Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Herbert was the son of Herbert Douglas & Ellen Knight nee McGlashan. He was born 13 January 1895 in Dannevirke and attended Wanganui Collegiate School where he was a prefect and in the Fifteen of 1912. His name is recorded in the school’s Roll of Honour. On leaving school he worked for his father as a farm hand and his last New Zealand address is given as Waihi. Herbert is described on enlisting, at age 19, as having a dark complexion, chest 34 inches, weight 155 lbs, height 5 foot 9 ½ inches, eyes grey and hair dark. Herbert had some previous military service having served with the Waihi Territorials. He served in New Zealand from 15 December 1914 to 12 February 1915 then sailed from Wellington on the Aparima 14 February 1915, with the 3rd reinforcements D Company Otago Infantry Battalion, for Suez Eqypt, arriving 26 March 1915. During the trip he and four others had dropped a message in a bottle somewhere between New Zealand and Australia and it was found by Mr Peter Anderson of Vivonne Bay, Kangaroo Island, South Australia, who forwarded it to Defence Headquarters Wellington in August 1915, expressing the wish “these lads may return to their homes after having wiped the floor with the Germans”. Herbert saw service in Egypt and was killed in action at Cape Helles Gallipoli on 8 May 1915, a day after arriving on the front line. He was aged 20 and is buried in Walker’s Ridge Cemetery in Turkey. After a hard day ammunition carrying in the trenches, he had volunteered with a party to bury a mule, and while engaged in this duty was shot by a sniper and killed instantly. The Auckland Star reported (23 June 1915): “Private H.A. Knight, whose name appeared in an Otago list of killed last week, was the third son of Mr H.D. Knight, of Waihi, proprietor of the Tamaki sawmills. Deceased was only 19 years of age and was working for his father in Waihi, leaving to join the New Zealand forces. Another son is still fighting for the flag in the Dardanelle’s.” Herbert’s parents lost two other sons in the war - 8/1532 2Lt George Bernard Knight, 6 Otago Regiment killed in action Belgium 12 October 1917 and 59920 Pvt William Douglas Knight, Auckland Regiment, killed in action France 1 September 1918. Herbert’s pay book and letters written to his mother whilst in New Zealand and overseas, are held in the Alexander Turnbull Library.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph database (October 2014); Kete Tararua (peoplesnetworknz.inforemembering-war); freepages.(genealogy.rootsweb.ancesry.com); Archives NZ; Births, Death, & Marriages Online (www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz); Fielding Star 16 Aug 1915; Auckland Star 23 Jun 1915; Wanganui Chronical 2 Sep 1915.

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Ann Munro, (SC branch NZSG); Ted Hansen (SC branch NZSG)

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.