place of Birth | Purakanui, Otago |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 17 November 1916 | Age | 26 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Reynoldstownm Port Chalmers | ||
| Occupation | Postal official | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Married. Two children | ||
| Next of Kin | Mrs Theresa DRAKE (wife), Post Office, Port Chalmers; 123 Arthur Street, Timaru | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Expeditionary Force | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 24th Reinforcements, New Zealand Field Artillery | ||
| Date | 26 April 1917 | ||
| Transport | Pakeha | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | Plymouth, Devon, England | |
| 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 | *1967 | Age | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | New South Wales, Australia | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | |||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Martin Drake was born on 12 December 1889 at Purakanui, the youngest son of Joseph and Elizabeth (née Boyle) Drake. In late March 1894, his father and two mates left Port Chalmers for a fishing expedition at the Nuggets. They left there for the return on 6 April and were not seen again. Martin was educated at Port Chalmers School, starting there a year after his father died and leaving at the age of fourteen to become a Post Office messenger. He married Theresa Connor in June 1911 at Dunedin. They had three children – Ellen Isabel born at Reynoldstown, Port Chalmers on 11 May 1913, John (Jack) born at Reymoldstown on 30 April 1915, and Martin Joseph born at Timaru on 5 August 1917, three months after his father had left with the 24th Reinforcements. Martin was a postal official at Port Chalmers when he enlisted on 17 November 1916 at Port Chalmers, naming his wife as next-of-kin. Theresa Drake’s address was amended to Arthur Street, Timaru. Ellen started at Timaru Main School in 1918 and was for a year at Sacred Heart School, Timaru before the family moved to Christchurch. M. Drake returned to Timaru, South Canterbury per the ‘Awarua’ which was due at Auckland about 19 November 1919. His wife died in 1956 and was buried at Ruru Lawn Cemetery. Martin joined his son John in New South Wales, where he died in 1967.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [01 November 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [21 December 2020]; School Admission records (Dunedin Branch NZSG & South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [21 December 2020]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [22 December 2020]; Timaru Herald, 15 April 1895, 30 October 1919, Otago Daily Times, 15 & 16 April 1895 (Papers Past) [01 November 2020; 22 December 2020]
External Links
Related Documents
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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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