QUELCH, Victor James
(Service number 13470)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank | Private |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 20/12/1887 | Place of Birth | Timaru |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Timaru | ||
| Occupation | Ironmonger | ||
| Previous Military Experience | Geraldine Mounted Rifles - one year | ||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Mrs E. J. QUELCH (mother), 9 Queen's Drive, Musselburgh, Dunedin | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Expeditionary Force | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 13th Reinforcements, J Company | ||
| Date | 27 May 1916 | ||
| Transport | Tofua | ||
| Embarked From | Wellington | Destination | |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | Otago Regiment | ||
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 | 7 May 1977 | Age | 89 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Havelock North | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Havelock North Cemetery | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Victor James Quelch (born James Victor Quelch) was the fourth son of Alfred James and Ellen Josephine (née Fleming) Quelch. Alfred from Oxford, England, and Ellen from Ireland married in 1876 at Dunedin, New Zealand. There four children were born before the family moved in 1883 to Timaru where Alfred established his own business as an ironmonger. James Victor Quelch was born on 20 December 1887 at Timaru and baptised Roman Catholic on 1 January 1888 at Timaru. Perhaps bankruptcy led to a return to Dunedin in 1891 and two more children were born there. In 1901 Victor received third prize for Standard VII at Albany Street, Dunedin. Victor Quelch, who followed his father in the ironmonger’s trade, had been employed with John Edmond and Co at Timaru for five or six years when he enlisted. He had served one year with the Geraldine Mounted Rifles. Private V. J. Quelch embarked on 27 May 1916 with the 13th Reinforcements. On 20 March 1917 he was severely wounded in battle and had to have his left arm amputated. By this time he was with the Otago Infantry Battalion. At the 1920 annual meeting of limbless members of the Dunedin Returned Soldiers’ Association, he was elected to the committee of Limbless Commtittee. Victor married Ilena Blyth in 1924. He fractured his ankle in September 1936 when he tripped over a piece of wood at his home at Brighton near Dunedin. V. J. Quelch died on 7 May 1977 at Havelock North, aged 89 years. Ilena died in 1995, aged 98, her ashes being interred at Andersons Bay, Dunedin. Victor’s brother, Ernest Fleming Quelch served in theSouth African War (as Ernest Michael Quelch), and two other brothers – Alfred Fleming and John Hector – were listed on the Reserve Rolls for World War I, both being married men with families.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [21 March 2021]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [21 March 2021]; Baptism index (Christchurch Catholic Diocese CD held by South Santerbury Branch NZSG) [21 March 2021]; Havelock North Cemetery headstone image (Hastings District Council) [21 March 2021]; Evening Star, 18 December 1901, 17 September 1936, Otago Daily Times, 11 April 1917, Otago Witness, 4 May 1920 (Papers Past) [21 March 2021]
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG
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