SOMMERVILLE, Gavin Gordon
(Service number N/N)
| First Rank | Last Rank |
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Birth
| Date | 1 February 1898 | Place of Birth | Timaru |
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Enlistment Information
| Date | 8 February 1918 | Age | 20 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Stewart Island | ||
| Occupation | Dental assistant | ||
| Previous Military Experience | B Battery, Wellington - still serving | ||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Mrs S. SOMMERVILLE (mother), Post Office, Tuatapere | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
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Embarkation Information
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| Embarked From | Destination | ||
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Military Awards
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Award Circumstances and Date
No information
Prisoner of War Information
| Date of Capture | |
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| Days Interned | |
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Death
| Date | 22 August 1985 | Age | 87 years |
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| Place of Death | |||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Cremated, ashes at Kelvin Grove Cemetery, Palmerston North | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Gavin Gordon Sommerville was born at Timaru on 1 February 1898, the youngest son of Robert and Sarah (née Prentice) Sommerville, who had married in 1886 and come out to New Zealand from Scotland by 1888 with their first-born (William Prentice Sommerville). Others of the Prentice family also settled in New Zealand, including her parents. By 1895, Robert (a chemist) and Sarah (a nurse) were residing at Timaru. Gavin was educated at Timaru Main School and Waimataitai School, leaving there for Invercargill in mid-1908, when the family moved to Invercargill. After time at Invercargill Middle School, Gavin transferred to Halfmoon Bay School in 1911, his mother being a district nurse on Stewart Island. Robert and Sarah had parted company a few years after moving to Southland.
Gavin Gordon Sommerville was a dental assistant at Stewart Island when he enlisted on 8 February 1918 in Dunedin, just a week after his twentieth birthday. Single and Presbyterian, he named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs S. Sommerville, Post Office, Tuatapere. He was serving with B Battery, Wellington. Leaving home on 8 April 1918, he was in camp on 10 April. Gavin Sommerville spent two periods in hospital while at Featherston – from 20 August 1918 to 2 September with a sprained ankle, and from 26 September 1918 to 30 September with influenza.
Gavin married Mary Alice Standidge in 1929. Gavin and Mary divorced in the 1940s, and Alice Mary remarried. After a few years in Wellington where his brother was a dentist, Gavin moved to Palmerston North where he carried on his dentistry practice. He died on 22 August 1985, aged 87 years. The instructions per his Will were that his remains after his death be cremated and the ashes buried and that a funeral notice be placed in the newspaper after his funeral. It is believed that his ashes are interred at Kelvin Grove Cemetery, Palmerston North. He left all his estate to a friend in Palmerston North, the assets of his cheque account, investment account and shares amounting to $11,486. His mother Sarah, who was a highly qualified and much-respected district nurse at Stewart Island and Tuatapere, died on 18 April 1934 at the Invercargill residence of a daughter and was buried at the Eastern Cemetery. His father Robert died on 23 January 1944 at the Oreti residence of another daughter and was buried at Winton Cemetery. The death notices for both noted that they were late of Timaru. His oldest brother, William Prentice Sommerfield, was a dentist in Wellington when he was listed on the Reserve Rolls. His other brother, Robert Taylor Sommerville, served in England late in the war.
Sources
NZ BDM Indexes (Department of internal Affairs) [03 January 2025]; School Admission records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [03 January 2025]
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