Profile

WATSON, George Albert
(Service number 90084)

Aliases
First Rank	Private	Last Rank

Birth

Date	13/11/1886	Place of Birth	Timaru

Enlistment Information

Date	11 September 1917	Age	30 years 10 months
Address at Enlistment	Pleasant Point
Occupation	Coal merchant
Previous Military Experience	Volunteers - discharged at own request.
Marital Status	Married Margaret May McGILL in 1916 at Pleasant Point. Son William Leonard WATSON born at Pleasant Point.
Next of Kin	Mrs Margaret May WATSON (wife), George Street, Pleasant Point
Religion	Church of England
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 6 inches. Weight 140 lbs. Chest measurement 34-36½ inchHeart and lungs normal. es. Cmplexion pallid. Eyes blue. Hair fair. Sight - right eye 6/6, left eye 6/9. Hearing and colour vision both normal. Limbs well formed. Full and perfect movement of joints. Chest well formed. Illness - rheumatism. Free from hernia, varicoele, Varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Vaccinated (left). Good bodily and mental health. No slight defects. No fits. Class A. Remarks - This man complains of pain on movement of the left ankle. He says he met with an accident to it .... 6 months ago. He was not off work. There is certianly a little thickening around the ... ........ but the man can perform all the movements he is asked to do. The movements appear to be normal in every way.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation
Unit, Squadron, or Ship
Date
Transport
Embarked From		Destination

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
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	30/10/1918	Reason	Certificate of Discharge.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Gardener

Death

Date	21 April 1951	Age	64 years
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Ruru Lawn Cemetery, Christchurch
Memorial Reference	area 35, Plot 175
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

George Albert WATSON, born on 13 November 1886 at Timaru, was the son of William Albert and Ellen (née CULLEN) WATSON. George had been medically examined in 1916 at Timaru and rejected as unfit for military service on account of a rupture. George had appealed his callup, saying that of seven sons of military age in his family, two had been killed, two were in australia, one was turned down, and he (George) had enlisted, been turn down, and had married; his other brother was in the second Division; he wanted time and was allowed until the end of the First Division. George arrived in camp on 23 September 1918 in Draft 15. He suffered from rheumatism and an injury to left knee 'causing no disability'. This remark appears in his personnel file - "This man always walked with a stiff leg fell out of all marches and was useless when on squad drill." On 30 October 1918 at Trentham he was issued with a Certificate of Discharge from D Company. He was described as of good character. But he suffered from chronic rheumatism and could not do physical training because of the pain in his knees and ankles. Consequently George did not get to go anywhere. His brother Leonard Jack WATSON was killed in action in 1916 and his brother William Winter WATSON died of wounds died of wounds in 1916.

Sources

N Z Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5557 0119601) [11 December 2015]; Timaru Herald, 26 September 1917 (Papers Past) [17 September 2014]; Probate record (Archives NZ/FamilySearch) 11 December 2015]

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