Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Robert Hewitt was born on 31 December 1873 at Dunedin, the son of James and Catherine (Kate, née Hewitt) Hewitt, who hailed from Belturbet, Northern Ireland. His birth was registered as Edward, as was that of his younger brother. The younger Edward explains in his Will – This is the last Will and Testament of me Edward Hewitt of Dunedin . . . . labourer being the younger of the two sons of the late James Hewitt of Green Island Bush who are both named “Edward” in the register of births and the elder of whom is generally known by the name of “Robert”. In their father’s Will, dated 1902, both Edward and Robert are named. Robert and his siblings were educated at Green Island School, their parents being farmers at Green Island Bush near Dunedin. Robert left school for work just before his fifteenth birthday and may have become a gardener from early on. In 1899 he was a gardener at Albury. On 25 July 1904, his father James Hewitt wandered away from his home at Green Island Bush and did not return. A search found no trace of him. He had “been frail and peculiar in his manner lately”. His last appearance at the stock markets was in November 1903. Fears that he had fallen over the cliff near his house and been carried out to sea were justified by evidence of a slip on the cliff face and when one of his boots was found on the beach a few days later. Catherine Hewitt died in April 1915 and was buried at Anderson’s Bay. Robert appears to be home at Green Island in 1911.

Robert Hewitt was a gardener at the Public Hospital, Timaru in 1914. There he was when he attested at Timaru on 17 February 1917. Medically examined at Timaru in February 1917, he was found Fit. Single and of Church of England affiliation, he named his brother as next-of-kin – Francis Hewitt, “Bayfield”, Andersons Bay, Dunedin. R. Hewitt was listed with the men belonging to the South Canterbury Military District who left for camp on 11 April 1917. Rifleman R. Hewitt embarked with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade of the 27th Reinforcements, departing from Wellington on 12 June 1917 and disembarking at Devonport, England on 16 August 1917. Private Robert Hewitt embarked per the “Ulimaroa” (Returning Draft 165) at Liverpool on 1 May 1918 and landed on 14 June. His first period of sick leave was spent care of Mrs Moreton, Timaru, and thereafter at 52 Filleul Street, Dunedin. He was discharged on 16 August 1918, no longer physically fit for war service on account of illness contracted on Active Service.

Robert Hewitt enlisted again on 25 March 1919 at Dunedin. He had served with the 27th Reinforcements, N.Z.E.F. and been discharged on account of sickness. Now classified fit for Guard duties, he had applied on 20 February for a position on home service as Guard at Featherston Military Camp. This time his address was 52 Filleul Street, Dunedin. He named another brother as next-of-kin – Mr Thomas Hewitt, care of Mr R. Rutherford, Main, Road, Caversham, Dunedin. Leaving home on 28 March 1919, he arrived in camp the next day. He then embarked at Wellington on 14 May 1919 per the “Willochra” and disembarked at London on 21 July. This time he returned home to New Zealand per the “Adolf Woermann”, embarking at Plymouth on 14 August 1919 and expected to arrive on 28 September 1919. He was discharged on 31 October 1919, on the termination of his period of engagement. He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his war service.

After resuming his gardening for a time, he may have been a hospital porter at Ranfurly from the mid-1930s to the early 1940s. Robert Hewitt died at Dunedin on 14 October 1967, aged 93 years, and was buried at Andersons Bay Cemetery with his mother and brother Thomas. His younger brother, Edward Hewitt, who was called up in February 1917, left for Trentham with the 30th Reinforcements in May. He returned home in January 1919 and was discharged in 1919 as physically unfit. After Thomas Hewitt – Edward’s brother and next-of-kin – died in 1920, Robert became his next-of-kin. Robert was the last surviving member of his immediate family, and Edward the second last. Both were generous in their bequests to charitable organisations, and Edward the younger remembered his brother Edward the elder and an orphaned niece.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [21 February 2025]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [24 February 2025]; School Admission records (Dunedin Branch NZSG) [28 February 2025]; Evening Star, 26 July 1904, Otago Daily Times, 27 & 28 July 1904, Timaru Herald, 10 April 1917; Cemetery records (Dunedin City Council) [28 February 2025]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [28 February 2025; 01 March 2025]

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.