Profile

SUTHERLAND, Frederick Alexander
(Service number 23/1206)

Aliases
First Rank	Rifleman	Last Rank	Sergeant

Birth

Date	07/05/1891	Place of Birth	Otokia

Enlistment Information

Date	20 May 1915	Age	24 years
Address at Enlistment	50 Sophia Street, Timaru
Occupation	Carpenter
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Mrs P. SUTHERLAND (mother) Brydone, Southland
Religion	Church of England
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 1st Battalion
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	C Company
Date	9 October 1915
Transport	Maunganui or Tahiti or Aparim or Navua or Warrimoo
Embarked From	Wellington	Destination

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With	NZ Cyclist Corps, 22 Cyclist Bn

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
Military Awards	Military Medal; Bar to Military Medal

Award Circumstances and Date

“His Majesty the King has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the MILITARY MEDAL to 23/1206 Sergeant Frederick Alexander Sutherland, New Zealand Cyclist Corps, New Zealand Expeditionary Force, for acts of gallantry in the field while in action against the enemy at Marfaux, France, on 23 July 1918.” (London Gazette, 12 November 1918); Bar to Military Medal - December 1918, for acts of gallantry.

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

Carpenter

Death

Date	6 September 1960	Age	69 years
Place of Death	Invercargill
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill
Memorial Reference	Block 36, Plot 554
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Frederick Alexander Sutherland was born on 7 May 1891 at Otokia, the son of Patrick Frederick Sinclair and Agnes (Nancy, née Ormiston) Dewar. He was educated at Allanton and Momona schools, transferring to Edendale School when the family moved in 1904. By 1914 Frederick was living in Timaru, where he was a carpenter. He was a well-known cyclist, who won the Timaru to Christchurch road race on 24 October 1914, and later the race from Timaru to Winchester and back. He also competed at the 1915 Timaru New Year Sports.

Private F. A. Sutherland was in a batch of South Canterbury men who flocked to the colours in May 1915 and were accepted in Timaru for service at the Front. He was one of those who had passed the medical test and had signed on to leave Timaru for Trentham by special train on 29 May. Before leaving they were to be entertained at afternoon tea in the Drill Hall and then played to the railway Station by the Regimental Band. Single and of Church of England affiliation, he named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs P. Sutherland, Brydone, Southland. Rifleman F. A. Sutherland embarked with the 1st Battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, leaving from Wellington on 9 October 1915. He was wounded on 25 September 1916. Corporal Frederick A. Sutherland was awarded the Military Medal in September 1918, for acts of gallantry in the field; Sergeant F. A. Sutherland was awarded a Bar to the Military Medal in December 1918. 23/1206 Sgt F. A. Sutherland (M.M. and bar) returned to New Zealand by the “Remuera”, arriving at Auckland on 5 May 1919. He gave over four years service, all but 163 days overseas. And he served in New Zealand in World War II.

After the war, Frederick returned to his occupation as a carpenter. He married Margaret Elizabeth Hamilton in 1923. They lived in Invercargill where he died on 6 September 1960, aged 69 years, and was buried in the Eastern Cemetery there. Margaret died in 1972. His younger brother, Arthur Frank Burrows Sutherland, died of wounds in France in 1917.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [13 May 2022]; Timaru Herald, 4 January 1915, 15 & 26 May 1915, 28 October 1916, 11 February 1919, Otago Daily Times, 19 October 1918, Southland Times, 21 October 1918, Evening Star, 10 February 1919, NZ Times, 17 April 1919 (Papers Past) [13 & 14 May 2022]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [13 May 2022]; School Admission records (Dunedin & Southland branches NZSG [14 May 2022]; Eastern Cemetery headstone image & burial record (Invercargill City Council) [14 May 2022]

External Links

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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

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