Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

John McCullough, 464225 Canadian Forces, was born on 1 July 1883 at Timaru, the eldest son of John and Mary Ann (née Baird) McCullough, of Timaru. He was educated at Timaru Main School, leaving at age 14 to go out to work. Was John the J. McCullough (Timaru) selected to represent the combined presidents football fifteen against Star II on the Caledonian Grounds in the afternoon of 11 August 1904? In October 1914 John McCullough arrived at Eastport, Idaho, United States. He was 31 years old, born in New Zealand, residing at Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, and gave as his next-of-kin his father John McCullough, of Timaru. He was, however, debarred from entering the USA. John had lived in Timaru until 1914, when he went “to try his fortune in Canada” and there he was when the war broke out.

John McCullough enlisted on 1 September 1915 at Vernon, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,for duration of war; a 32 year old moulder. He was 5 feet 8 inches tall and had a chest measurement of 35-38 inches, as per the medical examination conducted on 11 March 1916 at Vancouver. He was single, Presbyterian, and had had no previous military service. John named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs Mary McCullough, Regent Street, Timaru, South Canterbury, New Zealand. 464225 Private John McCullough embarked at Halifax per SS Baltic, on 1 April 1916, and arrived in England on 10 April 1916. Attached to the 62nd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, he was transferred to the 47th Battalion on 12 May 1916 at Bramshott, Hampshire, England. Proceeding from England for France on 10 August 1916, he arrived at Le Havre the next day. From then he received regular payments of Field Allowance. All his service was to be in France.

On 29 November 1916 Private John McCullough was reported missing after Action in the Field on 11 November 1916. On 23 December 1916 it was reported that he had been killed in action on 11 November 1916 – on night of 10/11 November 1916 during the attack and capture of Regina Trench, Courcelette. He met his death after only four months on the French front. His death was confirmed on 1 January 1917. It was not until February 1917 that Mr and Mrs John McCullough received the news through the Canadian Record Office, London. Letters of sympathy were sent by the Minister of Militia and Defence of Canada and by the Secretary of State for war. The official report was received on 13 March 1917. John McCullough junior was 33 years old.

His name is inscribed on the Vimy Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. At the base of the memorial, these words appear in French and in English: TO THE VALOUR OF THEIR COUNTRYMEN IN THE GREAT WAR AND IN MEMORY OF THEIR SIXTY THOUSAND DEAD THIS MONUMENT IS RAISED BY THE PEOPLE OF CANADA

Inscribed on the ramparts of the Vimy memorial are the names of over 11,000 Canadian soldiers who were posted as ‘missing, presumed dead’ in France. His name is inscribed on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial (Veterans Affairs Canada) - “In memory of Private John McCullough who died on November 11, 1916”, and it is recorded in the Canadian First World War Book of Remembrance (page 123), which is displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa.

The scroll was despatched on 2 February 1921 and the plaque on 11 August 1922, to his parents, John and Mary McCullough, Regent Street, Timaru. The Memorial Cross was despatched on 11 August 1920 to his mother. By the 1920s John and Mary Ann McCullough had moved to 72 Church Street West, Timaru. John McCullough, 464225, Private, 47th Battalion, made a Military Will in his Pay Book on 25 May 1916 – “I leave everything I possess to my mother Merry [sic] McCullough Timaru South Canterbury New Zealand”. His youngest brother David James McCullough served in World War I with the New Zealand Forces; his brother William McCullough was recorded on the 1916-1917 Reserve Roll and was called up in 1917.

Sources

Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force - Attestation Paper (Archives Canada, per ancestry.) [10 September 2013]; Canadian Expeditionary Force Service File (Canadian Archives) [2018]; CWGC [27 August 2013]; Canadian Great War Project [06 September 2013]; Canada War Graves Registers - Circumstances of Casualty (ancestry.com.au) [03 November 2013]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [2013]; School Admission records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [2013]; The Canadian Virtual War Memorial - Veterans Affairs Canada [06 September 2013]; NZ BDM historical records; New Zealand Wargraves Project [10 September 2013]; Timaru Herald, 10 August 1904, 12 February 1917 (Papers Past) [9 August 2016; 21 October 2018]

External Links

Related Documents

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Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

TS