Profile

WEST, Charles Edward
(Service number 7/767)

Aliases
First Rank Trooper Last Rank

Birth

Date Unknown Place of Birth

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment
Occupation
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Married
Next of Kin Mrs M. West (wife), Public Library, Fairlie, New Zealand
Religion
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation 2nd Reinforcements
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Canterbury Mounted Rifles
Date 14 December 1914
Transport Verdala or Willochra or Knight of the Garter
Embarked From Wellington, New Zealand Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals Gallipoli Medallion
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 11 November 1917 Reason No longer physically fit for war service

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Haemorrhoids. Admitted and operated on at Etaples in August 1916 - records states that after the operation he lost control of the sphincter. Classified C Class by the Medical Board, returning to NZ on the 'Tofua' which embarked from Devonport on 15 Aug. 1917.

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date Age
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Charles West He was born 27 November 1875 in Timaru. He was a self-employed builder from a family with a tradition of service. Charles’ father, Daniel, was in the Timaru City Rifles. Charles himself served in the South Canterbury Mounted Rifles before joining the 2nd Contingent for the South African War which left on 20 January 1900. Charles served as a gunner for a Hotchkiss platoon (a type of machine gun) and was discharged in 1902. At the time of his enlistment for the South African War he was employed as a carpenter for P. Foster of Timaru, who had the contract for the Fairlie library.

Charles married Mary Letita Bagg on 7th April 1906 in Dunedin. She was the Mackenzie County librarian and they lived in the flat upstairs above the library in Fairlie. Charles attested for service in World War One in Timaru on 2 October 1914, joining the Canterbury Mounted Rifles, commencing duty with the 2nd Reinforcements on 20 October, and embarking from New Zealand on 14 December 1914. His enlistment address was “Public Library, Fairlie” (after the war his service record was given as “Box 4, Fairlie”. He was in the Egyptian Theatre in 1915-1916, including Gallipoli where he was wounded in action. He was wounded in the left arm on 16 August 1915. He went on to embark for France 8 April 1916 where he was attached to 2 ANZAC Headquarters. After suffering from Haemorrhoids he was admitted and operated on (unsuccessfully) at Etaples in August 1916. He was discharged 11-11-1917, no longer physically fit for war service. He had spent 2 years and 304 days overseas. Charles received a welcome home from the citizens of Fairlie, along with Corporal McDonald in 1917. He worked in the district, building the changing rooms at the public swimming pool on School Rd. However he was divorced in 1922 and later, in 1928,remarried to Ethel Maud Smith. He is buried in Timaru.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database (21 January 2015); SCRoll web submission by John Shears, 7 December 2014

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Tony Rippin (South Canterbury Museum)

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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