STRACHEY, Claude Otto
(Service number 1294)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank | Private |
|---|
Birth
| Date | Unknown | Place of Birth | Christchurch |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 3 December 1914 | Age | 26 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Fiji | ||
| Occupation | Clerk | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | single | ||
| Next of Kin | M Strachey, 148 Worcester Street, West Christchurch, NZ | ||
Military Service
| Served with | Australian Imperial Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | Australian Infantry AIF | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 1st Battalion, 2nd reinforcement | ||
| Date | 11 February 1915 | ||
| Transport | Seang Bee | ||
| Embarked From | Sydney, Australia | Destination | Alexandria, Egypt |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | Australian Infantry AIF | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | Gallipoli | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal | ||
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 |
Death
| Date | 2 May 1915 | Age | 27 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Gallipoli, Turkey | ||
| Cause | killed in action | ||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | On Memorial wall, Timaru; Waimataitai School War Memorial | ||
Biographical Notes
Son of Claude Mainwaring and Emily Chisholm Mackintosh Strachey (nee Macpherson) of Christchurch NZ. Strachey‘s family had lived in Timaru before leaving to live in Christchurch in 1909. Claude was working in the Colonial Office in Fiji when war was declared. Eager to enlist, he travelled to Australia and joined the Australian Imperial Force (AIF). He sailed to Egypt in February 1915, going on to the Dardenelles in April 1915. He was reported missing on 2 May 1915 but was not confirmed dead until January 1916. His father had written to the army and was told that the prisoner lists had been checked and Otto was not on the list. A court of enquiry in January 1916 had a witness said that Otto was wounded an hour after landing at Anzac. A shrapnel shell had burst and about 12 people were wounded, including Otto. The witness saw him fall and later saw him lying on the beach. Did not see him again but believed he was badly wounded.
Otto has no known grave and his father again wrote to the army in 1926 to ask if his body had ever been found - the reply was no. Claude’s brothers Richard Clive Strachey (no.39115) died on 4 August 1917 in France, while Ewen Macpherson Strachey (no.6/1991) survived the war.
Sources
Australian war record, Australian Archives, https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au ; Paperspast http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/ ; Births, Deaths & Marriages online www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz
External Links
Related Documents
- The Sun, 6 October 1915 - C O Strachey (pdf, 403.2 KB updated 05-Dec-2014)
- Mountainview High School Roll of Honour (pdf, 809.5 KB updated 13-May-2016)
Researched and Written by
Liz Shea, SC branch NZSG
Currently Assigned to
Not assigned.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.