Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

George Smithwick was born on 19 July 1880 at Narrnambool, Victoria, Australia (as per his personnel file). He was, in fact, born on 19 July 1877, the second son of Christopher Richard and Mary Jane (née Mungovan) Smithwick. Christopher and Mary were both from Ireland and had married in 1867 at Geelong, Victoria, Australia. In late May 1914 George took part in the hunt at Levels on a chestnut. In late May 1915, men were “offering more freely” at Timaru. G. Smithwick, Fairlie, 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. He was one of the men given a rousing farewell when they went north to the concentration camp at Trentham in late May 1915. After afternoon tea in the Drill Shed and an address by the Mayor, amidst much cheering from the crowds, they were played to the railway Station by the Regimental Band and joined recruits from the south (Invercargill, Dunedin and Oamaru) on a very long special troop train. A labourer at the Gladstone Hotel, Fairlie, single and Roman Catholic, George named his father as next-of-kin – Christopher Richard Smithwick, Rosstrevor, Gray Street, St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Rifleman G. Smithwick embarked with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, departing from Wellingto on 9 October 1915. It was reported on 7 October 1916 that he had been wounded, and again on 19 October 1918. As of March 1917 he was in Brockenhurst Hospital. Perhaps on one of these occasions he met Grace Hilda Pike whom he married on 7 August 1918 at Our Lady of Rosary Church, Marylebone. 23/119 Sergeant G. Smithwick retrned home by the “Briton which was due at Wellington on 23 July 1919. He and Grace lived in Auckland, where he was a clerk. He died on 1 April 1949 and was buried in the Soldiers section of Waikumete Cemetery. Grace died in August 1951. George’s sister, Geraldine Margaret Smithwick, served as a nurse with the Australian Forces in World War One.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [16 May 2022]; Waikumete Cemetery record [16 May 2022]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [20 May 2022]; Timaru Herald, 1 June 1914, 26 & 31 May 1915 (Papers Past) [14, 20 & 22 May 2022]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.