Profile

NOLAN, James Joseph
(Service number 8/1589)

Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank Private

Birth

Date 24/02/1882 Place of Birth Glasgow, Scotland

Enlistment Information

Date 11 January 1915 Age 34
Address at Enlistment Duntroon
Occupation Labourer
Previous Military Experience Kitchener's Light Horse, South Africa (2 years)
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mrs M.A. Nolan (aunt), Morven
Religion Roman Catholic
Medical Information 5ft 6in, 168lbs, fair complexion, blue eyes, brown hair

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation 1st Battalion
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Otago Rifles
Date 14 February 1915
Transport Maunganui or Tahiti or Aparima
Embarked From Wellington Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns Gallipoli
Service Medals British War Medal, Victory Medal, 1914-15 Star
Military Awards

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

Discharge

Date 27 September 1915 Reason Medically unfit for service (rheumatism & alcoholism)

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Labourer

Death

Date 20 July 1936 Age 54
Place of Death Dunedin
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Anderson's Bay, Dunedin
Memorial Reference Block 71S15
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

James Joseph Nolan was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 24 February 1882 and fought in the Boer War with Kitchener’s Light Horse. By 1911 he was in New Zealand, working as a labourer on farms and for councils in North Otago.

James enlisted with 1st Battalion, Otago Rifles on 11 January 1915, his previous occupation being given as a labourer for the Oamaru Borough Council at Duntroon. His next of kin given was his aunt, Mrs M.A. Nolan of Morven. He was described as being 34 years old, 5ft 6in, 168lbs, with fair complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair, and a Roman Catholic. He embarked at Wellington on 14 February 1915 bound for Suez and Egypt. Nolan was landed at Gallipoli but was quickly found to be suffering from rheumatism and alcoholism. He was sent back to New Zealand in September 1914 and discharged as medically unfit for service.

After the war James featured in the Dunedin Courts twice in the 1920s as the result of drunken brawls. He died on 20 July 1936 and is buried at Anderson’s Bay Cemetery, Dunedin.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph database [August 2021]; Papers Past at https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/ ; Dunedin City Council Cemeteries seacrh at https://www.dunedin.govt.nz/services/cemeteries/cemeteries-search

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Carol Bell, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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