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MARCHANT, Frederic Norman
(Service number 7/89)

Frederick Norman Marchant — (Courtesy of the Otago Witness, 9 September 1917, p37 (supplement) )

Officers of the Canterbury Mounted Rifles at Addington Camp, Christchurch, August 1914. — Back row: Lieutenants L Chaytor, Taylor, Barker, W Deans, F Gorton, Hayter, D S Murchison.
Second row: Lieutenant Marchant, Captain Talbot, Lieutenant Blackett, Captain Hurst, Captain Hammond, Lieutenant Free, Lieutenant Bruce.
Sitting: Major Wain (O.C. 8th Sqd.), Captain Cody (Q.M.), Major Overton (2nd in Command), Lieutenant-Colonel Findlay (C.O.), Captain Blair (Adjutant), Major Acton-Adams (O.C. 1st Sqd.), Major Hutton (O.C. 10th Sqd.).
Front row: Lieutenant Gibbs (Signalling Officer), Tommy the mascot, Lieutenant Davison (Machine Gun Officer), Lieutenant G Dailey. (Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, PAColl-5268-2-01 )

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	Captain	Last Rank	Captain/Quartermaster

Birth

Date	23/11/1887	Place of Birth	Timaru, South Canterbury, New Zealand

Enlistment Information

Date	13 August 1914	Age	26
Address at Enlistment	Wai-iti Rd.Timaru, New Zealand
Occupation	Architect on own account
Previous Military Experience	Five years College Rifles, Christchurch, New Zealand; 8th Regiment, South Canterbury Mounted Rifles.
Marital Status	SIngle
Next of Kin	Frederic William Marchant, Torquay, Devonshire, England; later updated to C/- Union Bank of Australia, 71 Cornhill, London
Religion	Anglican
Medical Information	Height 5 foot 8 inches. Weight 147 lbs. Fair complexion. Light brown eyes. Light Brown hair.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	Main Body
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	Canterbury Mounted Rifles
Date	16 October 1914
Transport	Tahiti or Athenic - Ship
Embarked From	Lyttelton, New Zealand	Destination	Suez, Egypt

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With	Canterbury Mounted Rifles

Military Awards

Campaigns	Egypt 1914-15, Egypt Expeditionary Force 1916, Gallipoli 1915
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		Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	31 December 1916	Age	29
Place of Death	Egypt
Cause	Died of wounds
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Kantara War Memorial Cemetery, Egpyt
Memorial Reference	C. 36
New Zealand Memorials	On Memorial wall, Timaru; Timaru Boys High School War Memorial Library plaque (as N Marchant); Memorial plaque, St Mary's Church, Timaru (as N Marchant)

Biographical Notes

Son of Sara and Frederic William Marchant, brother of Eric Lachlan, Ruth and Kate Winnifred.

Marchant was found, by a Court of Enquiry, to have died of self-inflicted wounds on 31 December 1916, while temporarily insane. The tragic story is detailed further in "WW1 No. 7/89 Captain (and Quartermaster) Norman Marchant died of wounds" at https://sites.rootsweb.com/~nzlscant/Marchant.htm

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Cenotaph Database (Oct 2013); Archway(Oct 2013); CWGC (Oct 2013); NZ War Graves (Oct 2013); NZ BDM 1887/12178; Probate available from Archives New Zealand online at https://ndhadeliver.natlib.govt.nz/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE66251487; SCRoll web submission by A Evans, 13 May 2023; SCRoll web submission by M Smith, 27 October 2024

External Links

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Currently Assigned to

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