Profile

BURNS, Edmund Francis
(Service number 54328)

Aliases
First Rank Rifleman Last Rank Sergeant

Birth

Date 15/10/1890 Place of Birth Timaru

Enlistment Information

Date (1) 24 August 1915; (2) 25 January 1917 Age (1) 24 years; (2) 26 years
Address at Enlistment Murray Roberts & Co., Wellington
Occupation Wool clerk
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mrs Mary BURNS (mother), care of Raymond, Raymond, and Campbell, Solicitors, Timaru
Religion Roman Catholic
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship 27th Reinforcements, G Company
Date 16 July 1917
Transport Athenic
Embarked From Destination Liverpool, Merseyside, England
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With NZ Rifle Brigade

Military Awards

Campaigns Western European
Service Medals British War Medal; Victory Medal
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 21 March 1919 Reason On termination of his period of engagement.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Farmer; clerk; civil servant

Death

Date 15 August 1944 Age 53 years
Place of Death Wellington
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Karori Cemetery, Wellington
Memorial Reference Soldiers/1/3/31
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Edmund Francis Burns was born on 15 October 1890 at Timaru, the son of Thomas Joseph and Mary Agnes (née Kenny) Burns. He enlisted on 25 January 1917 at Wellington, having first done so on 24 August 1915 at Trentham. A wool clerk for Murray Roberts and Company, Wellington, single and Roman Catholic, he named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs Mary Burns, care of Raymond, Raymond, and Campbell, Solicitors, Timaru.

Rifleman E. F. Burns embarked with the 27th Reinforcements, leaving for Liverpool, England per the “Athenic” on 16 July 1917. The casualty lists published in December 1917, reported the case of E. F. Burns, 54328, Timaru, as not severe. Private Burns returned home by Draft 213 (“Matatua”), arriving in February 1919. He was discharged on 21 March 1919 and awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his service in Europe.

In 1920, Edmund married Margaret Ann Ward. They had a son, Ernest Thomas Burns, and a daughter, Marie Terese Burns. The family moved from South Canterbury to Wellington in the late 1930s. Edgar Francis Burns died on 15 August 1944 at Wellington, aged 53 years, and was buried in a soldier’s plot at Karori Cemetery. His father had died in 1911 at Timaru and his mother in 1921 at Christchurch, both buried at Timaru with the Kenny family. Margaret Ann Burns died in 1954 and was buried at Karori, her sister with her.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [26 August 2023]; Dominion, 20 December 1917, NZ Times, 12 February 1919, Timaru Herald, 14 February 1919 (Papers Past) [27 August 2023]; Karori Cemetery burial record (Wellington City Council) [26 August 2023]

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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