Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Michael Francis Enright was born on 2 March 1880 at Gibbston, near Arrowtown, Central Otago. He was the second son of Irish born Daniel and Maria (née Moran) Enright. Daniel had come to New Zealand from Shanagolden, County Limerick, Ireland, with relatives in 1868. Settling in the Arrowtown district, he married Maria there in 1873. They had four daughters and three sons born at Arrowtown, the eldest son, Patrick James Enright, dying in 1882 at the age of six. Michael’s early education was at St Patrick’s School, Arrowtown. There he received a prize in 1891 for 5th class arithmetic and for catechism and christian doctrine. Bishop Moran, in examining the school on 10 December 1891, congratulated the teacher “on her excellent and painstaking teaching as evidenced in the children's examination. The answering in the three R's, history and grammar would do credit to far more pretentious schools; and he was glad to know that the discipline and moral culture of the scholars was on a par with their proficiency in secular subjects.” In 1894 when the family moved south, Daniel Enright taking a position as publican at Riversdale, Michael and his younger siblings transferred to Riversdale School. The family spent almost nine months in Dunedin in 1897-1898, by which time Michael would have finished his schooling, followed by a year or so at Palmerston and time in Invercargill. About 1903 Daniel and Mary, with some of their family, moved to Temuka where Daniel was a hotelkeeper until retirement after Mary’s death in Temuka, in August 1923 and was buried in Christchurch.

Meanwhile Michael had become an engineer in Dunedin with Messrs Schlaadt Bros' just after the turn of the century, then working as a dredgeman at Waipori for a few years. Michael Francis Enright was issued with a Certificate of Competency for First-Class Stationary Drivers in 1903 and again in 1904. On 4 May 1903, Mr Michael Enright who was leaving the Schlaadt Bros’ engineering works to take a position on a dredge, was presented with a gold-mounted greenstone pendant as a token of esteem. Mr Enright suitably responded to the presentation which was made on behalf of the employees. For the year ending 31 March 1905, Michael Francis Enright was issued with a Certificate of Competency as a Third-Class Engineer (Return of Masters, Mates & Engineers). From about 1908 till 1916, Mr M. F. Enright, a New Zealander, was living in Malaya, where he was in charge of a gold dredging company some miles inland from the city of Singapore. On a visit to Hawera in June 1916, he spoke with the local newspaper representative - Mr. Enright said that although the climate was in many cases bad for Europeans, he had suffered practically no ill effects during the whole time he had been in the island. He liked the life, and, as was the case with so many Britons who go as pioneers to outlying colonies and dependencies all over the globe, he had come to have a love for the East, and had no wish to leave the country. ... It is wise never to sleep out of doors, and always to use mosquito nets. The industries in which Europeans are most interested are rubber-growing and gold-mining—reef and dredging. . . . . . . The forests in the interior are full of wild beasts. “Indeed,” said Mr Enright, “tigers are almost as common there as rabbits in New Zealand, and no restriction is put on killing them.” ...Orchids of rare and beautiful kinds may be secured if anyone has the time and the inclination to go in and collect them. “Altogether,” Mr Enright said in conclusion, “the life has a fascination about it which grips anyone who has been in the country long enough to become acclimatised. It is a good thing to get away for a spell, but we are all pleased to go back again.”

On 19 September 1916 at Christchurch, Michael F. Enright, of Temuka, dredge-master and single, registered for active service. He enlisted on 10 November 1916 as a motor mechanic. A dozen members of the Temuka Patriotic Entertainment Committee met at the Royal Hotel in the morning of 13 November 1916, to bid good-bye to Mr M. Enright, who was leaving for the Old Country in a few days, to take up a position as a motor mechanic in a patrol boat. He was going away from New Zealand to the North Sea. “Mr T. Gunnion who occupied the chair, said Temuka had sent away a number of its boys to fight for the Empire on land, but this was the first one to leave to fight on the sea.” He presented Mr Enright with a wristlet watch and a cased pipe, with the hope that he would live long to wear the watch and smoke the pipe. After speeches, the health of Mr Enright and his parents was drunk. Michael Enright named his father as next-of-kin – D. Enright, Hornbrook Street, Temuka, Canterbury, New Zealand. Chief Motor Mechanic M. F. Enright embarked at Wellington for Devonport, England, per the “Tahiti” on 15 November 1916. He was going to serve with the Royal Naval Auxiliary Patrol, Motor Boat Service. The name Michael Francis Enright, first motor mechanic, was recorded in the Temuka Leader’s Active Service List, under the sub-heading ‘Motor Patrol Service’ on 10 March 1917. At the committee meeting of the Temuka Branch of the Navy League in July 1917, it was noted that letters were received from chief motor mechanic Enright and Seamen Hopkins and Pilbrow, acknowledging receipt of gift of one guinea each, donated by the League. “Enright, who is serving with the Motor Boat Patrol, in his letter made reassuring remarks on the work the Navy is doing generally, and its ability to counteract every fresh device of the Huns.”

M.B.1827 M F Enright served as Chief Motor Mechanic with the RVNR [Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve] in World War One. He served on “Hermione” (twice – 10 November 1916 – 16 April 1917, 8 February 1919 – 27 July 1919), “Thalia” (twice – 17 September 1917 – 8 January 1918, 2 April 1918 – 7 February 1919) and “Lera Lera” (9 January 1918 – 1 April 1918), and at the Royal Naval College. M. Enright (C.M.M.) and many other Naval ratings were nominated by the Ministry of Shipping for return to New Zealand by the “Tofua” in 1919. In mid May 1919 the Defence Department advised that a number of Naval ratings was returning by the Tofua; among them was M. F. Enright, Temuka. The “Tofua” was due at Port Chalmers on 27 May 1919. The Temuka/Geraldine/Winchester men were expected to reach home on the evening of 29 May, coming by special troop train. A day’s delay occurred when the “Tofua” had a grounding mishap going up the Dunedin harbour to Dunedin; further delays occurred through the train having to make unscheduled stops. After a tedious wait, however, the locals turned out in force – as they had been asked to do - to welcome several of their own, including Chief Motor Mechanic Enright. The cheers of the crowd and the playing of the band compensated for the cold night. Because of the lateness of the hour, the public welcome took place at the railway station. The Mayor thanked the men for their services and assured them that their friends were very proud of them. Mr Charles Talbot, M.P., congratulated the men on their safe return with victory. “They were going into civilian life again, and if they were as honourable and as manly as they were in their soldiers’ life they will get happiness and prosperity, and our little country will laugh and sing from one end of it to the other.” Councillor T. Sheen mentioned that his “father was a sailor, and when he (the speaker) was a boy he used to tell him about the Germans of 60 years ago, and they were much the same as now. They had a representative of the British Navy among the men whom they were welcoming — (cheers) - and he and the others had come back conquering heroes, for they had finished the work.”

“Mr M. Enright, an old Arrowtown boy, paid visit to his relatives at Gibbston last week. Mr Enright, who is a son of Mr D. Enright, a former resident of this district, has recently returned to New Zealand after serving for about two years in the motor patrol service. Prior to going on service, he was engaged in dredging in the Malay States.” [Lake County Press. 26 June 1919.] A welcome social for another local had been held in the school at Gibbston, on 19 June. A hearty welcome was also extended to Rifleman D. Cosgrove and Engineer M. Enright, who during the war had seen considerable service in the Navy. (Denis Cosgrove and Michael Enright would have known each other well, and possibly had a family connection.) “Mr M. Enright, an old Arrowtown boy, paid visit to his relatives at Gibbston last week. Mr Enright, who is a son of Mr D. Enright, a former resident of this district, has recently returned to New Zealand after serving for about two years in the motor patrol service. Prior to going on service he was engaged in dredging in the Malay States.” [Lake County Press. 26 June 1919.] So, Michael Enright was at Temuka with his parents in 1919.

Michael Enright was 46 years old, a dredgemaster, and single, when he left Singapore and arrived at Fremantle, Western Australia per the “Gorgon” on 4 April 1926. He had been again residing in the Malay States and now intended to reside in Australia. He returned to the Malay States, however, perhaps to find his bride. Michael Francis Enright married Ellen Margaret Jessie Payne on 2 October 1927, at Baten-gogah, Malay States, where he was employed as a mining engineer. Daniel Francis Enright, the first of the five sons of Michael and Ellen, was born on 3 November 1928 at Batu Gajah, Perak, Malaysia. Four more sons were born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Certainly, Ellen was resident at Bankstown, NSW during the 1930s, and at times Michael. In late 1937, Mr M. F. Enright gave £10 in connection with the laying of the foundation stone for the new St Felix’s School at Bankstown, NSW. Michael's father, Daniel Enright, also died in October 1928 at Christchurch - and had signed his Will not two months before, in which he made a monetary bequest to his son Michael Francis Enright “at present residing in the Malay States”.

Michael Enright had not, however, been able to resist the lure of mining. In early November 1943, information was received from the New Zealand High Commissioner in London, through the International Red Cross delegate at Tokyo, concerning prisoners of war and interned civilians. Reported at Sumatra Camp was Michael Francis Enright, employee of London Tin Corporation, whose next-of-kin was Mrs M. F. Enright (wife), New South Wales. He was a civilian prisoner of war of the Japanese in various camps in the East Indies from 12 February 1942 until 14 June 1944. He had been captured while on a vessel leaving Singapore. In his diary he wrote of illness among the civilian prisoners, of hearing rumours about the war, of attending mass, of poor quality and quantity of food, of the poor treatment of prisoners by Japanese soldiers.

Michael Francis Enright died on 1 July 1944, at Mantok, Banka Island, South Samatra, Malaysia (his address given as of 31 Sir Joseph Banks Street, Bankstown, New South Wales, Australia). Aged 64 years, he was buried in the Sumatra – Muntok Cemetery, Banka Island, East Indies. His death certificate was registered on 11 May 1946, the information provided by the Allied Military Authorities and the International Red Cross Committee. He was a dredgemaster at Kualalumpar. He is among the war dead remembered in St George’s Chapel in Westminister Abbey (CWGC Civilian). The Japanese army had invaded Malaya on 8 December 1941. It was a well planned and coordinated assault on the world. On that day, as the hours passed, Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, Manila, Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaya were bombed and the ‘Pacific’ War’ began. It was to last for nearly four years; hundreds of thousands died or were taken prisoner and for the survivors, life was altered forever. [The Palembang and Muntok Internees of WW2.] After the war the civilian dead of the infamous Muntok camp on Banka Island were removed from their shallow graves near the camp and reburied. A grave was completed at Kampong Menjelang in the 21st century with plaques bearing the names of the British and Australian internees who died in Muntock between 1944 and 1945, as their graves were not moved to Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries. One name inscribed on the plaques is Michael Francis Enright. In February 2014 at the Muntok Memorial Peace Museum, a plaque was dedicated by family members and the Malayan volunteers Group in loving memory of civilian men, women and children and Allied servicemen and women held captive at Muntok on Banka Island and in Palembang and Loeboek Linggau camps on Sumatra, from 1942 to 1945.

Michael was survived by his wife and five sons, the eldest born in the Malay States and the others in New South Wales. On Michael’s death in 1944, his widow, Ellen Margaret Enright was entitled to the UK World War One pension of Michael Francis Enright, MB1827, Chief motor Mechanic, Royal Navy. Ellen Margaret Enright remained at Bankstown until the 1950s when she moved to Curl Curl, then in the 1970s to Harbord. Their five sons – Daniel Francis, Kevin James, Brian Charles, Noel Desmond and Roger John – also remained in New South Wales, often in close proximity to their mother. Ellen Margaret Enright died on 5 January 1997 at Sydney. Administration (with Will) of the Estate (UK) of Michael Francis Enright who died 1 July 1944 at Kuala Lumpur was assigned to the Public Trustee of New South Wales. The value of his effects in England was £1391.17s.4d. It was in July 1949 that the Sydney Morning Herald and the Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales carried a notice concerning the estate of Michael Francis Enright – Re the Estate of Michael Francis Enright late of Bankstown in the State of New South Wales, Mining Engineer, deceased, Letters of Administration with the Will annexed granted by the Supreme Court of New South Wales 17th March 1949. Pursuant of the Wills, Probate and Administration Act, 1898-1940 (Testator’s Family Maintenance and Guardianship of Infants Act, 1916-1938, and Trustee Act, 1925-1942), the Public Trustee, the administrator, with the Will annexed of the Estate of the said Michael Francis Enright who died on 1st July 1944, hereby gives notice that Creditors and others having any claim against or to the Estate of the said deceased are required to send particulars of their claims to the said Public Trustee at . . . . , on or before 20th September 1949, at the expiration of which time the said Public Trustee will distribute the assets of the said deceased to the persons entitled having regard only to the claims of which he then has notice. On 17 March 1949, Letters of Administration with the Will annexed of Michael Francis Enright were granted to the Public Trustee of New South Wales, the Public Trustee of New Zealand having renounced Probate. (Michael) Francis Enright, dredge master of Wyndham, Southland, New Zealand, had signed said Will on 26 July 1933 at Christchurch. He permitted his wife, Ellen Margaret Enright, the free use and income and enjoyment of his residuary estate, and should the income from such be insufficient for the maintenance and support of his wife and children, further payment may be made from capital. After the death of the survivor of his wife and himself, their children would be the beneficiaries in equal shares. These Letters of Administration were resealed in the Supreme court at Invercargill on 25 June 1952.

A cousin, Timothy Enright, of Cardrona, also served in World War One. Charles Christopher Dunford, who had married Catherine Elizabeth Enright (died 1912), a sister of Michael Francis Enright, served in World War One. Later. a nephew of Michael, Leo Daniel Enright, was killed on air operations in December 1942 in World War Two; another nephew, William James Enright was also taken prisoner of war. Pilot Officer Vernon Enright Spain who was killed in February 1943 on Active Service; Gerald Griffin Enright, Gerald Peter Enright (cousin) and Kathleen Enright (sister of Leo) who all served in World War Two, were also relatives.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [20 October 2014; 20 August 2019]; CWGC [08 August 2015]; Lake Wakatip Mail, 8 January 1892, Evening Star, 4 May 1903, 9 November 1943, Otago Daily Times, 5 May 1903, 9 November 1943, Otago Witness, 6 May 1903, Hawera & Normanby Star, 22 June 1916, Press, 20 September 1916, 15 November 1916, 9 November 1943, Timaru Herald, 16 November 1916, 30 July 1917, 30 May 1919, 9 November 1943, Lyttelton Times, 15 November 1916, 21 May 1919, Temuka Leader, 10 March 1917, 29 & 31 May 1919, Evening Post, 16 May 1919, 9 November 1943, Star, 17 May 1919, Auckland Star, 19 May 1919, 9 November 1943, Lake County Press, 26 June 1919 [x 2], Gisborne Herald, 9 November 1943 (Papers Past) [20 October 2014; 08 August 2015; 01 January 2016; 05 October 2016; 26 & 27 May 2019; 12 August 2019; 12, 13 & 14 August 2021; 24 July 2022]; personal family history (T. Scott); NZ BDM Indexes; School Admission records (Southland & Dunedin branches NZSG) [20 October 2014]; NZ & Australia Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [20 October 2014; 03 August 2024]; Australia Shipping Passenger Lists (ancestry.com.au) [08 August 2015]; New South Wales, Australia – Index to Deceased Estates (ancestry.com.au) [08 August 2015); England & Wales Probate Calendar (per ancestry.com.au) [08 August 2015]; The lost graves of Muntok (https://tenkotv.com/lost-graves-of-muntok) [05 June 2016]; The Palembang and Muntok Internees of WW2 (http://muntockpeacemuseum.org/) 05 June 2016; Probate record (Archives NZ/FamilySearch) [12 June 2017]; Victoria, Australia – Wills & Probate Records; Great Britain – Select Deaths & Burials; UK WWI Pension Ledgers; UK, Foreign and Overseas Registers of British Subjects – Register of Deaths (per ancestry.com.au) [29 September 2019]; Australia Passenger Lists (ancestry.com.au) [29 September 2019]; UK, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Service Records (The National Archives - reference ADM 337/97/821) [14 August 2021]; The Catholic Press, Sydney, 23 December 1937, The Sydney Morning Herald, 8 July 1949, Government Gazette of the State of New South Wales, 15 July 1949, The Argus, Melbourne, 7 September 1949 (Trove) [31 July 2024]; Australian War Memorial (https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C2664169) [31 July 2024]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

• ENRIGHT Michael Francis - newspaper clippings (pdf, 95.3 KB updated 24-Sep-2024)

Researched and Written by

Currently Assigned to

TS