Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Arthur Edwin Berry, the son of James and Sarah Ann (née Champion) Berry, of Waimate, was born on 5 July 1893 at Waimate, the sixth of nine children (two dying in infancy). James Berry who arrived in New Zealand in 1875 went almost immediately to Waimate where he was a contractor for 29 years before taking up a farm in the Norton Settlement in 1904. He was and continued to be the refuse removal contractor to the Waimate Borough Council. Sarah Ann Champion was the first white child to be born in Waimate (1862), her father having landed at Timaru from the “Strathallan” in 1859. James and Sarah married in 1884. Arthur was educated in Waimate. There in 1900 at the Waimate District High School he won a Merit prize for Class IV Boys.

Arthur was one of seven Waimate men who registered at the Timaru Defence Office on 30 June 1916 for the 19th and 20th Reinforcements. South Canterbury’s quota for the Nineteenth Reinforcements left for camp on 26 July 1916. The South Canterbury military district was congratulated on being able to send forward a full quota – 104 men, including A. E. Berry. A civic farewell took place – luncheon in Stafford Tea Rooms and speeches at the Drill Shed. The Waimate men “were played down to the Railway station at noon” on 26 July and “farewelled upon their entrainment for Trentham as members of the 19th Reinforcement”, A. E. Berry having volunteered for the Infantry.

In 1916 Arthur was residing at home at Norton Reserve, Waimate, a self-employed labourer, single, Wesleyan, well built (height 5 feet 10 inches, weight 12 stone 11 lbs, and chest measurement 34-39 inches), blue-eyed with light brown hair, and he was in good bodily and mental health. His sight, hearing, colour vision, heart and lungs were all normal, his limbs and chest well formed. He was free of diseases and vaccinated. Arthur had already served with D Company of the 2nd South Canterbury Regiment, before he enlisted on 26 July 1916 at Trentham. His nominated next-of-kin was his mother, Mrs Sarah Ann Berry, Norton Reserve, Waimate. Immediately his name was recorded under “Answered the Call” in Waimate’s Roll of Honour published frequently in the Waimate Daily Advertiser. Initially, Private Berry was posted to the 19th Reinforcements. He was hospitalized at Featherston with influenza from 19 August 1916 until 23 August. At camp in October 1916, he incurred a common penalty - losing pay for over-staying leave at Tauherenikau. He was to incur a second penalty in January 1917 on the Transport - 48 hours detention for tampering with an electric light.

Large crowds witnessed the parade of the Nineteenth Reinforcements in Wellington on 15 November 1916. “The general appearance of the men was much admired, and they were given many rounds of cheers as they passed through the streets.” A. E. Berry embarked on 15 November 1916, per the “Maunganui”, a rifleman with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade of the 19th Reinforcements. Disembarking at Devonport, England on 29 January 1917, he was attached to Strength at Sling. It was 1 March 1917 when he marched out and proceeded overseas to France where he joined his Battalion in the Field on 2 June. Just five days later – on 7 June 1917 – he was wounded in Action and admitted firstly to the 77th Field Ambulance then to the 53rd Casualty Clearing Station. Two weeks later, on 21 June, he died of his wounds at the 53rd Casualty Clearing Station in the Field in France, aged 23 years 11 months.

Casualty List 606, of late June 1917, reported that Arthur Edwin Berry, with the Rifle Brigade, was wounded and had been admitted to the hospital on 7 June. His mother was advised accordingly. On 7 June he had received wounds in the chest – gunshot wounds which penetrated the lung. He was initially admitted to the Field Ambulance, and on the same day to the Casualty Clearing Station. At the same time, it was reported that he had been killed in action. In fact, he had died of his wounds on 21 June 1917 at the 53rd Casualty Clearing Station, in France. Mrs Berry received the sad news of her son’s death on 29 June. “Private Arthur Edwin Berry, dearly beloved son of James and Sarah Ann Berry, Waimate, who died in hospital, of wounds in chest, on June 21, 1917.” Thereupon his name was recorded under “The Supreme Sacrifice” in Waimate’s Roll of Honour published in the Waimate Daily Advertiser. He was buried in Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension, Nord, France. He had seen service in Western Europe, for which he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. These medals, along with the scroll and memorial plaque, were sent to his mother.

Private Berry had written to his parents several times, describing life at the front, and “always speaking cheerfully, and making light of the hardships.” He made out a Pay Book Will, dated 16 June 1917 – after his wounding and just five days before his death. His mother was the beneficiary but as of 18 September 1918 she did not intend to apply for probate. The name of Alfred Edwin Berry is inscribed on the Timaru Memorial Wall and the Waimate War Memorial. He is also remembered on his parents’ headstone in the Waimate Cemetery – “Peace Perfect Peace.”

The Waimate War Memorial was unveiled following the Anzac Day service on 25 April 1923, the parade reforming to march to the park. Lieutenant-Colonel Newman Wilson, D.S.O., M.C., a Waimate man who served with distinction in the war, was invited to unveil the memorial. ‘Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson said that it was a matter for congratulation to the district and relations of those who are no longer with us that the splendid memorial had been erected. It was an outward expression of the high regard and esteem in which they held those who at the call of duty and danger did their job.

“We who are left behind,” he said, “feel that there is little we can do compared to those who gave their all. We must keep Anzac Day as a holy day and not as a holiday, not only must we tell them the brave story but also must we tell them of the awful cost — through the great sorrow we must learn wisdom.” In conclusion Colonel Wilson said he would repeat the last lines of Kipling’s Recessional Hymn:

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,

Lest we forget, lest we forget.

“I unveil this memorial to the glory of God and in honourable memory to those who gave their all for us and freedom.”’ A prayer of dedication, the firing of three volleys and the sounding of the “Last Post” followed, after which many beautiful wreaths were placed at the foot of the arch by returned men and relations of the fallen. The memorial which takes the form of a beautiful arch at Victoria Park records on marble tablets the names of those from the district who died in the Great War. Above the tablets is the inscription: “The glorious dead: the names liveth forever more.” Included among the names is A. E. Berry.

Arthur’s oldest brother, Charles William James Berry (Bill), enlisted and served in New Zealand only in 1918. His brother George Edward Berry who was listed on the Reserve Rolls was a railway surfaceman in Christchurch, married with a child. Ronald George Andrew Smith who served in World War Two was a nephew of Arthur, being the son of his eldest sister Emily. James Berry died on 21 August 1926 at the Waimate Hospital and Sarah Ann Berry on 7 October 1926 at her Norton Reserve residence. Both had been prominent members of the Salvation Army for many years. They were survived by three daughters and three sons.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [21 September 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives New Zealand ref. AABK 18805 W5520 0014231) [24 September 2013]; CWGC [21 September 2013]; NZ BDM historical records indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [14 July 2015]; Family Info – RootsWeb’s WorldConnect Project [21 September 2013]; Waimate Daily Advertiser, 15 December 1900, 12, 26 & 28 July 1916, 17 August 1916, 16 November 1916, 29 & 30 June 1917, 2 & 3 July 1917, 3 August 1917, 30 May 1918, 14 January 1922, 24 April 1922, 26 April 1923, 21 August 1926, 9 & 14 October 1926, Timaru Herald, 1 & 25 July 1916, 16 November 1916, 29 June 1917, 13 November 1922, 14 October 1929, Oamaru Mail, 28 June 1917 [x 2], 30 June 1917, Sun, 30 June 1917, Otago Witness, 11 July 1917 (Papers Past) [16 November 2013; 13 July 2015; 30 June 2016; 02 September 2017; 24 October 2017; 18 September 2019; 02 May 2020; 21 June 2022; 10 July 2022; 05 July 2025]; Waimate Advertiser, 24 June 1921 [2015]; Waimate Cemetery headstone image (Waimate District Council) [2013]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [20 July 2015]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available.

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

TS