Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Charles Henry Jefferies, known as Harry, was born on 8 January 1887 at Timaru, the second son of William Jefferies and his wife Ada née Cullimore. The two first-born of William and Ada (both daughters) were baptised at St Mary’s, but no others. The family moved from Timaru to the Westport district in about 1891-1892, taking with them six young children. Four more were born on the Coast. There his mother was gazetted as a registered midwife. Harry and some of his brothers were bushmen at Kongahu, a forestry area near Westport.

Medically examined on 31 January 1915, he was 5 feet 6½ inches tall, weighed 175 pounds, and had a chest measurement of 37½-40½ inches. His complexion was sallow, his eyes blue, and his hair brown. His sight, hearing, colour vision, heart and lungs were all normal, his limbs and chest well formed, and his teeth good. Free from diseases, vaccinated, and in good bodily and mental health, he was accepted. He enlisted at Trentham on 18 February 1915. A labourer for the Public Works Department at Kongahu, single and of Salvation Army affiliation, he named his father as next-of-kin – William Jefferies, Kongahu, West Coast, South Island. Initially posted to the 5th Reinforcements, Private Jefferies was transferred to the 4th Reinforcements on 29 March.

Private C. H. Jefferies embarked with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion of the 4th Reinforcements, leaving from Wellington on 17 April 1915. Posted to the 13th Company, Canterbury Infantry Battalion, Private Jefferies joined his Battalion (5th Reinforcements) at the Dardanelles on 28 July 1915. Wounded on 7 August 1915, he was admitted to the Hospital Ship “Andonia” the next day and to the Stationary Hospital at Mudros on 9 August. Admitted to the 19th Hospital at Alexandria on 16 August, he was next admitted to hospital at Malta on 21 August, ‘slightly wounded’. Having suffered gunshot wounds to the head and forearm, he embarked for England per Hospital Ship “Carisbrook Castle” on 26 August and was admitted to the Royal Victoria Hospital at Netley on 3 September 1915. He was transferred to Woodcote Park (a military camp near Epsom) on 12 November and was to go on furlough on 8 December 1915. He was attached to the Strength of the New Zealand Base Depot at Grey Towers on 24 January 1916.

Admitted to the Depot Hospital on 15 March 1916, he was discharged from the Depot Hospital on 3 April 1916 (venereal disease). Following discharge from the Venereal Hospital at Grey Towers (Hornchurch) on 3 July 1916, he was transferred from the Convalescent Hospital to the New Zealand Command Depot at Codford on 6 July 1916 – enteric. On 24 August 1916 he left Codford for the Reserve Group at Sling and was struck off strength. After joining the 2nd Brigade Training Battalion at Sling on 25 August 1916, he left for Active Service in France on 5 September 1916 and joined the 2nd Battalion, Canterbury Infantry Battalion three weeks later. As of 2 August 1917, he was with his Unit in the Field, then proceeded on leave on 12 August, rejoining his Unit on 26 August. He was still with his Unit (13th Company) on 17 February 1918, a Battalion storeman.

Harry Jefferies had his moments in 1918. He forfeited 7 days ordinary pay and 1 days pay (Royal Warrant) for absence without a pass at Doullens on 7 May; he incurred 7 days Field Punishment No. 2 for insolence to an officer on 22 July. Jefferies was detached to the UK on duty on 26 August 1918, rejoining his Battalion on 12 September. He was again detached to the UK on duty on 26 December 1918. After marching into the Canterbury Provincial Depot (at Sling Camp awaiting a ship home) on 1 January 1919, he embarked at London to return to New Zealand per the “Hororata” (Draft 221) on 1 February 1919 and arrived on 15 March 1919. The “Hororata” carried 1500 surviving troops who had left in 1914 and 1915. Settling back at Kongahu, Westport, Private C. H. Jefferies, 6/2172, applied for the issue of a King’s Certificate on Discharge. Charles Jefferies, or Harry as he was known, gave well over four years of war service, the majority overseas. He was discharged on 19 June 1919, no longer physically fit for War Service on account of illness contracted on Active Service (Otitis Media – deafness - and general debility). For his service in Egypt, at Gallipoli and in Western Europe, he was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

In 1923 at Auckland, he married Ella Beatrice Rawlinson or Keane. They were to have three sons, the eldest also named Charles Henry Jefferies, was drawn in a World War II ballot, but was appealed for in March 1945 – farmer, employed by Mrs E. B. Jefferies, Kaitangi. About 1930 Harry and Ella moved from Kongahu to Kopuarahi in the North Island. Charles Henry Jefferies died suddenly on 12 June 1942 at his residence at Kairangi Estate, Cambridge, aged 55 years. His death was caused by sudden coronary thrombosis, chronic myocarditis, and spondylitis. Following a funeral service at the Cambridge Church of England, he was buried at Leamington Cemetery. Mrs Jefferies and Family thanked all kind friends and relatives for their kindness and expressions of sympathy, with special thanks to the R.S.A. and the people of Kairangi. Ella and three sons in their teens survived him, and Ella’s son from a former marriage. As Charles died intestate, the Public Trustee was appointed to administer his estate. James Thomas Keane, of Eureka, a stepson of Charles Henry Jefferies, who requested the administration, testified that Jefferies left surviving him Ella Beatrice Jefferies (a mental patient), widow; Charles Henry Jefferies, Robin William Jefferies and Gilbert George Jefferies, all of Kairangi and all minors. Ella Beatrice Jefferies died on 28 July 1975; she was cremated, her ashes interred in Purewa Cemetery, Auckland.

William Jefferies, the eldest son of William and Ada, was killed in action in May 1915 at Gallipoli; Job, their third son, died of pneumonia in February 1917 at Codford. All three Jefferies boys were at the Front for a brief period before William’s death. Albert Jefferies, the fourth son of William and Ada and a drainer of Kongahu, was named in the second ballot drawn in December 1916. Albert (Bert) was farming at Kongahu when he received the sad news of his brother Harry’s death. The local newspaper noted that he left a sorrowing wife and four sons, James (Ella’s son), Charles, Robin and Gilbert. He also left five sisters and his brothers Bert and George, many of them still living at Kongahu or Westport. The Jefferies family’s parents who died in 1927 and 1930, were buried at little Wanganui Cemetery but may have been reinterred at Karamea following sea erosion at Little Wanganui.

A photo of Private C. H. Jefferies, Canterbury Infantry, appeared in the Otago Witness of 15 September 1915 after he had been wounded.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [11 May 2017]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5541 0060160) [11 May 2017]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [11 May 2017]; Timaru Herald, 25 August 1915, Sun, 25 August 1915, Otago Daily Times, 13 September 1915, Greymouth Evening Star, 13 & 18 September 1915, 1 October 1915, 4 November 1915, 6 September 1916, 15 December 1916, Grey River Argus, 14 September 1915, 16 June 1942, Otago Witness, 15 September 1915, NZ Times, 18 September 1915, New Zealand Herald, 18 September 1915, 15 & 25 June 1942, Nelson Evening Mail, 1 October 1915, Press, 25 August 1916, 4 March 1919, Evening Post, 3 March 1919, Dominion, 4 March 1919, Waikato Independent, 5 March 1941, 15 June 1942 (Papers Past) [10 & 11 May 2017; 23 September 2017; 07 April 2022; 03 September 2024]; Leamington Cemetery burial record (Waipa District Council) [11 May 2017]; Probate record (Archives NZ/FamilySearch) [11 May 2017]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [11 May 2017; 03 September 2024]; Purewa Cemetery record [03 September 2024]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

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