Profile

McCULLOUGH, John
(Service number 464225)

Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank Private

Birth

Date 1 July 1883 Place of Birth Timaru

Enlistment Information

Date 1 September 1915 Age 32 years
Address at Enlistment Canada
Occupation Moulder
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mary McCULLOUGH (mother), Regent St, (Timaru), South Canterbury
Religion Presbyterian
Medical Information Height 5 feet 8 inches. Girth when full expanded 38 inches; range of expansion 3 inches.

Military Service

Served with Canadian Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Canadian Infantry, 62nd Battalion
Date 1 April 1916
Transport Baltic
Embarked From Halifax, Canada Destination
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With Canadian Infantry, Western Ontario Regiment, 47th Battalion

Military Awards

Campaigns Western European
Service Medals
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 11 November 1916 Age 33 years
Place of Death
Cause Killed in action
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Vimy Memorial, Pas de Calais, France
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials Canadian Virtual War Memorial (Veterans Affairs Canada)

Biographical Notes

John McCullough, 464225 Canadian Forces, was born on 1 July 1883 at Timaru, the eldest son of John and Mary Ann (née Baird) McCullough, of Timaru. He was educated at Timaru Main School, leaving at age 14 to go out to work. Was John the J. McCullough (Timaru) selected to represent the combined presidents football fifteen against Star II on the Caledonian Grounds in the afternoon of 11 August 1904? In October 1914 John McCullough arrived at Eastport, Idaho, United States. He was 31 years old, born in New Zealand, residing at Brandon, Manitoba, Canada, and gave as his next-of-kin his father John McCullough, of Timaru. He was, however, debarred from entering the USA. John had lived in Timaru until 1914, when he went “to try his fortune in Canada” and there he was when the war broke out.

John McCullough enlisted on 1 September 1915 at Vernon, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,for duration of war; a 32 year old moulder. He was 5 feet 8 inches tall and had a chest measurement of 35-38 inches, as per the medical examination conducted on 11 March 1916 at Vancouver. He was single, Presbyterian, and had had no previous military service. John named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs Mary McCullough, Regent Street, Timaru, South Canterbury, New Zealand. 464225 Private John McCullough embarked at Halifax per SS Baltic, on 1 April 1916, and arrived in England on 10 April 1916. Attached to the 62nd Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force, he was transferred to the 47th Battalion on 12 May 1916 at Bramshott, Hampshire, England. Proceeding from England for France on 10 August 1916, he arrived at Le Havre the next day. From then he received regular payments of Field Allowance. All his service was to be in France.

On 29 November 1916 Private John McCullough was reported missing after Action in the Field on 11 November 1916. On 23 December 1916 it was reported that he had been killed in action on 11 November 1916 – on night of 10/11 November 1916 during the attack and capture of Regina Trench, Courcelette. He met his death after only four months on the French front. His death was confirmed on 1 January 1917. It was not until February 1917 that Mr and Mrs John McCullough received the news through the Canadian Record Office, London. Letters of sympathy were sent by the Minister of Militia and Defence of Canada and by the Secretary of State for war. The official report was received on 13 March 1917. John McCullough junior was 33 years old.

His name is inscribed on the Vimy Memorial, Pas de Calais, France. At the base of the memorial, these words appear in French and in English:

TO THE VALOUR OF THEIR COUNTRYMEN IN THE GREAT WAR

AND IN MEMORY OF THEIR SIXTY THOUSAND DEAD

THIS MONUMENT IS RAISED BY THE PEOPLE OF CANADA

Inscribed on the ramparts of the Vimy memorial are the names of over 11,000 Canadian soldiers who were posted as ‘missing, presumed dead’ in France. His name is inscribed on the Canadian Virtual War Memorial (Veterans Affairs Canada) - “In memory of Private John McCullough who died on November 11, 1916”, and it is recorded in the Canadian First World War Book of Remembrance (page 123), which is displayed in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower in Ottawa.

The scroll was despatched on 2 February 1921 and the plaque on 11 August 1922, to his parents, John and Mary McCullough, Regent Street, Timaru. The Memorial Cross was despatched on 11 August 1920 to his mother. By the 1920s John and Mary Ann McCullough had moved to 72 Church Street West, Timaru. John McCullough, 464225, Private, 47th Battalion, made a Military Will in his Pay Book on 25 May 1916 – “I leave everything I possess to my mother Merry [sic] McCullough Timaru South Canterbury New Zealand”. His youngest brother David James McCullough served in World War I with the New Zealand Forces; his brother William McCullough was recorded on the 1916-1917 Reserve Roll and was called up in 1917.

Sources

Canadian Over-Seas Expeditionary Force - Attestation Paper (Archives Canada, per ancestry.) [10 September 2013]; Canadian Expeditionary Force Service File (Canadian Archives) [2018]; CWGC [27 August 2013]; Canadian Great War Project [06 September 2013]; Canada War Graves Registers - Circumstances of Casualty (ancestry.com.au) [03 November 2013]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [2013]; School Admission records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [2013]; The Canadian Virtual War Memorial - Veterans Affairs Canada [06 September 2013]; NZ BDM historical records; New Zealand Wargraves Project [10 September 2013]; Timaru Herald, 10 August 1904, 12 February 1917 (Papers Past) [9 August 2016; 21 October 2018]

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

TS

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