IVEY, Pearce
(Service number 21841)
| First Rank | Rifleman | Last Rank | Rifleman |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 13 March 1889 | Place of Birth | Timaru |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 3 May 1916 | Age | 27 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Pareora | ||
| Occupation | Farmer | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Mr G. IVEY (brother), Pareora West, Timaru | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Rifle Brigade | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 7th Reinforcements, 3rd Battalion, G Company | ||
| Date | 21 August 1916 | ||
| Transport | Mokoia | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | Plymouth, Devon, England | |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | NZ Rifle Brigade | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | 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 | 3 January 1978 | Age | 88 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Timaru | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Geraldine Cemetery | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Pearce Ivey was born on 13 March 1889 at Timaru, the fifth son and eighth child of John Thomas and Ellen (née Hicks) Ivey. His birth was registered as Pierce. John and Ellen who married in 1874 at Penzance, Cornwall, England, came to New Zealand in the early 1880s with four children. Seven more children were born at Timaru, one dying in infancy. Pearce joined his older siblings at Fairview School three months after his fifth birthday. In February 1896, those of school age, including Pearce, transferred to Claremont School and left there in May 1898 for Timaru South School. Pearce left school in February 1903 to work on the farm.
Pearce was a farmer at Pareora when he enlisted on 3 May 1916 at Trentham. Single and non-conformist, he named his brother as next-of-kin – Mr G. Ivey, Pareora West, Timaru. Rifleman P. Ivey embarked with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, 3rd Battalion, 7th Reinforcements, leaving for Plymouth, Devon per the “Mokoia” on 21 August 1916. He embarked for the return to New Zealand at Avonmouth on 21 November 1917 per the Hospital Ship “Marama”. He was discharged on 28 March 1918, no longer physically fit for war service on account of wounds received in action, and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. When a welcome home social was held in the Gapes Valley Hall on 9 May 1919 for a returned soldier, who was a prisoner of war, in the Gapes Valley Hall, P. Ivey was one of the returned soldiers present.
Pearce Ivey married Georgina Vera Black (known as Vera) in 1920. They had two sons – James Ain Ivey and Keith Pearce Ivey. He died at Timaru on 3 January 1978, aged 88 years. After a service at St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Geraldine, he was buried in the services section of Geraldine Cemetery where a services plaque marks his grave. Vera Georgina Ivey died on 9 February 1986 and was buried in the general section of Geraldine Cemetery. Pearce’s brother Frederick Ain Ivey died of wounds on 13 August 1917 in France. And his brother George, who was his next-of-kin, was called up in 1917. His younger son, Keith Pearce Ivey, trained with the Royal Canadian Air Force and served with the Royal New Zealand Air Force in World War Two.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [18 September 2025]; NZ BDM indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [18 September 2025]; School Admission records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [18 September 2025]; Geraldine Cemetery headstone images (Timaru District Council) [18 September 2025]; Temuka Leader, 22 February 1919, Press, 4 January 1978 (Papers Past) [01 & 19 September 2025]
External Links
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC 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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