Profile

COULBECK, William John
(Service number 68516)

Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank Rifleman

Birth

Date 30/05/1886 Place of Birth Waimate

Enlistment Information

Date 12 September 1917 Age 31 years
Address at Enlistment Rhodes Street, Waimate
Occupation Labourer
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mrs Charlotte COULBECK (mother), Rhodes Street, Waimate
Religion Presbyterian
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 35th Reinforcements, D Company
Date 2 March 1918
Transport tofua
Embarked From Destination Southampton, Hampshire, England
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With NZRB

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

Labourer

Death

Date 5 September 1963 Age 77 years
Place of Death Christchurch
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Ruru Lawn Cemetery, Christchurch
Memorial Reference Area S 1C, Plot 140
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

William John Coulbeck, whose birth was registered as John William Coulbeck, was born on 30 March 1886 at Waimate, the eldest son of John and Charlotte (née Glover) Coulbeck. A painter and single he was living at home with his widowed mother when he enlisted on 12 September 1917 at Timaru. He stated that two people were dependent on him – his mother and a sister. His father had died in June 1904 and was buried at Waimate. Private W. J. Coulbeck embarked with the 35th Reinforcements for Southampton, England, on 2 March 1918 by the “Tofua”. W. J. Coulbeck, of Waimate, was one of more than 800 men who returned to New Zealand by the “Port Hacking” in August 1919. William John Coulbeck married Bessie Eustace Croshaw in 1923. He died on 5 September 1963 at Christchurch and was interred in the Ruru Lawn Cemetery. His brother Wesley Coulbeck also served with the New Zealand Forces, and another brother, Albert Avery Coulbeck, enlisted.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [24 May 2021]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [24 May 2021]; Ruru Cemetery headstone transcription [24 May 2021]; Timaru Herald, 11 August 1919 (Papers Past) [06 September 2014]

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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