SAVAGE, Maurice Joseph
(Service number 6/3861)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank | Private |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 20 May 1896 | Place of Birth | Nelson |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 20 October 1915 | Age | 19 years 5 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Richmond, Nelson | ||
| Occupation | Painter | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Thomas Richard SAVAGE (father), Richmond, Nelson; Corner Avenue Street & North Street, Timaru; 89 Church Street, Timaru; 31 Heaton Street, Timaru | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Expeditionary Force | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 9th Reinforcements, Canterbury Infantry Battalion, C Company | ||
| Date | 8 January 1916 | ||
| Transport | Maunganui | ||
| Embarked From | Wellington | Destination | Suez, Egypt |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | Canterbury Regiment | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | Egyptian; Egyptian Expeditionary Force; Western European | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | 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 | 5 August 1917 | Age | 75 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Wellington Hospital | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Cremated; ashes interred Taita Lawn Cemetery, Lower Hutt | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Maurice Joseph Savage was born on 20 May 1896 at Nelson, the fourth son of Thomas Richard and Ellen Elizabeth (née Fenemore) Savage. Thomas and Ellen married in 1888 and had six sons and seven daughters. For the most part they lived in the Nelson area but during the war years they spent time in Timaru where several of the younger children attended Timaru Main School in 1917. Maurice attended Kopuaranga School, transferring to Richmond School in Nelson in 1950. He left there for work at the age of fourteen.
He enlisted on 20 October 1915 at Trentham. A painter residing at Richmond, Nelson, single and Baptist, he named his father as next-of-kin – Thomas R. Savage, Richmond, Nelson. Thomas was later at different addresses in Timaru – Corner Avenue Street and North Street, 89 Church Street West, 31 Heaton Street. Private M. J. Savage embarked with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion, 9th Reinforcements, departing from Wellington for Suez, Egypt, on 8 January 1916 per the “Maunganui”. His name appeared on a casualty list in October 1916. The Nelson Mail of 10 May 1917 reported that Mr T. R. Savage, of Timaru, had received a cable stating that his son, Private M. J. Savage, had been transferred to the Convalescent Depot at Hornchurch.
6/3861 Private Maurice Joseph Savage, painter (Thos. R. Savage, Timaru), arrived back in New Zealand on 25 September 1917, per “Ionic”. His name was among those of the South Canterbury men who were expected to reach Lyttelton on the morning of 28 September and come on by the express mail train in the afternoon. His intended address was 89 Church Street, Timaru, which was amended to Queen Street, Richmond, Nelson, in March 1920. He was discharged on 24 October 1917. For his service in Egypt and Europe he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
Maurice married Phyllis Rose Lowry in 1921. He died on 5 August 1971 at Wellington Hospital, of Trentham, aged 75 years. After cremation, his ashes were interred in the Soldiers area of Taita Lawn Cemetery, Lower Hutt. When Phyllis died in 1988, her ashes were interred there too. Maurice was survived by his wife Phyllis, two sons (Ian, known as Mick, and Neil) and four grandchildren.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [30 January 2023]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [30 January 2023]; School Admission record (Nelson Branch NZSG) [30 January 2023]; Nelson Mail, 10 May 1917, Sun, 25 September 1917, Timaru Herald, 27 September 1917 (Papers Past) [27, 30 & 31 January 2023]; Taita Lawn Cemetery headstone image (Find A Grave) [30 January 2023]; Taita Lawn Cemetery burial records (Hutt City Council) [31 January 2023]; Newspaper death notice (source unknown – attached to ancestry family tree) [30 January 2023]
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