Profile

TAIT, William Irvine
(Service number 3/150A)

Aliases
First Rank Sergeant Last Rank

Birth

Date 4 June 1890 Place of Birth Greymouth

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment Le Crens Terrace, Timaru
Occupation Accountant
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Captain James Tait (father), Le Cren's Terrace, Timaru, New Zealand
Religion Presbyterian
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation Main Body
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Medical Corps
Date 16 October 1914
Transport
Embarked From Wellington, New Zealand Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
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

Company manager

Death

Date 25 October 1956 Age 66 years
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Timaru Cemetery
Memorial Reference General Section, Row 4, Plot 188
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

William Irvine Tait was the fourth son of Captain James Tait, harbourmaster at Timaru, and his wife Harriet née Irvine. His oldest brother died in 1911 at Timaru; his second brother, Allan George Tait, served with the Territorial Force and twice endeavoured to enlist but was appealed for by the Timaru Boys' High School Board of Govenors, where he was a master and headmaster. And two brothers, Gilbert Innes Tait and Ivan Howard Tait, also served in World War One, Ivan to die a civilian in World War Two. William was on active service when his father died quite suddenly on 4 November 1917. His brother A. G. Tait was the father of the distinguished Admiral Sir Allan Gordon Tait. William married Cara Ethel Holdgate in 1922.

Sources

Genealogical notes by Guy Holdagte, 2014 (L2014/008); Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [26 February 2017]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [26 February 2017]; Timaru Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [27 February 2017]; Press, 6 November 1917 (Papers Past) [27 February 2017]

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Tony Rippin (South Canterbury Museum)

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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