Profile

McGRATH, William
(Service number 7/80)

1st Contingent 8th S.C.M.R. to leave Waimate for the 1914-1918 War — Pictured are:
Back: Rainey, G; Frost, R; Julian, W; Cochrane, John; Tennant, John; Cochrane, James; Nichol N; Cameron, C; Robins; Rickman, E A; ?
3rd R: McKenzie, J (alexander John); Duggan, M; Tobin ,J; Tavendale, W; Campbell, J; Gynes; Hodgson, J; McKenzie, R S (Percy?); Samuels, H [actually Henry Samuel Miniss]; Copland; Fitzharris, P; Gill, J
2nd R: Fraser; Whitta, J H; Carr, J; Manchester, A R; Wain, P J; Finlay, John; Bailey, G C; Sloan, P; Bell, N; Menzies, W; Spencer, E; Ryan, E
Front: McGrath, W; Keane, T; Wall, T; Hunt; ?; Hogan, H (Courtesy of Waimate Museum & Archives, P2183 )

Aliases
First Rank	Trooper; Trooper	Last Rank

Birth

Date	28/04/1887	Place of Birth	Waimate

Enlistment Information

Date	15 August 1914	Age	27
Address at Enlistment	Studholme Junction, New Zealand; Unknown
Occupation	Unknown; Farmer
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	Single; Unknown marital status
Next of Kin	J. McGrath (father), Studholme Junction, New Zealand; J. McGrath (father), Studholme Junction, New Zealand
Religion	Roman Catholic
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	Main Body; New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	Canterbury Mounted Rifles; 11th Reinforcements Canterbury Mounted Rifles, C Squadron
Date	16 October 1914; 1 April 1916
Transport	Tahiti or Athenic; Maunganui or Tahiti
Embarked From	Lyttelton, Canterbury, New Zealand; Wellington, New Zealand	Destination	Suez, Egypt; Suez, Egypt

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

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	26 June 1917	Reason	No longer physically fit

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Invalided from the Dardenelles in August 1915 with Enteritis and sent home to New Zealand on the Tofu, 23 September 1915. Returned but recieved gun shot wound on 16 September 1916 and sent back to New Zealand on 18 March 1917

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	26 March 1951	Age	64
Place of Death	Waimate
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Waimate Cemetery
Memorial Reference	Plot 377
New Zealand Memorials	St Patrick's (Waimate) Memorial list (June 2015)

Biographical Notes

William was the son of James and Julia McGrath.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph database (May 2015); Archives New Zealand; New Zealand BDM Historical Records online; Waimate Cemetery records

External Links

Researched and Written by

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

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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