Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Charles Wesley Carbis was born on 30 September 1882 at Waimate, the third son of James Thomas and Mary Ann Stevens (née Beckerley) Carbis, who came from Cornwall. James Thomas and Mary Ann, who married in 1869 in their native Cornwall, England, emigrated in 1874 with two children, their little daughter dying on the ship. Four more children were born at Waimate. Mary Ann died in December 1886 and James Thomas in December1913, both buried at Waimate (Free Ground). After the death of Mary Ann, his wife and their children’s mother, James wanted to take his young family Home. In April 1887, the Waimate County Council, for whom James may have worked, recommended that the South Canterbury Charitable Aid Board assist in “paying his passage to the Old Country, as the cheapest and best way of dealing with this family.” At the Waimate County Council meeting in late June 1887, the following resolution was passed – “That this Council vote another £6 in addition to the £10 formerly proposed to be given, thus making this Council’s total contribution £16 towards Carbis’ and family’s passage home.” Quotations were obtained from shipping companies. Sadly, the youngest child, Richard Henry Carbis, died at sea in October 1897, about 12 months old. By 1890 James Thomas Carbis and family were back at Waimate. The eldest son, William James Carbis, made his way o the Taranaki area, from where he – “an old Waimate boy” - left for the South African War. Annie Jane Carbis, a sister of Charles, married Thomas Scott in 1903, and she is believed to be the next-of-kin for Charles, although she is recorded as his mother. Annie may have brought up Charles after their mother's death. When just a lad of nine years of age, Charles Carbis was charged in the Waimate Magistrate’s Court with larceny of a watch. He was convicted and ordered to come up for sentence when called on.

By 1908. Charles had left Waimate and joined his oldest brother, William, at Eltham. He was listed as a cheesemaker at Kaupokonui (Taranaki) on the 1916-1917 1st Division Reserve Rolls. His brothers, both married men with children, were listed on the 2nd Division Reserve Rolls – William James, a labourer at Mangatoki, and John Thomas, a slaughterman at Waimate. Charles Wesley Carbis enlisted on 15 October 1917 at Timaru and was medically examined the same day. He was 5 feet 4¾ inches tall, weighed 147 pounds, and had a chest measurement of 33-38 inches. His complexion was dark, his eyes and hair brown. His sight, hearing, colour vision, heart and lungs were all normal, his limbs and chest well formed. He was free from diseases, had suffered no illness or fits, was vaccinated and in good bodily and mental health - Class A. He had served with the Volunteers and had been rejected as unfit for the Military Forces following a medical examination at Waimate in January 1916. Charles was single and Methodist and now a well-borer for D. Osborne, Tokarahi, Oamaru, but gave his own address as Post Office, Fairlie.

C. W. Carbis was among the men who would form South Canterbury’s quota for the 35A Reinforcements and were to leave Timaru for camp on 12 November 1917. They were given a public social on the Bay on 8 November and a brief farewell at the Drill Shed before leaving. But C. W. Carbis and three comrades (one of whom had been with Charles in November 1917), who comprised the Waimate quota of the 36th Reinforcement draft, left on 4 February 1918 for camp. Private C. W. Carbis embarked with the 37th Reinforcements, departing from Wellington for Liverpool, England, per the “Maunganui” on 9 May 1918. He marched into Brocton on 24 June 1918. Soon after, he was admitted to hospital – the Military Hospital at Cannock Chase on 4 July 1918, with abdominal pain. He was transferred to Brocton Camp, not a severe case. Proceeding overseas to France on 24 August 1918, Rifleman Carbis marched into camp at Etaples and joined his Battalion on 29 August before joining from the Entrenching Group two days later. It was reported that he was wounded on 9 September 1918 �� gunshot wound to his left forearm with contusion and was admitted to No. 20 New Zealand Field Ambulance. Although he was improving by 14 September, he was admitted to the field ambulance, then to hospital again on 16 September with a stomach problem. Embarking by the “Formosa”, he was transferred to the New Zealand General Hospital at Brockenhurst on 23 September – floating kidney (slight).

Suffering from gastritis (pain after meals, vomiting), he underwent a laboratory examination on 19 October 1918 at Balmer Lawn Hospital (a satellite site of No. 1 NZ General Hospital at Brockenhurst). The medical report of 30 November 1918 noted debility following gastritis. His disability originated in New Zealand about nine years previously. He had had an accident and had had pain after meals ever since with occasional vomiting. His condition was aggravated by service during the war and food conditions. “He looks debilitated and older than his years.” He had lost 2 stones in weight since admission to the Field Ambulance. Hospitalised from 23 September 1918 till 19 December 1918, he was to return to New Zealand, three months hospitalisation recommended. C. W. Carbis embarked at Southampton on 19 December 1918, to return home to New Zealand on the hospital ship “Marama” (Draft 206), which was due at Auckland in late January 1919. He was discharged on 27 February 1919, no longer physically fit for war service. He was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory.

After the war, Charles settled at 36 Harris Street, Waimate and remained at Waimate till his death. C. Carbis was named among the men from whom the soldiers’ team to play the Hiwiroa Club (Waimate district) in June 1919 would be selected. In August he made a donation (5 shillings) to the Hiwiroa Football Club. At a meeting of the committee of the Waimate branch of the Returned Soldiers’ Association held in late March 1920, it was recorded that Mr Carbi, the caretaker, had resigned on account of his departure from Waimate. Was this Charles? In 1922 he presented to the Waimate Returned Soldiers’ Association a gold medal for a billiard tournament which was received with thanks. The tournament attracted forty-four entries and commenced in October.

C. Carbis was present at the annual general meeting of the Waimate Winter Show Society on 17 January 1923. In 1925 when Charles was a ranger with the Waimate Acclimatisation, he gave evidence as to discovering two youths who were caught fishing illegally. At the July 1926 meeting of the Council of the Waimate Acclimatisation Society, Mr Carbis was appointed permanent ranger. In September he reported that he had been to the Lake and Korkie’s Creek where the punts needed attention. In 1927 both Charles and his brother John were elected to the committee of the Waimate Winter Show Society. A few months later Charles was elected an honorary member of the Waimate Miniature Rifle Club. At the annual meeting of the Waimate Returned Soldiers’ Association in May 1928, the sum of 10 shillings was voted to Mr C. Carbis for assistance at the annual smoko. Mr C, Carbis, the armourer, was thanked for presenting a shield for the junior miniature aggregate to the Waimate Defence and Miniature Rifle Club, the shield being presented for the first time in November 1928. He was thanked for his valuable assistance in April 1929. The transfer of the billiard room licence to C. Carbis was granted by the Waimate Borough Council in February 1931. Mr Carbis himself represented the Returned Soldiers in a snooker match with the Citizens in October 1933.

Charles Carbis became a regular and valuable member of firing parties for funerals and Anzac Day commemorations. In this capacity he attended a military funeral for a returned soldier in March 1926; another military funeral for a Waimate-born returned soldier in April 1932; and yet another in June 1932, for an English man with a notable military record; a military funeral for the licensee of the Studholme Hotel in December 1932; a military funeral for a returned soldier with both pre-war and post-war links with South Canterbury; and a military funeral at the Waimate Cemetery for a Waihao Forks resident in January 1937. There he was in the procession and impressive ceremony on Anzac Day 1927; at the commemoration of the thirtieth anniversary of Anzac Day in 1928; at the 1932 Anzac Day celebrations; on a wintry Anzac Day in 1934.

Charles Wesley Carbis died suddenly on 22 November 1937 at Waimate, aged 55 years – “dearly loved youngest son of the late James Thomas and Mary Ann Carbis, late of Dobson Street, Waimate”. He was buried alongside his parents in the Waimate Old Cemetery, the funeral leaving from the residence of his brother-in-law, Mr Thomas Scott. His sister Annie and her husband Thomas Scott were also buried there, while his brother John Thomas was buried in the Lawn Cemetery. At the November meeting of the Waimate Acclimatisation Society’s Council, a motion of sympathy was passed with the relatives of the late Charles Carbis. A nephew of Charles, Albert Victor John Carbis, of Waimate, died of wounds in Italy in 1945. Two other nephews also served in World War Two – James Andrew Carbis and Harold Kitchener Carbis.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [05 August 2014]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5530 0022711) [17 June 2015]; NZ BDM records (Department of Internal Affairs) [05 August 2014]; Waimate Old Cemetery burial records (Waimate District Council) [05 August 2014]; Timaru Herald, 30 April 1887, 16 June 1887, 1 July 1887, 8 November 1917, 15 July 1918, 24 September 1918, 23 January 1919, 31 March 1920, 15 March 1926, 2 August 1926, 28 September 1926, 21 February 1927, 1 June 1928, 26 February 1931, 26 April 1932 [x 2], 14 June 1932, 3 January 1933, 14 October 1933, 26 April 1934, 30 November 1934, 6 January 1937, 27 November 1937, South Canterbury Times, 19 July 1892, Waimate Daily Advertiser, 12 April 1902, 1 February 1918, 23 January 1919, 13 June 1919, 27 August 1919, 1 April 1920, 12 July 1922, 28 August 1922, 2 October 1922, 18 January 1923, 17 November 1925, 13 March 1926, 26 April 1927, 26 April 1928, 29 November 1928, 26 April 1929, 4 May 1927, Press, 20 January 1919 (Papers Past) [05 August 2014; 30 June 2016; 22 October 2021; 22 September 2023]; Timaru Herald, 24 November 1937 (Timaru District Library) [28 January 2016]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [22 September 2023]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

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