Profile

LYNCH, James Alphonsus
(Service number 6/496)

Aliases	Enlisted as James Lynch.
First Rank	Private	Last Rank	Private

Birth

Date	10/08/1893	Place of Birth	Oamaru

Enlistment Information

Date	12 August 1914	Age	21 years
Address at Enlistment	Church Street, Timaru
Occupation	Bank clerk
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	T. LYNCH (father), Church Street, Timaru
Religion	Roman Catholic
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 8¼ inches. Weight 148 lbs. Chest measurement 34-37 inches. Complexion dark. Eyes brown. Hair dark brown. Sight, hearing & colour vision all good. Limbs well formed. Full & perfect movement of all joints. Chest well formed. Heart & lungs normal. Teeth good. Free from hernia, varicocele, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Vaccinated. Good bodily & mental health. No slight defects. Pigmented scar, lower part outer surface right leg.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	Main Body
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	Canterbury Infantry Battalion
Date	16 October 1914
Transport	Tahiti or Athenic
Embarked From	Wellington	Destination	Suez, Egypt

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With	Canterbury Infantry Regiment

Military Awards

Campaigns	Balkan (Gallipoli); Egyptian; Egyptian Ecpeditionary Force; Western European
Service Medals	1914-1915 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	17 October 1917	Reason	No longer physically fit for War Service on account of pre-enlistment disability aggravated by Active Service.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Wounded on 10 August 1915 at the Dardanelles. Admitted to hospital 14 September 1915, with severe gunshot wound to wrist. Injured knee on 3 april 1917, while playing football or cricket; found to have displaced cartilage.

Post-war Occupations

Stock agent

Death

Date	25 January 1970	Age	76 years
Place of Death	Christchurch
Cause
Notices	Timaru Herald, 26 January 1970
Memorial or Cemetery	Waimairi Cemetery
Memorial Reference	Block RC50, Plot 10
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

James Alphonsus Lynch was the second son of Thomas William Hall and Katherine Josephine (née Walsh) Lynch. One of ten children, he was born on 10 August 1893 at Oamaru. He was educated at the Marist Brothers' School, Timaru. Very keen on sport, he was a member of the Celtic Cricket Club, representing South Canterbury many times, the Timaru Golf Club, the Celtic Football Club, and St John's Tennis Club. He also participated in swimming. His father had been a well-known Otago footballer, and his brother , Tom, in camp in October 1915, played for the All Blacks. James married Mary Agnes O'Meeghan. Parents buried Timau Cemetery. Father was land and real estate agent.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [May 2015; 14 August 2016]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5544 0070047) [14 August 2016], NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5948 0359652) [23 August 2016]; New Zealand Tablet, 7 October 1915 (Papers Past) [14 August 2016]; Timaru Herald, 26 January 1970 (Timaru District Library) [19 August 2016]

External Links

Researched and Written by

Tony Rippin (South Canterbury Museum); Liz Shea (SC Branch NZSG)

Currently Assigned to

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