LEEN, Jeremiah Basil
(Service number 15193)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank | Private |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 27 July 1897 | Place of Birth | Studholme |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 6 April 1916 | Age | 18 years 8 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Kakanui | ||
| Occupation | Farmer | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Mrs J. LEEN (mother), Kakanui, near Oamaru | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Expeditionary Force | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 15th Reinforcements, Otago Infantry Battalion, D Company | ||
| Date | 26 July 1916 | ||
| Transport | Waitemata or Ulimaroa | ||
| Embarked From | Wellington | Destination | |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | Otago Infantry | ||
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 | 4 August 1962 | Age | 65 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Oamaru | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Oamaru Cemetery | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
Jeremiah Basil Leen was born on 27 July 1897 at Studholme, the younger son of Jeremiah (Jerry) Leen and Bridget née O’Connor. Jeremiah and Bridget who were both from County Kerry, Ireland. Married in 1889 in New Zealand. Through until mid-1909 they resided in the Waimate district, for some years at Nukuroa. It was in August 1909 that Jeremiah Basil and his younger sister Theresa Hannah transferred to Kakanui School from Hannaton School (also known as Nukuroa and Studholme). Jeremiah Basil Leen enlisted at Trentham on 6 April 1916, putting his age up a couple of years, probably to allow him to enlist. A farmer at Kakanu, single and Roman Catholic, he named his mother as next-of-kin - Mrs J. Leen, Kakanui, near Oamaru. Private J. B. Leen embarked with the Otago Infantry Battalion of the 15th Reinforcements, departing from Wellington on 26 July 1916. 15193 Private J. B. Leen, 15th Reinforcements, was reported wounded in March 1918. He returned to New Zealand per the “Maunganui”, arriving in June 1919. He was discharged om 24 August 1919, 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. His name is inscribed on the Kakanui Public School Roll of Honour.
Jeremiah settled back into farming at Kakanui. He married Alice May Duncan in 1919 at the Oamaru Roman Catholic Church. Jeremiah Basil Leen died at Oamaru on 4 August 1962, aged 65 years, and was buried at the Oamaru Cemetery, a services plaque marking his grave. His death was accepted by the War Pensions Board as due to Service. Alice died on 11 July 1994, a headstone inscribed with the names of both Jeremiah and Alice.
Jeremiah Leen (senior) was a farmer at Kakanui when he appealed late in 1917 for his older son Christopher Richard Leen, who was employed on the farm and had been called up. The appellant stated that he was not capable of looking after the property which consisted of 391 acres. Conditional exemption was granted.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [05 November 2021]; School Admission record (Oamaru Branch NZSG) [05 November 2021]; Oamaru Cemetery headstone transcription [05 November 2021] Oamaru Cemetery headstone image (Find a Grave) [17 December 2025]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs); Otago Daily Times, 22 December 1917, North Otago Times, 15 June 1919 (Papers Past) [17 December 2025]
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society
Currently Assigned to
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Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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