WATT, George Edmund
(Service number 86815)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 27 April 1898 | Place of Birth | St Andrews, South Canterbury |
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Enlistment Information
| Date | 27 July 1918 | Age | 20 years 3 months |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Hills Road, St Albans, Christchurch | ||
| Occupation | Labourer | ||
| Previous Military Experience | Senior Cadets - transferred | ||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Mrs E. WATT (mother), Hills Road, St Albans, Christchurch | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | |||
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| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | |||
| Date | |||
| Transport | |||
| Embarked From | Destination | ||
| Other Units Served With | |||
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| Last Unit Served With | |||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
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| Service Medals | |||
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 | 15 December 1965 | Age | 67 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Rotorua | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Rotorua Cemetery | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
George Edmund Watt was born on 27 April 1898 at St Andrews, South Canterbury, the eldest son of Donald Grant and Emily (née Wheatley) Watt. Donald and Emily had married on 9 March 1896 at Timaru. They had six children, all born in South Canterbury. Two died young – William in 1900 aged 7 days and Roland John in 1904 aged 2½ years; both ar buried in Otaio Cemetery. The surviving children all started their education at St Andrews School. In 1912 Mrs Emily Watt offered three St Andrews properties for sale, saying that she and her husband intended leaving the district. In 1919 they were at Rotorua but had been in Christchurch prior to that.
George Edmund Watt enlisted on 27 July 1918 at Thames. A labourer at Walton, Hauraki, and single, he named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs E. Watt, Hills Road, St Albans, Christchurch. He was medically examined on the same date. He had served with the Senior Cadets until he transferred. A memorandum for The Commissioner of Police from Headquarters, New Zealand Military Forces, dated 2 May 1919 reads – It has been definitely ascertained that the man named Jackson in the attached Police Report is identical with No. 85515[sic], Private George E. Watt who was regularly discharged from Featherston Military Camp on the 22nd November, 1918. Watt’s services are no longer required, and although in the first place he caused some trouble, he eventually fulfilled his obligations, and it is not proposed to take any action in respect of his changing his name or his delay in reporting to camp. George himself had written a letter dated 8 March 1919 in which he said that he had taken the name Frank Jackson. He stated that he had been passed medically fit for Active Service when examined in July 1918, that he left Thames for Auckland and reported to the Military Authorities, that he went into camp in August. As of March 1919, he had no intention of leaving New Zealand.
From 1922, George resided at Rotorua and followed the occupation of carpenter (that of his father). He married Gladys Ernestine Mear in 1931, and they had four children. George Edmund Watt died on 15 December 1965 at Rotorua, aged 67 years. George and Gladys, who died in 1972, were buried in Rotorua Cemetery, as were his parents (Donald in 1946 and Emily in 1950), his brother Cecil and sister Clarice. Two cousins of George served in World War One – Alexander McHardy Rattray and Margaret Watt. George may have been a half-brother of Donald Washington Watt who was killed in action in 1918.
Sources
NZBDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [19 May 2024]; School Admission records [19 May 2024]; extracts from Personnel File (Archives NZ) [19 May 2024]; Rotorua Cemetery headstone transcriptions [21 May 2024]
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.