Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

William Mangos was born on 11 March 1886 at Lyell, West Coast, fifth child and third son in the family of fifteen of Demetrius Nicolas and Mary Ann (née Williams) Mangos. Demetrius Nicholas who was born in Greece in 1833 and was naturalized in 1874, worked first as a boatman on the Buller River. He and Mary Ann who was born in New Zealand in 1862 married at Nelson in 1878. Most of their children were born at Lyell where Demetrius was a hotel keeper, two dying at birth. Demetrius Nicholas Mangos (also known as Peter) who was a pioneer of the West Coast, worked as a boatman on the Buller River before becoming a publican at Lyell; he died in November 1901 at Nelson Hospital. He bequeathed all his estate to his dear wife and, upon her decease, to the children of their marriage equally; should all have predeceased him, the proceeds were to be shared by the Westport Hospital and St Mary’s Industrial School, Stoke.

William, known as Bill, had been a labourer at Ngakawau and Lyell from his youth. He was a bridge builder for the Public Works Department at Lyell when he enlisted on 16 October 1916 at Westport. He had been medically examined that day. Standing at 5 feet 7 inches and weighing 10 stone 11 pounds, he had a chest measurement of 35-38 inches, a dark complexion, brown eyes and black hair. While the sight in his right eye was good, his left eye was very weak. His hearing, colour vision, heart and lungs were all normal, his limbs and chest well formed, but his teeth poor. Free from illnesses and diseases, vaccinated, and in good bodily & mental health, he was assessed fit. Single and Roman Catholic he named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs M. Mangos, Church Street, Timaru (initially, P.O. Lyell, Westport). Nicholas Demetrius Mangus, the second son of the family, was a telegraphist in Timaru from about 1902. Mrs Mary Mangos had probably moved to Timaru for family support, her daughter Athena also living there throughout the 1910s and son Demetrius in 1915.

William Mangos, bridge hand, Inangahua Landing, was one of many local men who had voluntarily enlisted and were attested for the Twenty-fourth Reinforcement to leave Greymouth by the Mapourika on 4th January 1917. The steamer was timed to leave the wharf at 4 p.m., and the Twenty-fourths would be given a public farewell in front of the Town Hall the same afternoon. He was transferred from Featherston Detachments to Trentham Details on 3 February 1917, then to the 23rd Reinforcements on 20 February. William Mangos was a soldier at Featherston Camp when he married Ellen Cecilia Chapman (Nellie) on 12 February 1917 at Granity. Ellen C. Mangos became his next-of-kin – P.O. Inangahua Junction, Murchison, West Coast. Their son William John Mangos was born in September 1917, a week after William had died. Mangos was admonished for absence without leave at Trentham on 9 March 1917. Surely understandable for a newly married man about to leave his wife and country.

Rifleman W. Mangos embarked with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, departing from Wellington per the “Ruapehu” on 2 April 1917. Having disembarked at Devonport, England on 10 June, he marched into Sling on 11 June 1917 and was taken on the Strength of the 43rd Reinforcements and posted to D Company. He proceeded overseas to France on 6 July and joined his Battalion in the Field - 3rd Battalion, 3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade – on 11 August. The casualty list issued on 30 August 1917 and published on 31 August, reported W. Mangos as wounded on 17 August. The casualty list issued on 8 September reported that Rifleman W. Mangos had died of wounds. He had, in fact, been wounded in a bomb accident on 14 August 1917 and admitted to No. 2 Australian Casualty Clearing Station in the Field in France. There he died. 44130 Rifleman William Mangos died on 26 August 1917, four months after embarking, of wounds accidentally received – shrapnel penetrating the abdomen and left thigh. He was buried in the Military Cemetery at Trois Arbres, Steenwerck. The Court of Enquiry found that William Mangos was “accidentally wounded by the explosion of a Mills bomb” at 9.30pm on 14 August 1917 at Connaught Railway Siding while he was performing Military duty. He was not to blame. Persons unknown were to blame.

A Court of Enquiry had been assembled at Kortepyp Camp at Le Romarin to enquire into and report on the accident at Connaught Siding Le Romarin on 14 August 1917 when nine soldiers were wounded. The members of the Court proceeded to take evidence. 1st evidence (Sgt Hadwin, 3rd Bn) – “I was in charge of a working party entraining at 9.30p.m. 14/8/17. While entraining at 9.30p.m. an explosion occurred at the feet of a party of about 14 men moving into the last truck. As a result the nine men mentioned in the proceedings were wounded. At the time it was semi-dark. The sound of the explosion was that of a Mills bomb. I produce a piece which is identified as a portion of a Mills No. 5 bomb. No sound of a bomb falling was heard. . . . . I am absolutely certain that there were no bombs in the possession of any of the men of the working party from my platoon. The 14 men belonged to this platoon. There was nobody within a yard of the place where the bomb exploded.” Similar evidence followed from two others of the 3rd Battalion, the second to testify adding “The majority [of the men] were late reinforcements who had not been in the trenches or on bombing instruction with this unit. The position of the explosion was such that the bomb could not have been thrown by any man of the party . . . . .” Evidence was also given by the Officer in Charge of the Connaught Railway lines and by another who was in the Connaught Yard at the time and found the portion of the Mills bomb the next morning. No action was to be taken. The casualty was to be reported “Accidentally Wounded”.

His mother, Mary A. Mangos, Church St, Timaru was granted a War Pension of £39 per annum, and his widow, Ellen C. and child, Inangahua Junction, £74.10s. The memorial plaque and scroll were sent to his mother at Timaru, while his medals - British War Medal and Victory Medal - were sent to his wife at Murchison. The portrait of Rifleman William Mangos printed in the Auckland Weekly News is attached to his Cenotaph record. Ellen Cecilia Mangos remained a widow for more than 40 years, spending most of her life in the Buller district and in later years at Nelson. Her son William John Mangos (Bill) was drawn in a World War Two ballot. Ellen died on 9 December 1957, aged 68 years, and was buried in the Catholic section of Wakapuaka Cemetery, Nelson. William John was buried there too, in 2000, with his wife Norma who had died in 1999.

William’s brother Demetrius Mangos who also served in World War One was gassed and died early. Other brothers were listed on the Reserve Rolls, some having several children. His nephew, Kenneth Mangos (son of Demetrius) was lost on air operations in Germany in February 1945; another nephew, George Gordon Drummond Mangos (stepson of George), was a prisoner of war and was lost at sea in February 1942. Four other nephews served in World War Two – Demetrius Nicholas Mangos (son of Constantine); Arthur Demetrius Mangos and Bernard Eric Mangos (sons of Nicholas Demetrius); Allan Godfrey Turnbull (son of Mary Mangos and Charles Adam Turnbull). Others were drawn in ballots. Mrs Mary Ann Mangos died at her Greymouth residence in November 1930 and was buried with her husband at Wakapuaka Cemetery, Nelson. She was survived by four sons and six daughters, predeceased by Sophia, Bill and Demetrius. Constantine Mangos, the eldest of the family, died in 1950 at the Post Office Hotel, Lyell, the very place where he had been born 70 years earlier and had never left. A Memorial fountain to mark the association of the Mangos family with the former township of Lyell (Upper Buller) was blessed on 11 November 1979. The Mangos family was associated with Lyell throughout its history and members of the family were the last people to live there. The hotel was burned down in 1963.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [17 November 2014]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5544 0077435) [05 July 2017]; CWGC [17 November 2014]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [19 June 2016]; Greymouth Evening Star, 29 November 1901, 28 December 1916, 31 August 1917, 29 November 1930, West Coast Times, 22 November 1916, Grey River Argus, 29 December 1916, New Zealand Times, 31 August 1917, Ashburton Guardian, 8 September 1917, Timaru Herald, 10 September 1917, 27 September 1917, Hokitika Guardian, 11 September 1917, Colonist, 13 September 1917 (Papers Past) [17 November 2014; 20 June 2016; 26 & 28 October 2025]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [02 September 2016; 25 & 26 October 2025]; Wakapuaka Cemetery Nelson records.

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

TS