Profile

WHITTA, John Rix
(Service number 7/145)

Aliases
First Rank	Lance Corporal	Last Rank

Birth

Date	25 March 1886	Place of Birth	Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England

Enlistment Information

Date	13 August 1914	Age	28 years 4 months
Address at Enlistment	Waimate
Occupation	Farmer
Previous Military Experience	Kings Own Yeomanry - 1 year
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Albert WHITTA, Methwold, Norfolk, England
Religion	Methodist
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 10 inches. Weight 150 years. Chest measurement 34-37 inches. Complexion fair light brown. Eyes blue. Hair fair. Sight - both eyes 6/6. Hearing & colour vision both good. Limbs well formed. Full & perfect movement of all joints. Chest well formed. Heart normal. Teeth artificial. Free from hernia, varicocele, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Vaccinated. Good bodily & mental health. No slight defects. 2 scars 1 inch long ½ inch wide left side neck.

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation	Main Body
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	Canterbury Mounted Rifles
Date	16 October 1914
Transport	Tahiti or Athenic
Embarked From	Wellington	Destination

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns	Balkan (Gallipoli, Mudros); Egyptian, Egyptian Expeditionary Force
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	24 September 1917	Reason	Transferred to Imperial Establishment.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date	10 July 1954	Age	68 years
Place of Death	Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

John Rix Whitta, born on 25 March 1886 at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, was the youngest in the family of Albert John and Sarah Elizabeth (née Rought) Whitta. In 1891 John was a five year old scholar at home with his family at Mrthwold, Norfolk. Still at home in 1901, 15 year old John was an assistant to his father, an auctioneer and valuer. He was an auctioneer's clerk, still living at Methwold with his parents and two sisters. It appears that John had been not long in New Zealand when he enlisted with the New Zealand Forces on the outbreak of war - on 13 August 1914 at Timaru. But he had been long enough to establish a link with the Waimate Methodist Church,

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [04 March 2017]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ Ref. AABK 18805 W5557 0121852) [12 March 2017]; 1891, 1901, 1911 census returns for Methwold, Norfolk, England (ancestry.com.au) [06 March 2017]; Waimate Daily Advertiser, 12 & 27 August 1914, 2 August 1915, Timaru Herald, 15 August 1914, 19 September 1914, Press, 24 August 1914, 18 September 1914, 22 December 1915, Sun, 5 September 1914, Evening Post, 20 March 1917, Otago Daily Times, 24 March 1917, Auckland Star, 24 March 1917 (Papers Past) [04 & 06 March 2017]

External Links

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