Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Cecil Alfred Joseph Whittall was born on 23 December 1895 at Wribbenhall, Worcestershire, England, the younger son of George and Cecilia (née White) Whittall. English-born George Mathias Whittall had married Cicely S. Magdalen White, of Christchurch, in 1887 in New Zealand. Cicely was the daughter of Alfred Joseph White. Cecil Alfred Joseph Whittall married simply as Joseph Whittall (civil registration); he enlisted as Alfred Joseph Whittall; and he died as Cecil Alfred Joseph Whittall. In 1901 the family, including five year old Cecil, was living at Wribbenhall. George Mathias Whittall, a carpet manufacturer and some twenty years older than Cicely, died on 12 June 1904, of “Clearmont”, Kidderminster. He was buried at St George Churchyard, Kidderminster, Worcestershire. Probate was granted to his widow, Cicily Sarah Magdaline Whittall. Mrs C. Whittall and the two Misses Whittall sailed from London for New Zealand in late 1909. Cecil had two sisters and a brother. Cicely Whittall remarried, on 15 February 1911 at the Christchurch Roman Catholic Cathedral (New Zealand) to Walter William Sheppard of England. When Alfred enlisted, she was back in England. There she died on 20 August 1932 at Crowthorne, Berkshire.

Alfred Joseph Whittall, a farmer at Pleasant Point, was called up in 1916. His older brother, Stanley George Whittall, was called up also, in 1917. Stanley had married in 1915. His wife died the following year and was buried at Pleasant Point with her Hamilton family. Alfred had been in New Zealand for eight years. Alfred Joseph Whittall married Jean (Jane Ann) Hamilton on 23 November 1915 at St Joseph’s Church, Temuka. Jean was his next-of-kin when he left with the 28th Reinforcements.

A. J. Whittall, 43755, of Pleasant Point, returned to New Zealand from Egypt, in a draft of 1095, per the “Ulimaroa”, which was due at Auckland on 6 August 1919. Private Whittall and four other local men were welcomed home by a large gathering of the public when the special train carrying the southern soldiers reached Temuka on 12 August. The Mayor thanked the soldiers for their services and hearty cheers were given for them. “The voyage from Egypt was uneventful, the only unpleasant phase of it being the intense heat during certain stages of it.” [Temuka Leader. 14 August 1919.] The customary welcome took place at the Post Office where the Mayor again thanked the men and welcomed them. “No word that he or any other person could say, or anything they could write, could do justice to the men who had done so mch for their country,” he said.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [29 October 2020]; Temuka Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [31 October 2020]; England 1901 census return (ancestry.com.au) [30 November 2020]; Lyttelton Times, 28 February 1911, Timaru Herald, 1 January 1916, 24 July 1919, Temuka Leader, 14 August 1919, NZ Times, 31 July 1919 (Papers Past) [29 October 2020; 08 & 30 November 2020]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.