Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Robert Victor Wade was born on 29 November 1895 at Kurow, North Otago, the youngest son of John Edward and Catherine (née Dawson) Wade, both of whom were born in County Cavan, Ireland. His birth was registered simply as Robert Wade. Robert was admitted to Upper Waitohi School in January 1909 and may have left in November of the same year. His oldest brother, William, had attended Papakaio School from August 1883 until May 1885 when he went out to herd cows at the age of 6½.

As of 1887 John Edward Wade was a farmer at Kurow, North Otago. He also held a coal licence in the area. As of 1893, still a farmer at Kurow, he filed in bankruptcy. In 1897 he was accused of alleged fraudulent bankruptcy, mainly concealment of property. When 40-year-old Wade did appear in court, he pleaded guilty to several charges of breaches of the Bankruptcy Act, having voluntarily admitted to the breaches. He had suffered from refusal of work, imprisonment for debt and criminal blackmail. A sentence of three months’ hard labour was imposed in November. The sale of his assets was completed in early 1898. It appears that Mrs Wade owned the lignite licence, it being on the property where she lived under a grazing right. By late 1898 the Wade family was at Upper Waitohi, South Canterbury. It was in 1910 that John Edward Wade applied for discharge from bankruptcy.

Robert’s oldest brother, William Wade who had been a farmer at Hilton in the early 1900s, committed suicide in his hut at his farm at Airedale near Oamaru in January 1910. It was understood that William hailed “from the neighbourhood of Temuka, where his parents are said to reside.” The workman who found Wade said that he (Wade) seemed to worry as to how he would get his crop harvested. At the Temuka Magistrate’s Court in May 1913, young Robert was fined 5 shillings and costs for cycling on the footpath.

Robert Victor Wade enlisted voluntarily on 21 April 1917 at Timaru and underwent the medical examination on the same day. Twenty-one years and five months old, a teamster, single and Presbyterian, he was residing at Winchester. He named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs Catherine Wade, Winchester Road, Temuka. He was 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed 127 pounds, had a chest measurement of 32-34½ inches, and was of fair complexion, brown hair and grey eyes. His sight, hearing and colour vision were all good, his limbs and chest well formed, and his heart and lungs normal. Having suffered no illnesses, slight defects or fits and being free of all diseases, he was in good bodily and mental health. He had not been vaccinated. Robert had registered at Geraldine for compulsory military training. On 28 May he was posted to G Company, 29th Reinforcements, and on 24 August transferred to F Company. But before his transfer, he did manage a small transgression – overstaying his leave on 23 July while at Featherston. For this he forfeited one day’s pay.

The Medical Case-Sheet, dated 29/8/17, read in part – Disease Mental Torpor(?). Is certainly very slow mentally – speech slow, hesitation reading – sight good, but takes long time to determine letters. Says he was sent to Sunnyside on account of . . . . wandering aimlessly about now. . . . . General health & condition good. “I consider he is not of the material to make a soldier of.” (More may be found in the personnel file.) The Medical Board was assembled at Featherston on 30 August 1917. The report was not good; it was sad. Robert Wade had spent two years at Sunnyside Mental Hospital. “Still mentally child. Not likely to make an efficient soldier. Stationary [progress].” The disability was likely to be permanent. He was considered fit for civil employment. The Board recommended that he be discharged from the Expeditionary Force. He was granted leave on 7 September.

In 1919 Robert was living at home in Winchester Road, Temuka. He appears to be in Christchurch in 1935, remaining there for some years, with a spell at Victoria Home, Oamaru, in the 1960s. In 1969 he is back in Christchurch. Robert Victor Wade died on 20 May 1972 and was buried in the Oamaru Old Cemetery with his brother William. It appears that the informant at his death was unaware of his true age, recording his birthdate as ten years too little. Three of Robert’s older brothers enlisted for service. John died in hospital in England in 1918 after a lengthy and serious illness. Samuel and Thomas served in New Zealand only. Their mother died at her Winchester Road home in April 1932 and their father died at Timaru in July 1937. John Edward Wade made specific bequests to his daughters Kathleen Wade and Maria Gibson and the children of his son Thomas Wade. When Kathleen Wade died in 1963, she made provision for her sister Marie Gibson or Marie’s grandchildren, and she also left a bequest to her brother Robert Wade and provided an annuity (free of tax) for Robert during his lifetime. On Robert’s death, the children of her brother Thomas Wade were to benefit.

Sources

NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5557 0117615) [07 September 2021]; School Admission record (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [2013]; Oamaru Cemetery burial record (Waitaki District Council) [07 September 2021]; North Otago Times, 18 January 1910, Oamaru Mail, 18 January 1910, Temuka Leader, 29 May 1913, Timaru Herald, 21 April 1932 (Papers Past) [07, 08 & 09 September 2021]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [11 May 2014; 07 September 2021]

External Links

• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

TS