Profile

THOREAU, Edward John
(Service number 13375)

Aliases
First Rank Trooper Last Rank

Birth

Date 25 June 1871 Place of Birth Christchurch

Enlistment Information

Date 11 January 1916 Age
Address at Enlistment 31 Tainui Street, Palmerston North
Occupation Driver
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Married. Two children
Next of Kin Mrs Susan THOREAU (wife), 31 Tainui Street, Palmerston North
Religion Presbyterian
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade
Date 27 May 1916
Transport Willochra or Tofua
Embarked From Wellington Destination
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

Labourer, carter

Death

Date 16 May 1921 Age 54 years
Place of Death Palmerston North Hospital
Cause Result of accident
Notices Manawatu Times, 18 May 1921
Memorial or Cemetery Terrace End Cemetery, Palmerston North
Memorial Reference Block 31, Plot 42
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Edward John Thoreau was the eldest son of Philip Edward and Jane (née Bateman) Thoreau. Philip was from Jersey in the Channel Islands. Edward's service record gives a birth year of 1871 but he may well have been born in about 1867, his age at death being 54. Edward was educated at the Public School Timaru and the Timaru South and Timaru Main schools. One school record gives a birth year of 1870. He married Susan Gibson in 1891. He and Susan had two children - Ethel and Edward John junior. In 1905 the family moved to Palmerston North where Edward was employed by the borough council. In Timaru he had been a sergeant with the South Canterbury Mounted Rifles. Although over the military age he enlisted and was on active service for some years. Susan died in December 1918 while Edward was on active service and their son was away at the front. Edward senior was killed tragically when he was knocked over by a car at night and suffered horrific injuries. His father had served in the Jersey Militia and, in fact, volunteered on the outbreak of Worl War I, being ruled out on account of his age. Philip Thoreau was for three years custodian of the Returned Soldiers' Association rooms in Timaru. Edward's brother Albert served in the South African War.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [06 January 2019]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [06 January 2019]; School Admission record (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [06 January 2019]; Refer Timaru Herald, 30 May 1905, 14 December 1918, Manawatu Times, 6 December 1918, 17 & 18 May 1921 (Papers Past) [06 & 07 January 2018]

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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

Tell us more

Do you have information that could be added to this story? Or related images that you are happy to share? Submit them here!

Your Details
Veteran Details
- you may attach an image or document up to 10MB