Profile

HIND, Walter Ernest Raybould
(Service number 30061)

The Hind family — From left are Walter's sister Kathleen, brother Charles, mother Mary, Walter, and his father, Frank (Courtesy of A Baird )

A pre-war painted photograph of Walter Hind — (Courtesy of A Baird )

Walter Hind with his grandfather, 1916 — Taken while on leave in the United Kingdom (Courtesy of A Baird )

Sergeant W E R Hind — (Courtesy of A Baird )

Walter Hind's grave details card — (Courtesy of A Baird )

Walter Hind's fiance — Unfortunately, not only was the relationship prematurely cut short by the tragedy of Walter's death, but the identity of Walter's fiance is now unknown. (Courtesy of A Baird )

Timaru Boys High School Memorial Library plaque (1914-1918), pictured in 2007 — (South Canterbury Museum )

St Mary's Church, Timaru, memorial plaque, circa 2010 — (South Canterbury Museum 2013/155.31)

Aliases
First Rank	Lance Sergeant	Last Rank	Corporal

Birth

Date	16/01/1896	Place of Birth	Christchurch

Enlistment Information

Date		Age
Address at Enlistment
Occupation	Clerk
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	single
Next of Kin	Francis Ernest Hind (father) Maltby Ave, Timaru
Religion
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	New Zealand Rifle Brigade
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	14th Reinforcements, 2nd Battalion, F Company
Date	30 December 1916
Transport	HMNZT 72, Athenic
Embarked From	Wellington, New Zealand	Destination	Plymouth, England

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With	Canterbury Infantry Regiment

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
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		Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	6 October 1917	Age	22
Place of Death	Belgium
Cause	Died of wounds
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Mendinghem Military Cemetery, Poperinge, West-Vlaanderen,Belgium
Memorial Reference	VII.B.38
New Zealand Memorials	On Memorial wall, Timaru; Timaru Boys High School War Memorial (Library); Memorial plaque, St Mary's Church, Timaru

Biographical Notes

Son of Francis Ernest and Mary Hind, Timaru. Brother Charles Albert Sidney Hinds (service no.24099) received the Military Medal. Letter in Timaru Herald 18 January 1918 mentioning both brothers. Family emigrated from Melbourne, Australia.

Listed in the 1913 roll book of Timaru Technical School, aged 17. His ocuupation was given as "cadet" and was studying shorthand and another subject [entry illegible].

A great nephew of Walter recounted:

"Walter Ernest Raybould Hind was my Great Great Uncle and, one hundred years after his death, is still remembered by my family.

Walter was born in Christchurch on January 16th, 1896 to Frank (Francis Ernest) and Mary Hind (née Raybould). Walter's parents had just immigrated to New Zealand with their newborn son Charles, after spending some time in Melbourne. Both Mary and Frank were originally from England, but had met and married in Melbourne in 1889.

Walter had an older brother - Charles Albert Sidney Hind - who also ended up serving in the war. He also had a younger sister, Kathleen Theodora Virginia Hind (my Great Grandmother).

The family moved to Maltby Avenue in Timaru in the early 1900s. Walter proved himself to be a gifted academic, being named Dux of Woodville High School in 1909. He later went to Timaru Boys' High School, before entering the civil service.

Walter first worked in the Money Order Department in Timaru, but was then transferred to Wellington. Some time during that period he also became engaged.

Walter was in the capital when war broke out, enlisting in the 20th reinforcements. He served on the Western Front but was gassed at Ypres, Belgium during the Battle of Passchendale in 1917, he was just 21. Walter died of his wounds on October 6th, 1917 and was buried at Mendinghem Military Cemetery, Poperinge in Belgium.

Months later, Walter's grieving family received a letter from one of their son's mates. It described how "Wally" had removed his gas mask to test if the air was clear, when a gas canister exploded right next to him. The letter went on to say that "Wally" had saved the lives of many men, as they had not yet taken off their gas masks, and that he was very brave in doing so." (SCRoll web submission, 30 August 2017)

Sources

Cenotaph [October 2013]; Timaru Technical School roll book (SCRoll submission from J James, Mountainview High School, 25 March 2015); SCRoll web submission from A Baird, 9 March 2016 & 30 August 2017

External Links

Researched and Written by

Liz Shea (SC branch NZSG)

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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