BRIGGS, William
(Service number 6/1249)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank | Sergeant |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 07/02/1894 | Place of Birth | Rangiora |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 6 October 1914 | Age | 20 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Waihao Downs | ||
| Occupation | Farm labourer | ||
| Previous Military Experience | 2nd South Canterbury Regiment - serving | ||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | mrs John BRIGGS (mother), Waihao Downs, Canterbury | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | 2nd Reinforcements | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | Canterbury Infantry Battalion | ||
| Date | 14 December 1914 | ||
| Transport | Verdala or Willochra or Knight of the Garter | ||
| Embarked From | Wellington | Destination | |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | 1 Battalion, Canterbury Infantry Regiment | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | Balkan; Egyptian; Egyptian E.F.; Western European | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | 1914-1915 Star; British War Medal; Victory Medal | ||
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 |
Death
| Date | 15 July 1976 | Age | 82 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Christchurch | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Cremated | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
William Briggs was born on 7 February 1894 at Rangiora, the eldest of the eleven children of John and Mary Jane (née Scoon) Briggs. John Briggs, from Cumberland, England, married Mary Jane in 1893 at Rangiora, where he was a farmer. The family moved to Waihao Downs near Waimate in the late 1890s. William enlisted soon after the outbreak of war, doing so on 6 October 1914 at Timaru. He was a farm labourer for his father at Waihao Downs, single and of Church of England affiliation. He was serving with the 2nd South Canterbury Regiment. His nominated next-of-kin was his mother – Mrs John Briggs, Waihao Downs, Canterbury. He was in a group of young Waimate men who left for the Trentham reinforcements camp on 20 October.
Private W. Briggs embarked with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion of the 2nd Reinforcements, departing from Wellington on 14 December 1914. He was discharged on 13 April 1919, having given four years and 190 days of service. He served in all theatres of war – Balkans, Egyptian, Egyptian E.F., and Western European, and was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. The name of W. Briggs appeared regularly on the Waimate Daily Advertiser Roll of Honour under the sub-title of "Answered the Call".
William Briggs died on 15 July 1976 at Christchurch, aged 82 years, and was privately cremated. He had lived at Amberley and was survived by is wife, Flo, a son and a daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He had married Florence Margaret Jane Hale in 1920. Flo died in 1984. His brother, Joseph Briggs, died of wounds at Brockenhurst Hospital in August 1918.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museumm Cenotaph Database [04 July 2022]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [06 July 2022]; Timaru Herald, 22 October 1914, Waimate Daily Advertiser, 30 May 1918, Press, 17 July 1976 (Papers Past) [18 September 2019; 09 & 26 July 2022]
External Links
Related Documents
No documents available.
Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, Teresa Scott, South Canterbury Genealogy Society
Currently Assigned to
Not assigned.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
Tell us more
Do you have information that could be added to this story? Or related images that you are happy to share? Submit them here!