Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Thomas Henry Taplin was born on 29 November 1895 at Timaru, the elder son of Thomas Henry and Constance Lena (née Dodd) Taplin. Thomas and Constance who were both from England, married on 28 July 1892 at Timaru and had a family of two sons, both born at Timaru, and six daughters, the last-born dying at birth. Thomas Henry Taplin was baptised on 28 January 1896 at St Mary’s, Timaru, as his sister Elizabeth Georgina had been in 1893. It was at Wellington Schools that he was educated – Mount Cook, Island Bay, South Wellington, and maybe a few months at Timaru in 1907. His parents had moved to Wellington in the 1890s, it seems, and by 1911 to Blenheim. Thomas Henry Taplin enlisted on 21 September 1917 at Blenheim. A motor driver, single and of Church of England affiliation, he was at home at Blenheim and named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs C. L. Taplin, Hutchinson Street, Blenheim. Private T. H. Taplin embarked with the Auckland Infantry Regiment of the 34th Reinforcements, departing from Wellingto for Liverpool, England per the “Ulimaroa” on 8 February 1898. He embarked for the return to New Zealand at Plymouth on 12 September 1919 per the “Remuera” and disembarked at Auckland on 26 October 1919. He was discharged on 25 November 1919, on the termination of his term of engagement and awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Thomas married Audrey Netta Redpath (née Hawke) on 14 April 1928 at Nelson, where they lived until His death on 25 July 1949, aged 53 years. He was cremated, his ashes being interred at Wakapuaka Cemetery, Nelson. Audrey died on 17 July 1979, aged 81 years, and was buried at Taita Lawn Cemetery. Several cousins of Thomas Henry Taplin served in World War One – John Langdon Gabb (son of Jane Taplin and Alfred Frederick Gabb); William Paul Richards who died of wounds on 7 October 1917 in France (son of Sarah Taplin and her second husband George Richards); George William Taplin, Robert Frederick Ford Taplin (Bert) who died of wounds on 14 October 1917 in France, and Thomas Henry Ford Taplin (Tom or Ford) (all three sons of John Samuel and Anna Rosetta Ford). Another cousin, John Leonard George Bradding (son of Elizabeth Fanny Taplin and Henry Leonard Bradding), served in World War Two; as did two of the next generation –Ronald Warwick Taplin (son of John Robert Taplin and Florence May Warwick) and John Robert McGregor (son of Elizabeth Rosetta Violet Taplin and James Reid McGregor). Thomas Henry Taplin, his brother John Samuel Taplin, their parents (George and Elizabeth) and most, maybe all, of their siblings had settled at Timaru. Thomas Henry Taplin, senior, died in 1934 and was buried at Blenheim with his daughter Elizabeth who had died in 1917. Constance Lena Taplin died in 1961 and was cremated at Karori.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [07 January 2024]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [07 January 2024]; School Admission records (Wellington Branch NZSG) [07 January 2024]; Anglican Baptism record (South Canterbury Branch NZSG records) [07 January 2024]; Wakapuaka Cemetery cremation & burial records (Nelson City Council) [07 January 2024]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.