Profile

FITZGERALD, William Francis Joseph
(Service number 7/1356)

Aliases
First Rank	Trooper	Last Rank	Gunner

Birth

Date	24/11/1890	Place of Birth	Temuka

Enlistment Information

Date	12 June 1915	Age	24 years 7 months
Address at Enlistment	Kerrytown
Occupation	Farmer
Previous Military Experience	2 S.C. Regt.
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Mrs W. FITZGERALD Senr (mother), Temuka
Religion	Roman Catholic
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 5 inches. Weight 119 lbs. Chest 32-35 inches. Complexion medium - between dark & fair. Eyes blue. Hair dark brown. Both eyes 6/6. Hearing good. Colour vision correct. Limbs and chest well formed. Full movement of joints. Heart and lungs both normal. Teeth fair. Free from hernia, varicocele, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Vaccinated. Good bodily & mental health. No slight defects.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	6th Reinforcements
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	Canterbury Mounted Rifles
Date	14 August 1915
Transport	Willochra or Tofua
Embarked From	Wellington	Destination	Suez, Egypt

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With	Field Artillery

Military Awards

Campaigns	Gallipoli; France
Service Medals	1914-15 Star; British War Medal; Victory Medal
Military Awards

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

Discharge

Date	21 May 1919	Reason	Termination of period of engagement.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

17 March 1917 admitted to Northumbrian C. C. - sick. 22 March 1917 rejoined unit from hospital. On 1 February 1919 at the N.Z. Command Depot, William was diagnosed with defective hearing (Medical Board report); deaf in right ear - not attributed to active service.

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	3 February 1965	Age	74 yrs
Place of Death	Timaru
Cause
Notices	Timaru Herald, 4 February 1965
Memorial or Cemetery	Temuka Cemetery
Memorial Reference	Services Section, Row 200, Plot 19
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

William Francis Joseph FITZGERALD was the fourth son of William and Elizabeth (nee IRWIN) FITZGERALD, of "Derry" Farm, Kerrytown. He was baptized Catholic (William Francis) on 26 November 1890 at Temuka. William was a brother of Thomas Bernard FITZGERALD who was killed in action on 12 Sep 1918, and of James Patrick FITZGERALD who also served in WWI. William was one of three sons of this family who left for active service and gave a long period of service in the war - 3 years and 341 days; all but 91 days overseas, at Gallipoli and in France. There is only one known report of sickness for William in his time at the Front, but when he was about to return home, defective hearing and deafness were detected in his right ear. Though this deafness was not attributed to his war service, it must have been a handicap in the Field. He returned to New Zealand on 22 April 1919 per S.S. Corinthic, and resumed farming at Kerrytown. When the special troop train reached the Temuka Station on 23 April 1919, the soldiers were met by a large crowd and greeted with a rousing cheer. They marched in procession to the Post Office, preceded by the Pipe Band, and there they were hailed as "one of the finest lot of boys that had reached Temuka." The Mayor added "The men had been more or less damaged, but they had brought victory with them." His next-of-kin at death was Mrs M. SCOTT, No 4 R.D., Kerrytown. William died in 1965 in Timaru where he had been living at the Beverley Home. He was buried at the Temuka Cemetery after a Requiem Mass at St Joseph's Church there. The Temuka RSA members met at the cemetery to pay their respects. His father had died in an unfortunate accident in 1912. Elsewhere in Personnel file, birthdate is given as 24 March 1891, which is incorrect (cf. baptism date).

Sources

Cenotaph Database [31 July 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5537 0040393) [20 April 2014; NZ BDM historical records (Department of Internal Affairs) [18 April 2014]; TDC headstone image (Temuka Cemetery) [2014]; Catholic Diocese of Christchurch - Baptism index V.1.2 (South Canterbury Branch NZSG Computer Resources) [27 April 2014]; Timaru Herald, 26 April 1912, 10 April 1919, 24 April 1919 (Papers Past) [11 August 2013; 20 September 2013; 16 September 2014]; Timaru Herald, 4 February 1965 (Timaru District Library) [19 September 2014]; NZ electoral rolls (ancestry.com.au) [2013]

External Links

Researched and Written by

Currently Assigned to

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.