THATCHER, Gerald
(Service number 7/1790)
| First Rank | Trooper | Last Rank |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 10/09/1895 | Place of Birth | Woodbury |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 25 August 1915 | Age | 19 years 11 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Woodbury | ||
| Occupation | Carpenter | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Mrs Julia THATCHER (mother), Woodbury, Canterbury | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | 7th Reinforcements | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | Canterbury Mounted Rifles | ||
| Date | 9 October 1915 | ||
| Transport | Aparima or Navua or Warrimoo | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | Suez, Egypt | |
| 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 | 15 November 1956 | Age | 61 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Timaru | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | |||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Gerald Thatcher was born on 18 March 1894 at Woodbury, the third son of John Thatcher and his second wife, Julia Elizabeth née Saville. He was educated at Orari Gorge (Tripp) School and Woodbury School, moving several times from one to the other. His father had . . . been employed on Tripp’s Staton, before acquiring his own farm. John Thatcher, a strong healthy looking man, died on 17 September 1901 during an influenza epidemic, when the youngest was only 17 months old. Several members of the Thatcher family are buried in the Woodbury Cemetery. Lance-Corporal G. Thatcher, 7/1790, of Geraldine, returned to New Zealand from Egypt, in a draft of 1095, per the “Ulimaroa”, which was due at Auckland on 6 August 1919. He married Eliza Ann Herron in 1923. His brother, Henry Lane Thatcher, was killed in action in August 1917 in France. In October 1917, his oldest brother, Frederick John Thatcher, appealed, saying that he was the only one keeping the farm going. He had one brother at the front (Gerald) and one had been killed there (Henry). Another was only 17 years old (Arthur). His appeal was adjourned sine die.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [29 October 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [30 October 2020]; School Admission records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [31 October 2020]; Temuka Leader, 19 September 1901, Timaru Herald, 17 October 1917, NZ Times, 31 July 1919 (Papers Past) [29 October 2020; 30 November 2020]
External Links
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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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