Profile

SHAW, Stanley Richard
(Service number 9/2121)

Aliases
First Rank Trooper Last Rank Lance Corporal

Birth

Date 9 November 1895 Place of Birth Fairlie

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment Ngawira, Waitahuna
Occupation Farm labourer (James Henry Shaw, Ngawira, Waitahuna)
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mrs Maria SHAW (mother), Ngawira, Waitahuna, Otago
Religion Church of England
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 10th Reinforcements, Otago Mounted Rifles, D Squadron
Date 4 March 1916
Transport Willochra or Tofua
Embarked From Wellington Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With Otago Infantry

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
Military Awards

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

Discharge

Date Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Farm labourer, farm manager

Death

Date 19 September 1968 Age 72 years
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Archer Street Cemetery, Masterton
Memorial Reference Returned Servicemen's Area, Block C, Row 10, Plot SRS
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Stanley Richard Shaw was born on 9 November 1895 at Fairlie, the eighth son and twelfth of the fourteen children of James Henry and Maria (née Mitchell) Shaw. James’ parents came to New Zealand from Scotland in 1864, bringing with them four sons (James the eldest) and a daughter. Stanley started his schooling at Fairlie, transferring to Greenfield School near Waitahuna in South Otago, when the family moved there about 1905.

He was a farm labourer at home at Ngawira, Waitahuna, when he enlisted, naming his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs Maria Shaw, Ngawira, Waitahuna. Trooper S. R. Shaw embarked with the Otago Mounted Rifles from Wellington on 4 March 1916, destined for Suez, Egypt. Second-lieutenant S. R. Shaw, of Waitahuna, returned home by the “Remuera” with a draft which arrived at Auckland on 26 October 1919. He went back to farm labouring at Waitahuna. In 1935 he was working for an older brother, Ernest Oliver Shaw, at Winchester, South Canterbury. By 1963 he was a farm manager in the Wairarapa. He had married Madge Davis in 1940.

Stanley’s father who died in 1928 and his mother in 1938, were buried in the Waitahuna Cemetery. Stanley Richard Shaw died on 19 September 1968, aged 72 years. He was buried in the servicemen’s area of Masterton’s Archer Street Cemetery, his grave marked by a services stone. Madge died in 1999. Stanley’s brothers, William James Henry Mitchell Shaw, Stewart Samuel Shaw and Sydney Richard Shaw, all served with the New Zealand forces, while Oliver John Shaw served with the Australian forces. Several cousins also served, one of them being killed in action - William Murray Shaw, Cecil John Shaw (with the Australian forces) and John Edward Shaw, all from South Canterbury, James Albert Gordon Shaw and Robert Cyril Shaw (killed in action in 1918), both from Taieri, Otago, and Robert Hyslop and George Dunn Hyslop, both from Milton; in addition, Herbert George Shaw enlisted in New Zealand. Stanley R. Shaw and his four brothers who served are remembered on the Greenfield War Memorial as Returned.

“At the intersection of the roads in the very heart of Greenfield, with the tall pines softly bowing their venerable heads and forming an august and sheltering rampart, lies a portion of ground dedicated by the patriotic hearts of the Greenfield residents to the memory of those who left the district in response to their country’s call in her time of need. As the days pass and the years come and go, and age waxes old with those who stood around on that day of dedication the lofty marble pedestal will still continue to stir the hearts of passers-by with feelings of pride at the names thereon enrolled, of gratitude for those who returned, of reverence for those who fell, and of mingled joy and pride at the glory they achieved and the peace they helped to win.” [Clutha Leader. 6 January 1920.] The soldiers’ memorial at Greenfield was unveiled in early January 1920. The hymn “Now Thank We, O Our God,” was sung, prayer was offered, and “The Last Post” was sounded. On the front is a scroll with the inscription, “War 1914/1919 Peace,” and below are the names of the nine fallen. Beneath are the words: “This monument has been erected by the residents of Greenfield in grateful recognition of those who served their King and country in the Great War.” On either side are the names of the men who returned, among the twenty-five names those of the five Shaw brothers - Stewart Shaw, Oliver Shaw, W. J. H. Shaw, Sydney Shaw, and Stanley R. Shaw.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [24 February 2021]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [24 February 2021]; Archer Street Cemetery, Masterton, headstone transcription [25 February 2021]; Archer Street Cemetery, Masterton, burial record (Masterton District Council) [28 February 2021]; Waitahuna Cemetery records [25 February 2021]; School Admission record (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [24 February 2021]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [25 & 28 February 2021]; Tuapeka Times, 11 October 1919, Clutha Leader, 6 January 1920 (Papers Past) [28 February 2021]

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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