Profile

TONKIN, John Franklin
(Service number 6/2001)

Aliases Known as Jack
First Rank Second Lieutenant Last Rank Major

Birth

Date 05/05/1890 Place of Birth Waikari, Canterbury

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment Cadogan, Sefton Road, Timaru
Occupation Clerk
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin John Goodrick Shreddon TONKIN (father), Zetland Hotel, Christchurch
Religion Anglican
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation 4th Reinforcements
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Canterbury Infantry Battalion
Date 17 April 1915
Transport Willochra or Knight Templar or Waitomo
Embarked From Wellington Destination
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals 1914-1915 Star; British War Medal; Victory Medal
Military Awards Military Cross. Croix de Guerre. Mentioned in Despatches

Award Circumstances and Date

Military Cross - for distinguished service in the field, Passchendael, 1918. Specially Mentioned in Despatchess - for distinguished service and devotion to duty while commanding the 2nd New Zealand Entrenching Battalion, at Meteren & Ypres, April-May 1918

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 Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Wounded at the Somme & at Passchendaele

Post-war Occupations

Company manager

Death

Date 11 February 1960 Age 69 years
Place of Death Timaru
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Timaru Cemetery
Memorial Reference General Section, Row 51, Plot 260
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

John Franklin Tonkin, known as Jack, was born on 5 May 1890 at Waikari, Canterbury, the son of John Goodrich Sheddon and Gertrude (née Sanderson) Tonkin. Jack was educated at Christ’s College, Christchurch. John Tonkin was a clerk for Dalgety and Company at Timaru when he enlisted, his address being Cadogan, Sefton Street, Timaru. He named his father, whose address was Zetland Hotel, Christchurch, as next-of-kin. His mother had died in 1909. Second Lieutenant Tonkin embarked at Wellington on 17 April 1915 with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion of the 4th Reinforcements. He was wounded at the Somme and again at Passchendaele. He was specially mentioned in Despatches while commanding the 2nd New Zealand Entrenching Battalion in action during April and May 1918 at Meteren and Ypres. He was awarded the Military Cross for distinguished service in the Field and the Croix de Guerre for distinguished service during the course of the Campaign (1918). Major J. F. Tonkin returned to New Zealand in June 1919 per the “Maunganui”, which came into Dunedin, the South Canterbury men coming north by train. Tonkin, however, continued to Christchurch by the train. He married Muriel Mary Graham in 1920. Sometime after, Jack and Muriel lived again in Timaru, where he died on 11 February 1960, aged 69 years. He is buried at Timaru, Muriel with him. When his uncle, Robert Edmund Tonkin died in 1935, John Franklin Tonkin, as his sole heir, inherited the lordship of the Manors of St Buryan and Alverton in Cornwall. On his death, the Manors passed to his daughter.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [15 April 2021]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [14 April 2021]; Timaru Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [15 April 2021]; Timaru Herald, 24 June 1919, Otago Daily Times, 26 July 1918 (Papers Past) [13 & 15 April 2021]

External Links

Related Documents

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Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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