Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Cornelius Joseph Mc Kenna, known as Con, was born on 21 June 1892 at Seadown near Timaru, the second son of John and Elizabeth (Bessie, née Teahan) McKenna. He was baptised Roman Catholic on 10 July 1892 at Temuka (Cornelius Joseph McKennah). John and Bessie, both from County Kerry, Ireland and both residing at Timaru, married on 30 June 1887 at the Church of the Most Blessed Sacrament, Christchurch, New Zealand. They had five sons and one daughter, their third son John dying sadly in 1901 at the age of five. Con and his siblings were all educated at Seadown School. There in 1898, in just his second year, Con received an Attendance prize, as did his sister Mary. The following year the annual school treat and prize distribution took place in the plantation near the railway. Con received an Attendance prize and certificate, his brother Jeremiah and sister Mary also receiving prizes. In 1901 the annual picnic was again held in the plantation. Following a long programme of sports, refreshments and lollies, the prizes were distributed. Jeremiah, Mary and Con (Attendance certificate and prize) were among the recipients. The sixth annual meeting of the Temuka Catholic Club was held in March 1910, when Con McKenna was elected a new member. 1910 was a good year for Con and football. After being in the selection for the Athletic Football Club juniors in May, he played for Athletic III against Celtic III and against Zingari III at Temuka in June. In the last week of June and again in the first week of July he represented the Athletic Football Club. More matches followed in August and September. And in May 1911 he represented the club in the Presidents team. Amongst the old identities of forty years standing at a presentation at the Seadown School in May 1912 were Mr and Mrs McKennah[sic]. Mr McKenna served on the Seadown School committee for at least ten years. In 1903 Mrs McKenna was appointed caretaker of Seadown School.

South Canterbury’s quota of the 17th Reinforcements left Timaru by the second north-going express on 31 May 1916. At noon they were entertained at dinner by the lady members of the South Canterbury War Relief Society, in Stafford Tea Rooms. At 3.30 p.m. the soldiers assembled at the Drill Hall, where they were farewelled by the Mayor and others. Among those who formed the Seventeenth Reinforcements was C. J. McKenna (Infantry). At Trentham he enlisted on 1 June 1916/31 May 1916. Cornelius Joseph McKenna had been medically examined at Temuka on 10 May. He stood at 5 feet 8½ inches, weighed 162 pounds, and had a chest measurement of 35-37 inches, a fair complexion, blue eyes and dark hair. His sight, hearing and colour vision were all good, his limbs and chest well formed, his heart and lungs normal. His teeth, however, had 4 caries. He was free diseases, was vaccinated, and was in good bodily and mental health. He had a linear scar transversally across his left knee. A labourer, single and Roman Catholic, he named his father as next-of-kin – John McKenna, Seadown, Canterbury.

Private C. J. McKenna embarked with the 17th Reinforcements, leaving for Devonport, England, per the “Devon” on 25 September 1916. Disembarking at Devonport on 21 November 1916, he marched into camp at Sling. Marching in at Sling from hospital on 22 November 1916 he was taken on Strength. On 9 December 1916 he marched out for overseas (France), joining the 2nd Battalion of the Canterbury Regiment on 7 January 1917. Casualty List No. 601, a very heavy list published in June 1917, recorded Cornelius Joseph McKenna of the Canterbury Regiment among the wounded. Mr John McKenna, Seadown, received word to this effect later in the month. Wounded on 7 June 1917, Private Cornelius J. McKenna was admitted to No. 9 Australian Field Ambulance then to No. 2 Australian Casualty Clearing Station. He was admitted to No. 26 General Hospital in France on 8 June. He had suffered a severed gunshot wound to his left arm. Embarking for England per Hospital Ship “Brighton”, he was admitted to No. 2 New Zealand General Hospital at Walton-on-Thames on 23 June 1917. On 4 July 1917 he was transferred to the New Zealand Convalescent Hospital at Hornchurch. Leaving Hornchurch on 29 November 1917, after being classified unfit by the Medical Board on 28 November, he reported at Torquay on 15 December 1917.

A Medical Report was prepared at Grey Towers on 12 November 1917 in respect of the disability for which invaliding was proposed. McKenna had suffered a gunshot wound to his left arm in the Field at Messines on 6 June 1917. A shrapnel bullet entered the ulnar aspect of the forearm near the elbow and was removed by operation. His ulna was fractured. By this date there was no tenderness of the bone; it ached a little at night; he could just bear weight; the wound was healing satisfactorily. Discharge as permanently unfit was recommended as he was unfit for War Service for six months and for Home Service for two months. On 28 November 1917 he was classified unfit by the Medical Board. The Medical Board which was assembled on 5 March 1918 at Sea determined that Private McKenna’s disability was likely to be continued for six months and that his capacity for earning a full livelihood was lessened by one quarter, thus recommending that he be considered for a pension.

Private Cornelius J. McKenna, 27326, of Seadown, returned to New Zealand in March 1918 by the “Willochra” (Draft 147). Having embarked at Liverpool on 1 February 1918, he arrived on 19 March. The Medical Board assembled on board the Troopship “Willochra” at Auckland on 16 March 1918 recommended treatment s an out-patient at Timaru Hospital for seven days. A sick-leave certificate, effective from 20 March 1918 to 26 March 1918, was issued to 27326 Pte C. J. McKenna, Seadown, South Canterbury. He was ordered to report as an out-patient at Timaru Hospital on 27 March to receive treatment until 23 April 1918. He was to be every night at Seadown, South Canterbury. A Medical Board was assembled at the Drill Hall, Timaru on 29 April 1918. The Medical Superintendent reported “This man will need to be under treatment here for some time yet.” Limitation of movement of his left arm was the disability consequential to the gunshot wound he had suffered. He was not fit for Active Service, as the disability was likely to continue for three months. With regards to civil employment, it was likely to continue for two months. It was recommended that he receive further treatment as a hospital out-patient at Timaru.

On 3 April 1918 a large crowd gathered in the Seadown Schoolroom to welcome home from the war Privates J. P. O’Connell and C. J. McKenna and to farewell one other. The evening was spent in dancing, and a beautiful supper was provided by the ladies of the district. On making a presentation to the returned boys, Mr Cain said it gave him great pleasure to welcome them home. “They had gone out early in the war and had done their share of the fighting.” It was with much pleasure that he presented the men with “handsome gold medals, suitably inscribed”. Unfortunately, Private O’Connell was absent. A Medical Board assembled on 27 May 1918 noted that McKenna was permanently unfit for Active Service but fit for light duties in civil employment. Discharge was recommended and a pension. The resident Medical Officer reported “This man has improved under massage treatment. Now further improvement is prevented by bony mass round head of radius. The man does not want an operation so further massage treatment is not necessary.”

Cornelius McKenna was discharged on 17 June 1918, no longer physically fit for War Service on account of wounds received in Action, and he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. He was authorized to receive treatment at Timaru Hospital as an out-patient from 1 August 1918. C. J. McKenna who had suffered a gunshot wound to his left arm, received a pension of 10 shillings. The name of Private C. J. McKenna, 17th Reinforcements, appeared in the Active Service List - a list of those who had volunteered to serve the Empire with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and had gone from the Temuka district - published regularly by the Temuka Leader. Con’s brother, Maurice Patrick McKenna, a farm labourer at Seadown, was called up in January 1918. At the sitting of the Canterbury Military Service Appeal Board at Timaru on 26 February, he applied for an extension of time on account of the harvest and was allowed till June 3. M. P. McKenna was to leave for camp at the beginning of June 1918. In July 1918, Con’s older brother, Jeremiah McKenna, a labourer at Otipua, was drawn in the ballot. He was then a married man with children. In August 1920 J. McKenna, presumably John McKenna, subscribed to the Seadown Roll of Honour. C. McKenna played for Fairlie in a football match in late August 1920. This match which evoked considerable local interest was played at Burke’s Pass between teams representing the employees on Gray’s Hills Station and Fairlie. There was a large gathering of spectators, all parts of the district being represented, and during play excitement ran high. C. McKenna was back in the rugby football team to represent Temuka Seniors against Waihi in mid-June 1923.

While all his siblings remained in South Canterbury, Con moved away. Cornelius McKenna was an electric linesman employed by the Government at Shannon and a passenger in a service car when he witnessed a collision between two cars on a bridge which had a sequel in court in June 1926. After a brief stint in Invercargill, he was back in the North Island in 1935, a linesman at Rotorua. In 1938 he was in Wellington where he probably met Bridget Nixon (née Ryan) whom he married in 1938. Bridget’s first husband, also a returned serviceman, had died in 1935. Cornelius and Bridget remained in Wellington, living at only two addresses for the next 33 or so years. In June 1960 Cornelius McKenna (born in 1892 at Seadown, Canterbury) and Bridget McKenna (born in 1895 on the West Coast, South Island), both residents of 186 Tinakori Road, Wellington, flew to the United States. Issued with visas on 21 June 1960, they arrived at New York on 26 October and stayed at the Hotel Wentworth until 26 December.

Cornelius Joseph McKenna (Con) died peacefully on 14 September 1974 at his Wellington residence, 186 Tinakori Road, late of Seadown. He was aged 82 years and the dearly beloved husband of Bridget. He was buried at Karori Cemetery with Bridget’s sister and her husband. Bridget lived on at their Tinakori Road residence and when she died on 28 October 1982, she was buried in the same plot. By his Will which he had signed on 20 December 1972, Cornelius appointed his wife Bridget Mary McKenna and two nephews as executrix and executors. He bequeathed his dwellinghouse, furniture and chattels to his wife. He also left her the residue of his estate, but should she have predeceased him, other provisions were made. The sum of one hundred dollars was to be paid to the Parish Priest of the Roman Catholic Parish of the Sacred Heart at Thorndon for Masses for the repose of his soul and the souls of his deceased relatives; the sum of $200 was to be paid to the Superior of the Marist Brothers at Thorndon for the general purposes of the school conducted by them; the remaining balance of his estate was to be divided equally between his nephews (John Angus McKenna, Bernard Benedict McKenna, Leonard McKenna, Basil Mahoney and Lawrence McKenna) and his nieces (Betsy McKenna, Patricia Smith, Pamela Clements, Colleen Sullivan) and is brother Leo McKenna. At that date, Leo who had never married was his only surviving sibling, but he died in February 1974. It is apparent that Cornelius McKenna valued his family and his church.

John McKenna who died on 19 January 1941 at his Seadown residence and Bessie who died on 29 March 1943 at her Seadown residence were buried at Temuka. Jeremiah McKenna’s wife, Una Sarah née McKay, was a sister of three McKay brothers who served – Donald Richard, Kenneth John and Angus Douglas who died of wounds in France in 1918. Jeremiah McKenna who was a labourer at Otipua, married with two children, was listed on the World War One Reserve Rolls. Bernard Benedict McKenna, a son of Jeremiah and nephew of Cornelius, served with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in World War Two. Con’s only sister, Mary Josephine McKenna, married returned serviceman Joseph Mahoney in 1921. Joseph died from disease contracted on service on 23 June 1922, just twelve days after their son Basil Joseph Mahoney was born. For over 43 years Mary was a widow living at Seadown. Basil’s name was drawn in a World War Two ballot.

C. McKenna is one of the Returned Soldiers whose names are inscribed on an oaken honours board, which was unveiled in a ceremony at the Seadown School in August 1920. A large gathering of Seadown residents and visitors from neighbouring districts took part in the unveiling and the accompanying musical service, which concluded with the sounding of the “Last Post”. Below the names is the inscription: “Their names shall remain for ever, and their glory shall not be blotted out.”

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [21 August 2016]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5544 0074405) [23 August 2016]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [21 August 2016]; School Admission records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [21 August 2016]; Karori Cemetery headstone inscription [21 August 2026]; Karori Cemetery burial records (Wellington City Council); Temuka Leader, 24 December 1898, 23 December 1899, 21 December 1901, 9 June 1903, 17 March 1910, 3 May 1910, 7, 21 & 28 June 1910, 2 August 1910, 1 September 1910, 2 May 1911, 28 May 1912, 6 January 1917, 24 August 1920, 2 September 1920, 14 June 1923, Timaru Herald, 26 December 1899, 9 June 1903, 6 July 1910, 25 April 1911, 31 May 1916, 23 June 1917, 26 July 1917, 16 January 1918, 13 & 27 February 1918, 18 March 1918, 3 & 11 April 1918, 30 May 1918, 25 July 1918, 21 & 26 August 1920, 20 January 1941, 30 March 1943, Auckland Star, 22 June 1917, Press, 22 June 1917, Nelson Evening Mail, 22 June 1917, Sun 13 March 1918, NZ Times, 14 March 1918, Dominion, 14 March 1918, Manawatu Standard, 9 June 1926, Manawatu Times, 9 June 1926 (Papers Past) [09 April 2015; 22 August 2016; 09 February 2018; 31 March 2018; 05 October 2024]; Timaru Herald, 16 September 1974 (Timaru District Library) [23 August 2016]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [06 April 2017; 04 October 2024]; Probate record (Archives NZ Collections – Record number 1404/74) [04 October 2024]; Passenger Lists (ancestry.com.au) [04 October 2024]; Roman Catholic Baptism indexes (Christchurch Diocese CD held by South Canterbury Genealogy Society) [09 October 2024]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

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