Profile

DRIVER, Thomas William
(Service number 10/580)

Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank Private

Birth

Date 22 March 1893 Place of Birth Port Chalmers, Otago, New Zealand

Enlistment Information

Date 21 August 1914 Age 21
Address at Enlistment Dannevirke, New Zealand
Occupation Labourer
Previous Military Experience Two years seven months with Port Chalmers Naval Unit
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin George Driver (father), Fairlie; later 28 Elizabeth Street, Timaru, New Zealand
Religion Church of England
Medical Information 5 foot 8 inches tall, weight 140 lbs, chest 33 inches, dark complexion, grey eyes, dark hair, teeth no decay

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation Main Body
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Wellington Infantry Battalion, 17th Ruahine Company
Date 16 October 1914
Transport Arawa
Embarked From Wellington, New Zealand Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With Wellington Infantry Battalion

Military Awards

Campaigns Egyptian & Gallipoli
Service Medals 1914-1915 Star, 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 Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 8 August 1915 Age 22
Place of Death Gallipoli, Turkey
Cause Killed in action
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Chunuk Bair (NZ) Memorial, Chunuk Bair Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey
Memorial Reference Panel 20
New Zealand Memorials On Memorial wall, Timaru; Fairlie War Memorial

Biographical Notes

Thomas was born in Port Chalmers on 22 March 1893, the only son of George and Louisa Alice (nee Burns) Driver. He was educated at the George Street, Port Chalmers and Sawyers Bay Schools, Dunedin.

At Masterton, on 21 August 1914, Thomas enlisted for war service with the Wellington Infantry Battalion, 17th Ruahines Coy. He gave his current address as Dannevirke, and his occupation as Labourer. Described as being Anglican, single, aged 21, 5 foot 8 inches tall, weighing 140 lbs, chest measuring 33 inches, of dark complexion, grey eyes, dark hair and teeth having no decay. He nominated his father, Mr George Driver of Fairlie, later of 28 Elizabeth Street, Timaru, as his next of kin. He also stated that he had had 2 years 7 months previous military experience with the Port Chalmers Naval Unit. Thomas left Wellington with the Main Body on 16 October 1914, aboard the SS Arawa, bound for Suez, Egypt. On 6 May 1915, he joined his unit on the Dardanelles and was reported missing in action on 8 August. A Court of Enquiry held at Moascar Camp, Ismalia, on 24 January 1916, found that he was “Now believed to be dead at the Dardanelles, 8 August 1915”. There being no body found to be buried, he is commemorated in the Chunuk Bair Cemetery on the NZ Memorial, Panel 20.

Thomas's father, in Timaru, was forwarded his war medals: the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal, along with a plaque and scroll, shortly after the war ended.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph database (July 2015); Archives NZ (Personnel File); New Zealand Roll of Honour at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sooty/nzefrohD.html; New Zealanders on Chunuk Bair Memorial to the Missing (850 names) at http://www.anzac.govt.nz/gallipoliguide/names/chunuk-bair.html

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available.

Researched and Written by

Carol Bell, SC branch NZSG & Timaru Herald; Ted Hansen, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Logo. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

Tell us more

Do you have information that could be added to this story? Or related images that you are happy to share? Submit them here!

Your Details
Veteran Details
- you may attach an image or document up to 10MB