SCHMELZ, William Arthur
(Service number 23/1799)
| First Rank | Rifleman | Last Rank | Corporal |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 01/08/1890 | Place of Birth | Dunedin |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 18 October 1915 | Age | 25 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | 56 Cain Street, Timaru | ||
| Occupation | Farm labourer | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Mrs D. HENDRY (mother), 56 Cain Street, Timaru. Later also advise Mrs M. A. SCHMELZ (wife), 49 Manor Road, Leyton, Essex, England | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Rifle Brigade | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 3rd Reinforcements, 1st Battalion, E Company | ||
| Date | 8 January 1916 | ||
| Transport | Tahitior Warrimoo | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | Suez, Egypt | |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | |||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | |||
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 |
Death
| Date | 28 May 1946 | Age | 55 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Timaru | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Timaru Cemetery | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
William Arthur Schmelz was born on 1 August 1890 at Dunedin, the youngest son of Carl Heinrich and Dorothea Conradina Juliana (née Fanger) Schmelz. His father died at Dunedin in December 1889, more than sevn months before William was born. His mother married Richard Bool in 1895. After Richard’s death (1897), she married Thomas Jones in 1900. Thomas died in 1903 and Dorothea married Charles Hendry, a widower of Maybank, St Andrews, South Canterbury, in 1909, Dorothea having gone as a housekeeper for Charles. Dorothea died in 1930 at Timaru and was buried with Thomas Jones in Dunedin. William was educated at Caversham School and the Boys’ High School in Dunedin. He enjoyed success in his music examination in 1905, and finished second in a cycling race held at the Southland Irish Athletic Sports in March 1907. Working as a Post Office messenger in 1908, he took classes at the Dunedin Technical School and passed shorthand theory. William Schmelz passed the medical examination at Timaru in September 1915 and was sworn in for service at the Front. He was part of South Canterbury’s quota for the Ninth Reinforcements which left South Canterbury for Trentham on 18 October 1915. He was a farm labourer, residing at Timaru with his mother, when he enlisted and named his mother, Mrs D. Hendry, as next-of-kin. William married Maria (Maud) Annie Hobbs on 2 December 1918, at the Parish Church, Leyton, Essex, England. Thereafter, Maud was also to be advised of any notifications. Corporal W. A. Schmelz returned to New Zealand with the Arawa’s draft (No. 244) in May 1919. William and Maud settled at Springbrook. They are buried at Timaru, Maud surviving William by 44 years. His mother died at Timaru in 1930 and was buried in Dunedin with her third husband.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [18 September 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [18 September 2020]; School Admission records (Dunedin Branch NZSG) [23 September 2020]; Timaru Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [23 September 2020]; Otago Daily Times, 22 March 1905, 29 January 1919, Southland Times, 14 March 1907, Evening Star, 23 November 1908, 22 April 1930, Timaru Herald, 14 September 1915, 18 October 1915 (Papers Past) [September 2020]
External Links
Related Documents
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG
Currently Assigned to
Not assigned.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.