Profile

O'CONNOR, Timothy
(Service number 10/208)

Aliases
First Rank	Private	Last Rank	Sergeant

Birth

Date	16/10/1882	Place of Birth	Fairlie

Enlistment Information

Date	17 September 1914	Age	31 yrs 10 mths
Address at Enlistment	Longburn
Occupation	Railway surfaceman
Previous Military Experience	Dannevirke Volunteers. Resigned
Marital Status	Single. Married Ida Lavinia GWYNETT (Gwen), on 23 November 1918, at Stroud, Gloucestershire, England.
Next of Kin	Mr and Mrs B. O'CONNOR, 31 Raymond Street, Timaru. Later Mrs I. L. O'CONNOR (wife), c/o G.P.O., Torquay
Religion	Roman Catholic
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 11 inches. Weight 160 lbs. Chest measurement 35-37 inches. Complexion fair. Eyes blue. Hair fair.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

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

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns	Gallipoli; Western Europe
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 September 1919	Reason	No longer physically fit for War Service on account of illness contracted on Active Service (sciatica; varicose veins).

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Wounded 8 August 1915

Post-war Occupations

Farmer

Death

Date	11 November 1955	Age	73 yrs
Place of Death	Hastings (Havelock North)
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Havelock North Cemetery
Memorial Reference	Block G, Plot 441
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Timothy O'CONNOR was the son of Bernard and Mary O'CONNOR, of Fairlie and Timaru. He was educated at Fairlie School. He married Ida Lavinia in 1918 in England. From enlistment on 17 August 1914 until discharge on 26 September 1919, Timothy gave a total of 5 years and 41 days of service, all but 204 days overseas. In October 1918 he was classified "C" Class by N.Z.E.F. On 19 March 1919 he embarked from Plymouth for New Zealand. Standing Medical Board. On his return to New Zealand he settled with his English-born wife initially at Longridge, Porangahau. Some time after his return, his wife was advised that Timothy, who was receiving treatment at the Orthopaedic Hospital, Trentham, would receive every care and attention, and that 'nothing that medical science can do for him will be left undone'. He was authorized to receive treatment as an inpatient at the Hanmer Hospital from 2 August 1922 until he was discharged by the Mediical Superintendent. So it seems that he suffered ill effects from his long service. Timothy left a brief statement in the form of a Will with his Attestation forms [unreadable]. He married Ida Lavinia (Gwen) GWYNETT in 1918 in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. Their son John Desmond (Lofty) is buried with them in the Havelock North Cemetery.

Sources

Cenotaph Database [16 December 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5549 0087743) [04 July 2014];; FreeBDM indexes (England) [16 December 2013]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au); NZ Birth indexes (DIA historical records); Fairlie School Admission Record (South Canterbury Branch NZSG transcripts); Havelock Cemetery headstone image & burial record (Hastings District Council - online cemetery search) [12 December 2013]

External Links

Researched and Written by

Currently Assigned to

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