Profile

PIKE, Harold
(Service number 23/1152)

Aliases
First Rank	Rifleman	Last Rank	Sergeant

Birth

Date	21/02/1893	Place of Birth	Sydney, Australia

Enlistment Information

Date	29 May 1915	Age	22
Address at Enlistment	City Boarding House, Timaru, New Zealand
Occupation	Seaman
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Mr Joseph H. Pike, Wyee, NSW, Australia
Religion	Presbyterian
Medical Information	5 foot 6 inches, weight 158 lbs, chest 34 inches, dark complexion, grey eyes, dark brown hair, good teeth, 3 inch scar inner left thigh

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	1st NZ Rifle Brigade
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	D Coy, 1st NZ Rifle Brigade
Date	9 October 1915
Transport	Maunganui, Tahiti, Aparima, or Navua
Embarked From	Wellington, New Zealand	Destination	Suez, Egypt

Other Units Served With	3 & 4 NZ Light Medium Battery; B Company, 3rd Battalion Auckland Infantry Regiment; New Zealand Convalescent Depot
Last Unit Served With	NZ Rifle Brigade

Military Awards

Campaigns	Egyptian & Western Europe
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	26 February 1919	Reason	End of war

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

15 September 1916, he received gunshot wounds to his left leg, and was admitted to the 1st Canadian Hospital. He embarked to hospital in England on 4 October, being admitted first to Walton Hospital on 20 September, and then transferred to Hornchurch Convalescent Hospital on 12 October. On 25 October he was marched into Codford Camp and on15 November, admitted to No 3 NZGH Codford with appendicitis. Discharged from hospital 14 December 1916, he was again, on 2 February 1917, admitted to No 2 NZGH at Walton, with influenza.

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date		Age
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Harold was born at Sydney on 21 February 1893, son of Joseph Henry & Janet Catherine Pike.

Harold was employed as a seaman by the NZ Shipping Company prior to enlisting at Timaru on 29 May 1915. His last address was given as the City Boarding House, Timaru, and he gave his father, Mr Joseph H. Pike of Wyee, New South Wales, Australia, as his next of kin. His medical examination described him as being 5 foot 6 inches tall, single, Presbyterian, weighing 158 lbs, chest measuring 34 inches, of dark complexion, grey eyes, dark brown hair, teeth good and having a 3 inch scar on his inner left thigh. Rifleman Pike left with the 1st NZ Rifle Brigade from Wellington, bound for Suez, Egypt, on 9 October 1915, aboard either the Maunganui, Tahiti, Aparima, or Navua. He served in Egypt until 6 April 1916, when he left for service in France. He was appointed to the position of Cook on 27 June 1916, but relinquished that appointment on 3 July. On 25 July 1916, he was transferred to the 3rd NZ Light Medium Battery and, on 15 September 1916, he received gunshot wounds to his left leg, and was admitted to the 1st Canadian Hospital. He embarked to hospital in England on 4 October, being admitted first to Walton Hospital on 20 September, and then transferred to Hornchurch Convalescent Hospital on 12 October. On 25 October he was marched into Codford Camp and on15 November, admitted to No.3 NZGH Codford with appendicitis.

Discharged from hospital on 14 December 1916 he was again, on 2 February 1917, admitted to No 2 NZGH at Walton, with influenza. Harold was then transferred to B Company, 3rd Battalion Auckland Infantry Regiment on 29 March 1917, and left for France on 28 May. There he was transferred yet again to the 4th NZ Light Medium Battery on 1 June, and promoted to Corporal. On 22 November 1917, he was detatched for duty in England, serving at Aldershot, Sling Camp and Codford. Suffering from a ventral hernia, he was again admitted to No.3 NZGH at Codford on 14 January 1918. Discharged on 27 April, he was attached to the NZ Convalescent Depot and promoted to Sergeant on 26 August 1918. Harold returned to NZ aboard the SS Briton, leaving Plymouth on 24 December 1918, and was finally discharged from the army on 26 February 1919. His service earned him the 1914-1915 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal.

George's brother, Trooper Walter Robert Pike (no.7/1578), also served in Egypt at the same time. What happened to Harold after his return to NZ is still to be discovered, but his address in 1923, was care Post Office Box 332, Christchurch.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotpah Database (August 2015); Military Personnel file at NZ Archives (August 2015); New Zealand ANZACs in the Great War 1914-1918 at http://nzef.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=205256 (2 September 2015)

External Links

Researched and Written by

Ted Hansen, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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

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