Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

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Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Thomas Percival Wooding, who was named for his paternal grandfather, was the second son of Joseph and Sarah Elizabeth (née Hawke) Wooding. Along with his siblings, Thomas was educated at Woodbury School. The Woodbury School annual treat and prize-giving were held on Boxing Day 1908. Races were organised for the children, “most of whom came away with sixpences and threepences, a good number of which vanished in the smoke of crackers to the annoyance of nervous women and horses.” Two merit prizes were given in each standard and each of the other children in the school was given a book. Thomas Wooding, Standard III, received a special prize for Ambulance. The school closed for the holidays on 22 December 1909 and the annual treat was again held on Boxing Day. “The Rev. S. Hamilton distributed the prizes, after a very appropriate address on the value of regular attendance, and the pleasure of having deserved the prizes won.” Thomas Wooding won a Standard IV prize. In the 1911 Standard VI examinations, Thomas P. Wooding of Woodbury School gained Proficiency. Thomas Percival Wooding, farm assistant, Woodbury, was called up from the First Division of Reservists at the beginning of October 1917. Four pupils of the Canterbury Flying School at Sockburn look their pilots’ tickets on 23 September 1918 before Colonel Chaffey and Major Morrison. The weather conditions while the tests were being made were excellent, and all four pupils secured good passes. They included T. P. Wooding, Woodbury. In June 1924 at St Mary’s Church, Timaru, Thomas married Dorothy Clara Hardcastle, a teacher at the Timaru Girls’ High School. His sister Frances who was a bridesmaid, married his best man in 1927. The reception was held at Ye Goode Intente Rooms and the honeymoon was spent in Marlborough. Thomas Percival Wooding died on 11 March 1987, aged 89 years. He was cremated at Salisbury Park Crematorium and his ashes were interred at Woodbury Cemetery with those of his wife who had died in 1918. He was a brother of Joseph Arthur Wooding and a cousin of George Robert Wooding, both of whom served in World War One.

Sources

N Z Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5557 0125071) [27 October 2021]; Timaru Herald, 4 January 1909, 29 December 1909, 25 January 1912, 2 October 1917, Press, 2 October 1917, 24 September 1918, 17 July 1924, Star, 23 September 1918 (Papers Past) [22 & 29 October 2021]; School Admission record (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [28 October 2021]; Salisbury Park Crematorium record [28 October 2021]; Woodbury Cemetery headstone transcription

External Links

• Military personnel file

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