Profile

MOFFAT, Robert George
(Service number 68313)

Aliases
First Rank	Private	Last Rank

Birth

Date	20/11/1889	Place of Birth	Dunedin

Enlistment Information

Date	25/10/1917	Age
Address at Enlistment
Occupation	Vaudeville artist
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status
Next of Kin	Mrs J. Payton (sister), 26 Stuart Street, Dunedin
Religion	Presbyterian
Medical Information	Robert ws described at the time of his enlistement as 5 foot 3 1/2 inches tall, weighing 120 pounds, with a sallow complexion, hazel eyes and brown hair.

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	36th Reinforcements, B Company
Date	23 April 1918
Transport	HMNZT 102 Willochra
Embarked From	Wellington	Destination	Southampton, Hampshire

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With	Otago Infantry Regiment

Military Awards

Campaigns	Egyptian Expeditionary Force 1918
Service Medals	British War Medal, Victory Medal
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	26 February 1919	Reason	No longer physically fit - old injury to Rt ankle

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

25 April 1918 - On board HMNZT 102 - Admitted to hospital - VD; 21 May - Suez - transferred to Government Hopsital; 6 July - Alexandria - transferred to No.17 General Hospital - gonorrhea.

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	15 November 1965	Age	75
Place of Death	Cherry Farm (usual residence 20 Dee St, Timaru)
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Timaru Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Robert Moffat was born in Dunedin, on 28 November 1889 to Robert Moffatt and Margaret (nee Craig) who he later stated had come to New Zealand earlier that decade.

Robert, still a single man, entered service on 25 October 1917. He was working at the time as a vaudeville performer for Fuller & Sons. Initially classed as C1 (Garrison Service at Home Camps) due to a pre-existing injury, he was posted to the C1 Camp for three months. After this time he was transferred to F Company 35th Reinforcements on 4 December 1917, then B Company 37th Reinforcements on 29 January 1918. On 4 April 1918 Robert was sentenced to 96 hours detention for conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline. Later that month, after release, he was transferred again to B Company 36th Reinforcements on 19 April 1918 in time to leave with that unit on 23 April 1918 aboard HMNZT102, the Willochra.

In April 1918 Robert was admitted to his ship’s hospital with VD (gonorrhoea), but was transferred to the government hospital on 21 May after their arrival in Suez. In July he was transferred to No.17 General Hospital in Alexandria, and seems to have remained there until August. In September 1918 was taken on strength with the NZEF at Sling Camp, England. With the war coming to a close, only three months later Robert was designated for evacuation to New Zealand.

Robert returned to New Zealand on the Briton on 29 January 1919 and was discharged in New Zealand on 26 February 1919, as unfit for service due to an old injury to his right ankle, resulting from a motor bike accident in Melbourne in early 1914. He gave his intended address as 19 Dee Street, Timaru. He had served 1 year and 125 days, 282 of those overseas. For his time in uniform her earnt the British War Medal and Victory Medal, which were sent to him care of 19 Dee Street, Timaru.

In 1919, after returning from the war Robert married Florence Victoria McSkimming in Dunedin. According to funeral records being transcribed by the SC branch NZSG in 2022 the couple had five children, which NZ Birth & Death registers identify as including Robert Criag (b.1919) and Rossmere Craig (b.1921).

Robert, whose occupation was given as a painter, died on 15 November 1965, aged 75. He passed away at Cherry Farm, but his usual residence was given as 20 Dee Street, Timaru. He was buried in Timaru Cemetery.

Sources

SCRoll submission by T Brosnahan, 16 May 2022; NZ Military Personnel File, Archives New Zealand R21376344

External Links

Researched and Written by

Tony Rippin, South Canterbury Museum

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

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