Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Charles Tennant, born on 1 September 1894 at Timaru, was the fourth son of George Tennant and his wife, Annie Wallace née Cochrane. George and Annie married in 1882 at Waimate, where Scottish-born George was the first County clerk. George was also a member of the Waimate Knox Church choir. In the mid 1880s the family moved to Timaru. Young Charles was educated at Waimataitai School and Timaru Boys’ High School, gaining recognition at both. He received a prize in the Infants Class III in 1900 at Waimataitai, and in 1907 he gained his proficiency certificate. At the Timaru High School he demonstrated his prowess in sports – second place in the 1909 junior steeplechase, run over a two-mile course. Just a few days after, he tied for first place in the junior high jump at the school’s annual sports. From high school, Charles went to Dunedin, where he served his apprenticeship with the Union Steam Ship Company at the Port Chalmers works, and studied at the Dunedin Technical classes. He went to sea on 1 June 1915, as eighth engineer of a special service steamer. “He was a promising young engineer, and was promoted through the various grades to fourth engineer, which position he held up to the time of his untimely death.” [Evening Star. 23 September 1918]

In July 1917, he was in Wellington when he was drawn in the ninth military ballot for the 33rd Reinforcements and was called up. He was a marine engineer in the service of the Union Steam Ship Company Ltd, the local manager of which lodged an appeal on behalf of Charles and several other employees. In each case an adjournment sine die was granted, providing the men remained in their current employment. In November he signed on and joined the “Mararoa” as fourth engineer, a position which he relinquished in April 1918. The troopship “Tahiti” sailed from New Zealand for England on 10 July 1918, carrying the 40th Reinforcements. Charles Tennant, fourth engineer, was a crew member on this sailing of the “Tahiti’.

Charles Tennant died of influenza on 5 September 1918, at sea on board the troopship “Tahiti” (H.M. Troopship 107), en route to England. He was 24 years old. Charles, along with many others – servicemen and crew members, was buried at sea. Influenza disastrously ravaged the troopship from August 1918, as it was on its way to the front. Sir James Allen reported, on 17 September, that as a result of an outbreak of influenza on a transport conveying the 40th Reinforcements, 65 deaths occurred at sea and nine after landing. There was also a considerable number still sick. The deaths were due to an epidemic of influenza with pneumonia and acute bronchitis. He greatly regretted the deaths and expressed his deep sympathy with the next-of-kin. In addition to the deaths on the troopship, as announced by the Defence authorities, six of the ship’s crew succumbed to the malady, among them C. Tennant, fourth engineer, Timaru. Thus the total number of deaths among the New Zealanders was 80 at 17 September. The draft was in good health until after leaving a port of call far from New Zealand. Other transports in the same convoy were similarly affected. Other forces had suffered severely in the same way at various times, but New Zealand had escaped up till this time. Charles Tennant and some 69 others had contracted influenza at Sierra Leone on 26 August 1918.

The Court of Enquiry, held in England, reported that the disease was purulent bronchitis; that the infection occurred at --- (the last port of call before the ship reached her destination, and a port at which the troops did not land); that the high mortality rate was caused by bad ventilation. The steps taken to cope with the epidemic were successful, in view of the fact that it was under complete control within ten days. All possible steps were taken, and the steps taken were effective. The SS “Tahiti”, built in Scotland in 1904, entered service as a troopship at the start of the First World War. The troops – and the support staff and ship’s crew - aboard the “Tahiti” in July 1918 were some of the first New Zealanders known to suffer from the influenza infection. Although those onboard were not allowed to disembark at Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, on 22 August 1918, as Freetown had just become infected, local workers supplied the ship as she waited in harbour. The captain and wireless man, who attended a meeting on board the infected HMS “Mantua” which was believed to have brought the influenza from London to Freetown, probably brought the infection to the “Tahiti”. In convoy for Plymouth, England, the “Tahiti” left Freetown on 26 August, the day when the first cases of influenza reported to the ship’s hospital. Three days later more than 800 (of the 1217 onboard) were sick with influenza. Eventually about 90% became ill with influenza. The burials at sea began almost immediately. The “Tahiti” reached Plymouth on 10 September 1918.

The disaster was the “first tragic break in the wonderful record of good fortune that has attended the steady transportation of 100,000 New Zealand soldiers to the war zone.” [Evening Star. 18 September 1918] “The men of the 40th Reinforcements who fell to an intangible enemy . . . . . gave their lives for their country, their Empire, and their Flag.” And so did the six seamen. “Timaru, September 28. Much sympathy is felt for Mr George Tennant and family on the death of his son Charles, who died at sea on the transport which had the influenza epidemic.” [Otago Witness. 2 October 1918].

Charles Tennant died intestate and single, his next-of-kin at death being his father. As he had property in New Zealand, the Public Trustee was empowered to administer his estate. A notice in the Otago Daily Times of 17 May 1919 called for claims against his estate. His mother had died in February 1912, his father remarrying in 1915. Mr George Tennant sold his substantial property “Whitfield” in Wai-iti Road in 1919 and lived in Orbell Street until his death in August 1928, having retired as a director of Evan’s Flourmilling Company a few months earlier. It was September 1919 when George Tennant made a donation to the War Memorial fund.

At the September 1918 meeting of the South Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, a motion of sympathy was passed with Mr George Tennant on the death of his son at sea. The headmaster of Waimataitai School, in his report to the school committee in September 1918, noted that Mr Charles Tennant, another old Waimataitai boy, had died on the voyage to the front. The Rector of the Boys’ High School, in his report to the Board in October 1918, noted that seven old boys had given their lives for the Empire since the previous meeting, one of them being Engineer C. Tennant. The board passed by silent vote a motion of sympathy with the relatives of the old boys who had been killed at the War.

His oldest brother, William George Tennant, was called up, and another older brother, Alexander Bruce Tennant, was listed on the Reserve Roll, being a married man with two children. Alexander met a tragic death when he fell and suffered a fractured skull in July 1925 at Invercargill. Brother John (Jack) Tennant served with the New Zealand Forces, as did the youngest of the family, James (Jim) Wallace Tennant, who was awarded the Military Medal in 1917 and returned home in September 1918, having been seriously wounded in France. Jack wrote a most interesting letter in 1915, recounting the experiences of men and horses in Egypt. Their cousin John Alexander Cochrane died of wounds in 1915 at Gallipoli; other cousins - John (Jack) Cochrane, James Cochrane and David Cochrane - served in World War I.

Charles Tennant’s name is inscribed on the Timaru Memorial Wall, the Waimataitai School Memorial, and the Timaru Boys’ High School Memorial. A marble tablet which had been erected on the façade of Waimataitai School in a commanding position was unveiled by the Mayor of Timaru, in the presence of a large gathering of past and present pupils, relatives of ex-pupils of the school who gave their lives in war, and others, on 31 January 1922. The chairman of the Canterbury Education Board told those gathered that the soldiers had died in order that others might live and they had made the greatest sacrifice possible in giving their lives for humanity. The impressive ceremony closed with “The Last Post” and a verse of the National Anthem. Inscribed on the tablet are the words - “For King and Country, In memory of ex-pupils of the Waimataitai School who gave their lives in the great war 1914-1918”, followed by the names of 33 fallen. The name of C. Tennant was not initially among them, his being one of three added at some later date. His Excellency the Governor-General, Viscount Jellicoe, opened the Timaru Boys' High School Memorial Library on 21 March 1924. Included in the names above the inscription “Their name liveth for evermore.” on the roll of honour is C, Tennant. After the formal opening, the "Last Post" and "Reveille" and one minute's silence followed, and the hymn, "O God, Our Help in Ages Past", was sung. Three hundred boys went from the school and 52 did not return. From that date boys have looked with pride at the tablets housed in such a fine building. It was believed to be the only memorial of its kind in the country. C. Tennant is recorded on the Merchant Marine Roll of Honour. And he is remembered on his parents’ headstone in the Timaru Cemetery – “Also to their son Charles who died on Troopship Tahiti Sept 5th 1918 aged 24 yrs.”

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [01 November 2019]; NZBDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [04 January 2017]; Timaru Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [05 January 2017]; Lyttelton Times, 27 April 1883, South Canterbury Times, 13 December 1900, Timaru Herald, 14 December 1900, 20 December 1907, 17 & 19 March 1909, 8 February 1912, 18 May 1915, 21 June 1915, 16, 18 [x 2] & 25 September 1918, 20 October 1918, 9 July 1919, 15 September 1919, Dominion, 4 July 1917, New Zealand Times, 4 July 1917, 7 November 1917, Evening Post, 1 August 1917, Evening Star, 9 November 1917, 5 April 1918, 18 [x 2] & 23 September 1918, Taranaki Herald, 18 September 1918, Waimate Daily Advertiser, 18 September 1918, Sun, 18 September 1918, Press, 24 & 27 September 1918, 21 December 1923, 21 March 1924, 28 July 1925, 17 & 30 August 1928, Otago Witness, 2 October 1918, Temuka Leader, 24 October 1918, 22 March 1924, 21 August 1928, Otago Daily Times, 17 May 1919, Ashburton Guardian, 27 July 1925 (Papers Past) [09 August 2015; 09 September 2016; 07 February 2018; 27 & 30 October 2019; 02 November 2019]; School Admission records (South Canterbury & Dunedin branches NZSG) [05 January 2017; 27 October 2019]; Probate record (Archives NZ/Family Search) [27 October 2019]; Timaru Herald, 1922 (Timaru District Library) [19 April 2018]; WW100 [01 November 2019]; Merchant Marine Roll of Honour (https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/merchant-marine/roll-of-honour) [02 November 2019]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available.

No documents available.

Researched and Written by

Currently Assigned to

TS