Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Michael Stephen Ryan was born on 26 December 1879 at Timaru and baptised Roman Catholic there on 4 January 1880. He was the son of Patrick and Julia Ryan. His father had died by 1901 when his despondent mother attempted suicide at her Rose Street, Timaru residence. Some time after coming home from work, having a cup of tea with his mother and then doing cutting wood, Michael found his mother in the bedroom in a pool of blood. Mrs Julia Ryan recovered after hospital treatment. Patrick Ryan, who died in 1895 in Christchurch after 19 years in New Zealand, may have been his father. In May 1881 at Timaru, a Patrick Ryan was ordered to be sent to the Lunatic Asylum, being of unsound mind. Their eldest son, Patrick John Ryan, died suddenly at their home, Rose Street, Timaru, on 20 February 1896. He had been born in Kings County (County Offaly), Ireland and was just 19 years 10 months old. His comrades erected a grave stone to his memory in the Timaru Cemetery. The father was deceased by this time. Michael had a sister, Bridget Ryan, born in 1878 at Timaru, and, it appears, a sister Mary, who would have been born in Ireland, and maybe a sister, Sarah Jane Ryan, also born in Ireland. For some years, Michael did not use his second name in records. His name, Michael Ryan, was drawn in the first ballot in November 1916, his address given as Coventry Street, Christchurch. He was, in fact, a labourer at the Wanganui Freezing Works at the time and there was some doubt, stated his mother, as to whether he received the notice to attend the Military Service Board hearing on the appointed day. He appealed upon the ground that he was the sole support of his widowed mother. In March 1917 his appeal was dismissed as he had not appeared. Michael lived with his mother at Timaru until 1911. They had moved to Christchurch by 1914 where they shared a home until her death, and Michael remained in Christchurch, unmarried, until his death. Julia Ryan, “widow of the late Patrick Ryan, formerly of Timaru,” died at her Christchurch residence, on 31 January 1932, and was buried at Bromley Cemetery after a Requiem Mass at the Catholic Cathedral. Michael Stephen Ryan died on 30 November 1951 at Christchurch, aged 71 years, and was buried with his mother at Bromley.

Sources

Bromley Cemetery burial records (Christchurch City Council) [14 February 2021]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [12 & 14 February 2021]; NZ Christchurch Catholic Diocese Baptisms Index CD (held by South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [11 February 2021]; Timaru Herald, 10 May 1881, 21 February 1896, 20 March 1901, Press, 24 November 1916, 11 January 1917, 3 March 1917, 1 & 2 February 1932 (Papers Past) [14 February 2021

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.