Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Austin Frederick Sargent was born on 10 May 1897 at Dunedin, the eldest in the family of Joseph Ernest and Adela Kate (née Williams) Sargent. Joseph and Adela who had married in 1896, had two sons and a daughter. Austin started his education at High Street School, Dunedin, where he received a prize in 1904 for first equal in the Infant Room, Division III. There were 139 pupils and two teachers in the Infant Room. In 1905 he transferred to Arthur Street School, Dunedin, where he was joined by his younger brother, Leslie, in 1907. Austin was only 8 years old when his father died. On 16 March 1906, Joseph Ernest Sargent – “a quiet and steady man, much liked by his comrades” – took his own life. He had been suffering from nervousness and had been in low spirits. Overworked, - too much worry, too many hours. About six weeks before, his doctor had found him a physical wreck, his nervous system shattered. His wife said that the three children worried him – they were rather delicate and he worried over it. Her husband and herself had always lived on the most affectionate terms. Joseph Sargent was buried in the plot of his in-laws (Frederick and Honor Williams) in the Southern Cemetery, Dunedin. Mrs Sargent moved to Waimate at the end of the 1907 school year. There Austin and Leslie attended Waimate District High School, and were joined by their sister, May, in 1910. Austin was awarded a special prize for Standard IV composition in 1910, while his brother Leslie received a prize in the Infant Department. The next year he received the Standard V composition prize. Leslie and May continued to do well at the school. In 1915 Austin Sargent secured a place in Dunedin Technical classes, gaining a second class certificate in the Commercial Junior Division.

Austin Frederick Sargent, printer, 6 Harris Street, Waimate, was drawn in the Ninth Ballot and called up for service with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force, as published in a gazette notice of 4 July 1917. Medically examined on 20 July at Timaru, Austin was 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed 130 pounds, had a chest measurement of 31½-34½ inches, fair complexion, grey eyes and brown hair. His sight, hearing, colour vision, heart and lungs were all normal, his limbs and chest well formed. He had had no serious illnesses since childhood, was free from diseases, was vaccinated and was in good bodily and mental health. Although he did say that he was off work every 3 months with influenza and biliousness, he was classified A. He enlisted that same day, just twenty years old. A printer, single and Presbyterian, he named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs Adela Kate Sargent, Waimate, South Canterbury. At the time he stated that three people were absolutely dependent on him - his mother, one sister and one brother. He belonged to the 2nd South Canterbury Regiment. The Military appeal Board heard his case on 30 July and allowed him till 16 October 1917 to attend to affairs. He had said that he would like till the end of the First Division. He had just turned twenty in May and he had one brother 16 years old. His mother appeared in support of the appeal.

He was one of the men who were ordered to parade at the Drillshed, Waimate on 15 October 1917, before proceeding to Timaru, where the men comprising the South Canterbury quota of the 35th Reinforcements left Timaru by the express on 15 October 1917, after a brief farewell at the Drill Shed. In December 1917 at Trentham, he forfeited 3 days pay and was confined to barracks for absence with leave. It was with the Otago Infantry Regiment of the 34th Reinforcements that Private A. F. Sargent embarked at Wellington on 8 February 1918 per the “Ulimaroa” and disembarked at Liverpool, England on 29 March 1918 (Good Friday). Soon after reaching England and marching in to Brocton, he was admitted to the Military Hospital at Cannock Chase from Brocton Camp [3 April 1918], afflicted with scarlet fever. Mrs Sargent received prompt advice of this. He had probably contracted the fever on the transport. It was reported as a not severe case. He was discharged back to duty at Brocton Camp on 16 May.

The notes Private Austin Sargent wrote from Brocton Military Camp, Staffordshire, England on 31 March 1918 were printed in the Waimate Daily Advertiser of 30 May. “This is a new camp for New Zealanders; the first draft of whom, the 31st Reinforcements, reached here last October. We are in isolation for ten days; after that we are supposed to do several weeks’ training. The probability is, however, that we shall go almost straightaway to France, as every available man is wanted there at present. . . . . Some of our fellows grumble already at the amount of food we are given; but according to all accounts we fare better than the civilian population. . . . . . . . . Our ration works out at about two slices of bread a meal per man, . . . . . The Reinforcement men went for the beer the first night the canteen opened. Many of them expected a treat after their seven weeks of enforced teetotalism; but they were sadly disappointed. “There’s no ‘bite’ in it,” said one fellow; “one glass is enough for me.” It’s very similar to non-alcoholic herbal beer.” He also wrote: - “An interesting feature of the camp are the ‘Waxies’ as our fellows call them - the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. These girls, to the number of 500, it is said, are employed at tasks such as driving motor-vans. Their camp is under discipline similar to ours; for instance, they are obliged to be in their quarters by 8.30 p.m.; and there are women police to see that they are.”

Proceeding overseas to France on 24 October 1918, he marched in to Etaples before joining the 3rd Battalion of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade on 6 November. Taken sick, he was admitted to No 3 New Zealand Field Ambulance (pyrexia – fever - of unknown origin) on 13 January 1919. Discharged on 18 January, he rejoined his Unit. Sargent was detached to the UK from Germany on 25 March 1919 and went to the Otago Provincial Detachment at Sling Camp to await a ship home. While there he was deprived of one day’s pay for absence from parade. Sargent spent the last months of his overseas service with the Army of Occupation in Germany.

The letter which Private Austin Sargent wrote to his mother on 8 April 1919, from Sling Camp, Salisbury Plain, England, was received in early July. “I had quite a good time over on the Rhine; travelled about a bit — up the river to Coblenz, which is the chief town of the American occupied area, and another time to Mainz (chief French town), and to the beautiful and fashionable little city of Wiesbaden, which is not far from there. . . . . . . . . . I have been to all the most interesting and beautiful places on the “Romantic Rhine.” . . . . . . . The educational scheme which was put into action shortly after we arrived in Germany, was, although a few were benefited with it, of no use to me, as I was on signal duty for the whole period of the Division’s occupation. . . . . . . . But this duty did not interfere with “sight-seeing,” . . . . . The New Zealand troops, during their stay in Germany, were probably more hospitably treated there than in either France or Belgium; and, as far as we could judge, the German women and children received better treatment at our hands than they had ever received in their lives before. . . . . . . . . ” Sargent embarked at Liverpool on 2 July 1919 for the return to New Zealand per the “Somerset”, which was scheduled to arrive at Lyttelton on 16 August. He was discharged on 17 September 1919 on the termination of his period of engagement and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

Austin was very much involved with the Waimate Public Library, both before and after the war, being a member of the Library Committee for many years. At the annual meeting of the library in early March 1918, a special vote of thanks was passed to Messrs Austin Sargent (now on active service) and George Nash for the great amount of voluntary work they had done in repairing the books of the Library, which had been a great improvement. Austin was on the reporting staff of the “Lyttelton Times after his return from active service. On 8 November 1920 at Ashburton, his wallet, containing £4 10 shillings was stolen. The alleged pickpocket had stolen from several persons using many aliases. “Austin F. Sargent, of Christchurch, journalist, stated that on November 8 he was travelling to Christchurch by the first express from the south. At Ashburton he left the train to take some refreshment. He had then abont £4 10/ in his possession. This sum was in a wallet in his hip pocket. While he was standing among the crowd at the refreshment buffet, a man jostled against him, pressing the wallet into witness’s hip. Thinking the man was pushing too hard, witness moved away. He took notice of the man, thinking that, possibly, he was drunk. The man took no refreshment at the buffet. After witness had moved away from the man (who was accused) he found that the wallet was missing. By this time, accused had disappeared. Witness followed him out to the railway platform. Accused glanced round, saw witness, and immediately boarded the train, running into a carriage. A constable gave pursuit, at the instigation of witness. The train was subsequently searched by witness and Detective-Sergeant Cameron, and the missing wallet and contents were found, pushed behind a filter in one of the lavatories. They went through the train with a view to finding the accused, but they did not find him. Two days later, at the Christchurch Police Station, witness identified accused, among a number of other men, as the man whom he suspected of stealing his wallet.”

Mr A. F. Sargent was appointed managing editor of the “Waimate Daily Advertiser” at the beginning of June 1921. Dissolving her partnership in the Waimate Advertiser business on 31 May 1921, Mrs Adela Kate Sargent carried the business from that date. Both Adela K. Sargent and Austin F. Sargent held shares in the Waimate Advertiser Co., which had been registered as a private company on 11 July 1921 – To Acquire and take over as a going concern the newspaper and general printing and publishing business recently carried on at Waimate known as the “Waimate Advertiser.” Also in July 1921, Mr A. F. Sargent was proposed as a new member of the newly formed Waimate Tennis Club. While Austin was absent at the farewell gathering in February 1922 for a departing staff member, his brother Mr L. E. Sargent (Leslie), also an employee of the “Advertiser”, spoke at the gathering. Mr A. F. Sargent replied to the toast of “The Press” at the annual banquet of the Orange Lodge in July 1922. Frederick Williams, the maternal grandfather of Austin, Leslie and May Sargent, died in November 1922 at Waimate, where he had lived for the last nine months with his two widowed daughters and in order to be in contact with his two grandsons who had a proprietary interest in the Waimate Daily Advertiser. Mr Williams had had a longer association with newspaper publishing, including the Advertiser, since arriving in Dunedin in about 1870.

At the annual general meeting of the Waimate Returned Soldiers’ Association held in April 1923, A. F. Sargent was elected to the committee. There were moves, however, to close down the club rooms at the end of May because of financial difficulties. He and three other R.S.A. members entertained General Sir Andrew Russell at dinner at the Royal Hotel later in April, prior to a smoke concert attended by a good number of returned soldiers and some public men. On the formation of a Waimate District Rifle Association in May 1924, Mr A. F. Sargent was elected a patron. And in June 1924, he was again elected to the Returned Soldiers’ Association committee. “A notable event in the history of Waimate, the jubilee of the County, was fittingly celebrated last night [4 November 1926] by a banquet, held in the Council Chambers, at which the guests were public men from all parts of South Canterbury and North Otago.” Apologies for unavoidable absence included A. F. Sargent (editor, “Daily Advertiser”). In September 1928, a Waimate Amateur Boxing Association was formed, and at the inaugural meeting A. F. Sargent was elected a vice-president.

“Profound regret was expressed in Waimate on Saturday [10 January 1930], when news was received of the death of Mr Leslie Edward Sargent. The late Mr Sargent concluded his education at the Waimate District High School in 1917, and was appointed to a position on the staff of the “Advertiser,” assuming the responsibilities of business manager and head of the publishing department of the paper before reaching the age of 21 years. In business spheres all with whom he came in contact honoured him for his integrity and ability. The deceased was unmarried, and was not quite 29 years of age at the time of his death. The sympathy of the residents of the whole district goes out to his mother, Mrs A. K. Sargent, his brother, Mr Austin Sargent, and sister, Mrs R. J. Murphy, all of whom reside in Waimate, in their bereavement. The remains will be interred in Dunedin on Tuesday, at a private funeral.” Leslie Sargent was buried in the family plot in the Southern Cemetery, Dunedin. On 5 May 1938 in the Supreme Court in Timaru, Lillian May Murphy petitioned for divorce from Roy Patrick Murphy on the grounds of separation. They had married in 1928 but lived apart from December 1934. A. F. Sargent, brother of the petitioner, gave evidence. In March 1935, Mr A. F. Sargent, managing editor, presented a clock in a handsome oak case and a set of carvers to Mr E. W. Murphy and conveyed the good wishes of management and staff of the Daily Advertiser” on his approaching marriage. Austin Frederick Sargent, Waimate, was called up for service with the Territorials in January 1942, the call up being subsequently cancelled.

The “Waimate Advertiser” celebrated its fiftieth anniversary on 28 May 1948. It was founded by Mr Charles A. Wilson, a young printer, on the completion of his apprenticeship with the “Waimate Times” during a period of extensive land settlement, when the well-known Waikakahi estate was subdivided. First published as a weekly, the “Waimate Advertiser” became a daily evening paper in 1914. Mrs A. K. Sargent in 1916 purchased an interest, becoming the proprietor in 1920, when she formed a private company. Her son, Mr A. F. Sargent, of the “Lyttelton Times” literary staff, was the editor. Mr Sargent was the editor of the Waimate Daily Advertiser for about 40 years and managing director for some of that time, retiring in the late 1960s.

In 1926 Austin Frederick Sargent had married Timaru-born Barbara May McGettigan, who had moved to Waimate shortly before they married. Like Austin, she embraced Waimate community life. She was a member of the Waituna Country Women’s Institute, and was a leading producer, actress and make-up artist, with St Patrick’s Parish, the Repertory Society, the Returned Services Association and other groups, when drama was active in Waimate. During World War Two, she trained in driving heavy transport trucks to meet any emergency which might occur in the country. Barbara died suddenly at her home on 31 December 1968. Austin Frederick Sargent died at Princess Margaret Hospital, Christchurch, but of Waimate, on 22 March 1975, aged 77 years. Following Requiem Mass at St Patrick’s Church, Waimate, he was buried at Timaru Cemetery with Barbara. “Of unruffled temperament, Mr Sargent was a dedicated journalist who was versatile enough to turn his hand when needed to other aspects of the newspaper industry. It was his practice for many years when reporting Waimate Borough Council meetings to return to the office the same night and work until the early hours at a linotype machine on his report.” Barbara’s sister Katherine who had been living with Austin and Barbara at Waimate for a few years, died at Waimate three weeks after Austin and was buried at Timaru with them. William John McGettigan, brother of Katherine and Barbara, served in World War One.

Rifleman Austin Frederick Sargent, NZ Rifle Brigade, declared on 5 June 1918 that he had already made a Will which was in the custody of the Public Trustee, Wellington. His Will which went to probate, however, was signed on 18 February 1970. Appointing the Perpetual Trustees Estate and Agency Company as Trustee, he left his freehold property at 3 Harris Street, Waimate, to his sister-in-law Katherine McGettigan, and also all his household and personal items. He bequeathed to his nephew, John David McGettigan, all his shares in The Waimate Advertiser Company Limited and in The Waimate Publishing Company Limited. John David McGettigan was also in the printing trade, in the 195os and 1960s at Waimate, probably with his uncle Austin Sargent. Adela Kate Sargent had died on 13 April 1949 at Christchurch, late of Waimate. She was buried in the Southern Cemetery, Dunedin, with her parents, husband, younger son, daughter, and sister. Lillian May Sargent had also been on the staff of the Waimate Daily Advertiser and was later a publishing executive in Wellington.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [29 December 2015]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5550 0101794) [12 October 2016]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [02 January 2016]; Timaru Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [02 January 2016]; Evening Star, 21 December 1904, 16 & 17 March 1906, 11 January 1930, Otago Daily Times, 19 March 1906, 11 December 1915, 13 January 1930, 29 May 1948, 14 April 1949, Oamaru Mail, 15 December 1910, Waimate Daily Advertiser, 16 December 1910, 16 December 1911, 31 July 1917, 8 October 1917, 8 March 1918, 15 April 1918, 30 May 1918, 1 June 1918, 4 July 1919, 21 July 1921, 11 February 1922, 5 May 1922, 19 & 21 July 1922, 31 August 1922, 7 November 1922, 14, 19 & 28 April 1923, 24 May 1924, 7, 8 9 & 11 August 1924, 5 November 1926, Timaru Herald, 4 & 31 July 1917, 13 October 1917, 4 June 1921, 6 May 1922, 12 April 1923, 13 January 1930, 6 May 1938, 21 January 1942, Sun, 16 April 1918, 5 August 1919, 19 & 26 November 1920, Temuka Leader, 12 August 1919, Press, 16 April 1918, 3 June 1921, 15 February 1922, 16 May 1922, 13 & 20 April 1923, 15 September 1928, 5 March 1935, 29 May 1948, 14 April 1949, 2 & 6 January 1969, 14 April 1975, Star, 16 April 1918, 3 June 1921 (Papers Past) [02 January 2016; 30 January 2024]; Timaru Herald, 24 March 1975 [x 2] (Timaru District Library) [05 January 2016]; School Admission records (Dunedin & Waimate branches NZSG) [02 January 2016; 30 March 2024]; Probate record (Archives NZ Collections – Record number TU206/1975) [30 March 2024]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [31 March 2024]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

• SARGENT Austin Frederick - newspaper clippings (pdf, 129.1 KB updated 16-May-2024)

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