POPE, James
(Service number 6/4126)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank | Private |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 31/12/1883 | Place of Birth | Port Chalmers |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 17 November 1915 | Age | 31 years 10 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | C/o B. Cannon, Queen Street, Waimate | ||
| Occupation | Cook, waiter | ||
| Previous Military Experience | Port Chalmers Naval Force - 2 years - left on leaving district | ||
| Marital Status | Married | ||
| Next of Kin | Mrs Alice POPE (wife), 908 Cumberland Street, Dunedin | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Expeditionary Force | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 10th Reinforcements, Canterbury Infantry Battalion, C Company | ||
| Date | 4 March 1916 | ||
| Transport | Willochra | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | Suez, Egypt | |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | Canterbury Regiment | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | Egyptian Expeditionary Force; Western European | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | British War Medal; Victory Medal | ||
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 | 4 April 1956 | Age | 72 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Dunedin | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Andersons Bay Cemetery, Dunedin | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
James Pope was born on 31 December 1883 at Port Chalmers, the youngest son of William John Pope and Catherine née Polglasse, who had emigrated from Cornwall, England, to New Zealand in the 1870s. James was educated at Port Chalmers School, going out to work at the age of 14½. He married Alice Dickison on 24 June 1908 in Dunedin.
A good number of recruits for the Tenth Reinforcements were dispatched from the South Canterbury district on 16 November 1915. Among those for the Infantry was Private J. Pope, a Waimate enlister. The South Canterbury draft of the Tenth Reinforcements was held up for some hours at Rakaia by flood damage to the bridge. They did not reach Christchurch till midnight, but the ferry steamer having been detained for them, they were able to go straight to Wellington. When he enlisted on 17 November 1915 at Trentham, he was a cook-waiter at Waimate. He had served with the Port Chalmers Naval Force for two years until he left the district. James named his wife as next-of-kin – Mrs Alice Pope, 908 Cumberland Street, Dunedin. Private J. Pope embarked with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion of the 10th Reinforcements, leaving for Suez, Egypt on 4 March 1916 per the “Willochra”.
On 19 November 1918, while Private J. Pope was “somewhere in France”, his wife Alice died at her Dunedin residence, a victim of the influenza epidemic. James was discharged on 26 June 1919 after serving for more than three years overseas, and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. In November 1919 he married Belle Bradley Farrell with whom had a family. Bell died in June 1954. When James died at Dunedin on 4 April 1956, aged 72 years, he was buried with Belle at Andersons Bay Cemetery.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [20 September 2023]; School Admission record [20 September 2023]; Waimate Daily Advertiser, 9 November 1915, Timaru Herald, 13 November 1915, Evening Star, 19 November 1918, Otago Daily Times, 20 November 1918 (Papers Past) [September 2023]; Andersons Bay Cemetery burial records & headstone image (Dunedin City Council) [20 September 2023]
External Links
Related Documents
No documents available.
Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society
Currently Assigned to
Not assigned.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.