Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

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Death

Biographical Notes

Samuel Joyce Canavan, known as Sam, was born on 27 March 1889 at Timaru, the youngest son of George and Jane (née Collie) Canavan. In fact, Samuel may have been born in 1887, given his age at death and the disappearance of his father in 1886. George was likely the George Canavan from County Down, Ireland, a labourer and single, who arrived at Lyttelton by the “Zealandia” on 23 December 1870. He may well have been a son of James Canavan and Jane née Joyce, whose son Samuel Joyce Canavan was born in Ireland in 1851 and died in Canada in 1925. When John Joyce, an uncle of George died in Canterbury, New Zealand, in 1879, George Canavan of South Rangitata was one of his next-of-kin and the intended administrator of his estate. John Joyce died on 20 June 1879 at Upper Ashburton, aged 50 years, when he fell down a well. Besides his nephew George Canavan, John had in New Zealand another nephew – James Henry Canavan, also of Rangitata at the time, a sister Mary and her husband William Ullyatt, a sister Rachel Wilson and her husband David Wilson, of Ashburton but at the time in Ireland. He also had brothers Samuel Joyce and William Joyce living in Canada, a brother James Joyce and a sister Jane Canavan living in Ireland, and in Canada the child(ren) of his deceased brother George Joyce. George Canavan and Scottish-born Jane Collie married in 1875 in New Zealand and had, it appears, six or seven children – John William (1875 – 1960); Jane (born about 1877; died 13 November 1883; 6 years; buried Temuka); James; George (born 1881/82, Temuka; died 1958); Sarah Rachel (born 1885, Temuka; died 21 February 1893; 8 years; bur. Temuka), Samuel Joyce (born 1889, Timaru; died 1955, Christchurch; was George his father?); Lily (Lilian) Jane (born 1893, reg. Timaru, most probably not of George; married Jack Wilson Hawkins, 1913; died 1973). From 1880 at least, George was a farmer at Rangitata South. There was also James Henry Canavan in the area, probably his brother. George Canavan’s name appeared in the sheep farmers’ returns throughout the 1880s at South Rangitata and at Canavans. In 1878 George was elected to the North Orari School committee and served for some years thereafter. In the early 1880s a Timaru district post office was opened at Canavans. He was also involved with the Winchester Masonic Lodge and from the mid-1880s, when he was living in the vicinity of Rangitata, he was a member of the Temuka Road Board. At the June 1887 meeting of the Road Board, however, it was recorded that Mr Canavan had left the district but not resigned. In August it was proposed to fill his vacant seat by election. In May 1886 he had faced bankruptcy, his farm of about 90 acres at Rangitata was sold by auction in August, and the first meeting of creditors was held in December 1887. It was noted that he had left his home on 18 May and “was believed to have levanted to America.

The Canavan children, including Samuel, were educated at Winchester School and Orari (South) School. Jack, James, George, Sarah, Sam and Lily enjoyed success at school and in sports at South Orari and Winchester. At the annual school treat in connection with Orari School in January 1899, Samuel finished third in a Standard IV boys’ race. S. Canavan was an entrant in the Orari Bicycle road race held on 26 January 1905, and again in January 1906. Mr S. Canavan was one of the “leading spirits” who got up a very successful bachelors’ ball in the Orari schoolroom in July 1909, during winter when life in the country is “rather dull and monotonous”.

Samuel was with his mother at Orari until 1911 or later, working as a blacksmith. By 1900 Jane recorded herself a widow. By 1914 Samuel had joined his brother George in the far north, now a farm hand. Samuel Joyce Canavan was a blacksmith residing at Dargaville, when he enlisted for World War One on 41 October 1914 at Trentham. Single and Presbyterian, he named Mrs J. Canavan, care of Mrs Hawkins, Kaiapoi, as next-of-kin – that is his mother, care of his sister Lily. Jane Canavan had moved to the Christchurch area to be closer to her daughter Lily and her husband. He was serving with the Legion of Frontiersmen. Gunner S. J. Canavan embarked with the New Zealand Field Artillery of the 2nd Reinforcements, departing on 24 December 1914. Gunner Samuel Joyce Canavan was reported wounded on 7 September 1916 and admitted to hospital. In December 1917, Mrs J. Canavan, of North road. Kaiapoi, received advice that her son, Gunner S. J. Canavan, was returning to New Zealand on duty. Gunner Canavan had left with the 2nd Reinforcements and was wounded and gassed at the Somme. About 7 January 1918, “Private Canavan (late of Kaiapoi) passed through Kaiapoi, on his way to Southbrook, where his mother now resides. Private Canavan has suffered very severely from shell shock.” Samuel Joyce Canavan was discharged on 30 January 1918 no longer physically fit for war service on account of wounds received in Action. Having served in all theatres of war, he was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Sam initially resided with his mother and sister Lily Hawkins at Southbrook, before making his way north again.

On 30 June 1920, at the Presbyterian Church, Rangiora. Miss Mary Drage, eldest daughter of Mrs Drage. Southbrook, was married to Mr Samuel Joyce Canavan, of Auckland. “Miss Teeny Hawkins, niece of the bridegroom, made a pretty flower girl. She was dressed in a. frock of white velvet, wore a gold brooch, the gift of the bridegroom, and carried a basket of pink and white flowers. The bridegroom was attended by Mr Charles Hawkins as best man. . . . . . . . Mr and Mrs Canavan left by motor amid a shower of confetti and good wishes, on their way to their future home in Auckland.” Thereafter, Sam and Mamie (as his wife was known) resided in the north – for many years at Pakotai, where he was a farmer, then at Whangarei. Dargaville, 26 January 1924 – “When Mr. and Mrs. Sam Canavan, of Pakotai, were coming to town yesterday in a motor-cycle and sidecar, the latter bumped when going through the Kuraka Gorge. A large stone hit the handle bars causing the machine to swerve over the side of the road, where it fell down a bank of 30ft. on to the stones of the riverbed. Mrs. Canavan sustained a broken arm and a severe cut on the head. She also had a narrow escape from drowning as she fell into the water. Mr. Caravan escaped without broken bones but will be confined to his room for some weeks.” In the 1950s they retired to Christchurch.

Samuel Joyce Canavan died on 7 March 1955 at Christchurch (late of Whangarei), aged 68 years, and was buried at Ruru Lawn Cemetery, Christchurch. When Mamie died in August 1959, she was buried with him. In early June 1916, a Roll of Honour was unveiled at a concert in the Orari Hall. On the list were the names of 38 Orari men who were once residents of the district and had gone to the war, including S. Canavan and J. Canavan. The Orari Patriotic Committee “thought it right to honour without distinction these men, each one of whom had faced his duty, not knowing what was before him.” At the close of the concert, supper was provided, after which the hall was cleared for dancing. The brothers (as Canovan) and more than sixty others are remembered on the Orari Roll of Honour 1914-1918 which is displayed in the Orari Hall.

Samuel’s oldest brother, John William Canavan, served in both the South African War and World War One, while Archibald Roy Canavan and John Colllie Canavan, sons of Jack’s brother George, and Samuel Fricourt John Hawkins, son of his sister Lily, served in World War Two. William Henderson, 29166, who also hailed from Orari and served in World War One may have been a relative of Jack and Sam Canavan. In March 1932, when she was living in Christchurch, Mrs Jane Canavan spent a holiday with Mrs W. Henderson at Orari, Mrs Henderson possibly a relative. Jane Canavan died In May 1933 at her Christchurch residence. Samuel’s sister, Lily Hawkins, died in 1973 at Christchurch, predeceased by her husband (1967).

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [14 November 2023]; Temuka Leader, 7 June 1887, 24 December 1891, 21 January 1893, 28 January 1899, 27 January 1903, 26 January 1905, 27 January 1906, 10 July 1909, Timaru Herald, 15 August 1887, 7 June 1916, 19 September 1916, 10 March 1932, South Canterbury Times, 8 December 1887, 10 November 1894, 8 June 1896, Lyttelton Times, 12 June 1916, Press, 11 December 1917, 7 July 1920, 8 March 1932, 12 May 1933, 8 March 1955, 27 August 1959, 20 February 1967, 13 April 1973, Sun, 8 January 1918, Star, 6 July 1920, NZ Herald, 29 January 1924 (Papers Past) [12, 14 & 16 November 2023]; Ruru Lawn Cemetery headstone transcription & burial record [16 November 2023];NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au – part search) [November 2023]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

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Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.