Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Thomas Stanley Logan, known as Stan, was the third son of John and Mary Jane (nee Hewish) Logan, of Timaru. He was born on 8 October 1889 at Timaru, the 8th child in a family of 12 (7 sons and 5 daughters). Two of the children died in infancy, John in 1886 and Christian in 1901. Along with his brothers and sisters he was educated at Timaru Main School. There in Standard III he was awarded a third class certificate of merit at the prize-giving held in December 1901. Stan was a member of the Star Football Club. In 1907 he played in the ‘Thirds’, along with other young lads who would some years later leave together for the Front. The club members practised with a run from the post office at 7.30 at night. He represented the club in the seven-a-side team for the President’s Trophy, on 24 May 1907, and continued to do so for several years. The Star Juniors travelled to Geraldine by the 1.30 express for their match in July 1907. Stan was a regular in the Star teams from 1907 through to 1911, and beyond. In 1910 he played alongside his brother George in the Star third grade tournament team. There was a protest that “Logan”, one of the Star players was a senior man, having played in first grade matches. As two Logans were included in the Star team, the captain gave evidence that S. Logan had played at Temuka for Star III, while the match in question had been played at Timaru. G. Logan played in a senior game on the day but had not played since. His evidence was corroborated by the referees’ lists and the protest was dismissed. In that year (1910) their team was successful in the seven-a-side tournament and the players were presented with medals at a Star Football Club social. Their club rooms were too small for all who came along to do them honour. In a very tight match against Celtic, in May 1911, Stan scored after a clever swerving run, but this was not sufficient to secure a win. In the next exchange, Stan was again prominent. After fast following up a high kick, he narrowly missed getting across, but then distinguished himself by clean breaking away to set up the try scorer. This time Star-Pirates came away with a win. In 1914 he was named in the Star senior team.

Stanley, George and Reuben were all members of the Star Football Club. At the club's annual meeting in April 1915 the names S. Logan, G. Logan and R. Logan were among those forwarded to the South Canterbury Rugby Union for the compilation of a New Zealand Roll of Honour. All three were already attached to the Expeditionary Forces at this date. Their oldest brother William who had joined the Timaru Port Guards on 9 April 1900 with the rank of Private, was listed in the Reserves. Another brother, James Logan, was also listed on the Reserve Roll.

Thomas Stanley Logan enlisted on 13 February 1915 at Trentham, aged 25 years 3 months. Single and Wesleyan, he named his father, John Logan, of 6 Wilson Street, Timaru, as his next-of-kin. He gave his home address, although he had been working in the North Island. He was 5 feet 3 inches tall, weighed 126 pounds, and had a chest measurement of 32-34½ inches. His complexion was fair, his eyes grey, and his hair brown. His sight, hearing and colour vision were all good, his limbs and chest well formed, and his heart and lungs normal. Free of all diseases and defects, and vaccinated, he was in good bodily and mental health. His upper teeth were false, the lower fair. He had previously served with the Timaru Rifle Club. At the time of enlisting Stan was a self-employed cabinetmaker, working in the Wairarapa, having previously been employed at Radcliffe’s furniture factory. Private T. S. Logan embarked with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion of the 4th Reinforcements (to which he was transferred from the 5th Reinforcements on 14 April at Trentham) on 17 April 1915 at Wellington - the same unit and on the same date as his brother Rue. They were headed for Suez, Egypt, where Stan and Rue were detained as garrison. In the diary kept by Private H. G. Budd (4th Reinforcements; killed in action on 7 August 1915, the same day as Stan), Budd mentions in the entry for July 29, 1915, meeting up with Rue and Stan Logan. This was the day after Stan joined his Battalion at the Dardanelles.

Less than four months after embarking and just ten days after joining his Battalion at the Dardanelles, Stan was killed in action. Private Thomas Stanley Logan, 6/2192, was killed in action on 7 August 1915 at the Dardanelles, aged 25 years 10 months. His brother, George Hewish Logan, serving in the Australian Forces, was killed at Gallipoli the next day, although this was not confirmed for many months. Another brother Reuben Charles Logan also served in WWI, embarking with Stanley.

S. T. Logan's name is inscribed on the Wesley Church Roll of Honour in the Bank Street Methodist Church. This Roll of Honour was unveiled at a very impressive service in early June 1915, after an address by the Rev. T. A. Joughin, opening with the words “Sorrow and pride mingle in the duty I have to perform” and while the “Litany for Army and Navy” was sung. A letter of sympathy was sent to Mr and Mrs John Logan by the Bank Street Circuit of the Methodist Church, on the death of their son Stanley, killed in action. An acknowledgement of the comforting message of sympathy for the loss of their son and brother in action was read to the Woodlands Street Circuit.

At the September 1915 school committee meeting the headmaster of the Main School recorded with great regret the death at the Front of several more ex-pupils of the school, including Stanley Logan and Herbert Budd, the diary writer. And at the Timaru Main School committee meeting in April 1917 it was reported that 300 old boys of the school had joined the Expeditionary Forces, of whom 30 had made the supreme sacrifice, among them S. Logan and G. Logan. At the Timaru Main School, on Saturday, June 25, 1921, an important ceremony took place, when a very fine monument, standing in the school grounds at the corner of Arthur and Grey streets, was unveiled. The memorial is “a testimony to duty faithfully done, even unto death.” Nine days earlier the foundation stone for this memorial to the ex-pupils of the school who had lost their lives in the Great War, was laid. Scrolls bearing the names of the fallen ex-pupils (70) and of others who had served in the war (361) were inserted in the cavity of the stone.

Stan was a member of the Foresters’ Lodge. On 13 July 1920, the Lodge members unveiled in their hall a decorative Roll of Honour contained in a glass case and beautifully illuminated, which names 107 brethren who went to the front, an underlining in red distinguishing the names of sixteen who lost their lives, among them one S. Logan.

Stanley’s medals – 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal, plaque and scroll were sent to his father. He was also awarded the Gallipoli Medallion. In April 2009 at Sydney, two memorial plaques fitted into circular frames were offered for sale - plaques for two brothers, one for Pte Thomas Stanley Logan killed in action on 7 August 1915 at Gallipoli and the other for 528 Pte George Hewish Logan killed in action on 8 August 1915 at Gallipoli. Thomas Stanley Logan is named on the Chunuk Bair Memorial at Gallipoli, Turkey. He is remembered on the Timaru Memorial Wall, the Bank Street Timaru Methodist Church Memorial, and on his parents’ headstone in the Timaru Cemetery. A photograph of Private T. H. Logan is printed in Onward: Portraits of the NZEF, Vol. 1; and one was also printed in the Otago Witness, of 8 September 1915.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [29 November 2013]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5544 0069055) [26 June 2014]; CWGC [29 November 2013]; Headstone image Timaru Cemetery (Timaru District Council) [29 November 2013]; South Canterbury Times, 13 December 1886, Timaru Herald, 20 Dec 1901, 30 April 1907, 7 & 24 May 1907, 9 July 1907, 30 April 1908, 28 April 1909, 2 & 6 June 1910, 25 August 1910, 9 September 1910, 12 May 1911, 1 & 5 June 1911, 6 May 1914, 16 April 1915, 7 June 1915, 28 August 1915 [x 2], 23 September 1915, 5 & 9 October 1915, 2 August 1916, 28 April 1917, 14 July 1920, Press, 30 August 1915, Evening Star, 30 & 31 August 1915, Otago Witness, 8 September 1915 [x 2] (Papers Past) [01 September 2014; 05 & 13 October 2014; 18 & 19 April 2015; 29 March 2017; 05 & 07 October 2019]; Militaria Sale - Noble Numismatics (www.noble.com.au) [29 November 2013]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [2013]; School Admission Records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [2013]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [18 April 2015]; Onward: Portraits of the NZEF, Vol. 1. (South Canterbury Branch NZSG library) [08/11/2014]; Timaru Herald, June 1921 (Timaru District Library) [20 April 2018]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

• LOGAN Thomas Stanley - newspaper extracts (pdf, 108.8 KB updated 06-Nov-2019)

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC brnach NZSG

Currently Assigned to

TS