MacKAY, Leslie Donald
(Service number 67917)
| First Rank | Corporal | Last Rank |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 01/06/1883 | Place of Birth | Waikiwi, Southland |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 11 September 1917 | Age | 34 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Longbush, Southland | ||
| Occupation | Schoolteacher | ||
| Previous Military Experience | Oreti Rifles - left Invercargill | ||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Miss Mary MacKAY (sister), Hospital, Timaru | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Expeditionary Force | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 41st Reinforcements, E Company | ||
| Date | 27 July 1918 | ||
| Transport | Ulimaroa | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | London, England | |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | |||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | British War 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 | 1 May 1955 | Age | 71 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Riverton | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Leslie Donald Mackay was born on 18 June 1883 at Waikiwi, Southland, the third son of Eric Kenneth Findlater and Mary Stewart (née Cameron) Mackay. His mother died in 1893 not long after the birth of ninth child. His father, a schoolteacher, died in 1906.
Leslie enlisted at Invercargill on 11 September 1917, volunteering for the 35th Reinforcements. He was a schoolteacher at Longbush, Southland. Single and Presbyterian, he named his youngest sister as next-of-kin – Miss Mary Mackay, Hospital, Timaru. Now, when his oldest sister, Annie Johanna Mackay, registered for service with the New Zealand Army Nursing Service Corps in 1915, she named her brother Leslie D. Mackay, Schoolhouse, Longbush, as next-of-kin. After Leslie left on active service, her sister Miss Mary Mackay, The Hospital, Timaru, became her next-of-kin as well. Mary Lucy Mackay was doing her nursing training at Timaru Hospital where she passed the State examinations in December 1920. Leslie had served with the Oreti Rifles. He was in a batch of men for the “C1” camp who assembled at the Invercargill railway station on 22 October 1917 and, under Sergt.-Major Ivemey (his brother-in-law), entrained for their special camp, “unattended by beating drums and accompanied by no cheering crowd”. Corporal L. D. Mackay embarked with the 41st Reinforcements, departing for London, England, on 27 July 1918 per the “Ulimaroa”. The Hororata’s draft which was due at Wellington on or about 20 September 1919, brought home Lance-Corporal L. D. Mackay, 67917, of Timaru. He was discharged on 21 October 1919, on the termination of his period of engagement and received the British War Medal.
Leslie Mackay returned to his teaching profession, living in Southland, at various times with his unmarried sisters – Annie Johanna, Emily May and Mary Lucy. His brother Eric Victor Mackay, also a teacher, was killed in action in 1918 in France and is remembered on the Chatham Islands Memorial. Annie served and survived the Maquette sinking. John Mitchell Mackay, a sheep farmer in the Chatham Islands, was called up. Leslie Donald Mackay died on 1 May 1955 at Riverton, aged 71 years. He was buried at the Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill, with his parents and three sisters, his brother Eric also remembered on the stone.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [26 June 2023]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [26 June 2023]; Eastern Cemetery, Invercargill headstone image & burial records (Invercargill City Council) [27 June 2023]; Star, 26 August 1919, NZ Times, 27 August 1919, Southland Times, 23 October 1917 (Papers Past) [26 & 27 June 2023]
External Links
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, South Canterbruy Genealogy Society
Currently Assigned to
Not assigned.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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