SPENCE, William
(Service number 6/1984)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank | Private |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 20 December 1884 | Place of Birth | Killinchy |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Dunsandel | ||
| Occupation | Farm hand | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Mrs Jean TAYLOR (mother), Post-office, Timaru; later 47 Regent Street, Timaru; 30 Regent Street, Timaru | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | 4th Reinforcements | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | Canterbury Infantry Battalion | ||
| Date | 17 April 1915 | ||
| Transport | Willochra or Knight Templar or Waitomo | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | ||
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | Canterbury Infantry Battalion | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | Gallipoli | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | |||
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 |
Death
| Date | 7 August 1915 | Age | 30 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Gallipoli, Turkey | ||
| Cause | Killed in action | ||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Chunuk Bair (New Zealand) Memorial, Chunuk Bair Cemetery, Gallipoli, Turkey | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
William Spence was born on 20 December 1884 at Killinchy, the son of Jane (Jean) Spence, and was educated at Killinchy School. Jane, who was born in 1867 at Angus, Scotland, came to new Zealand in 1870 with her parents, James and Isabella, and a younger brother James. Four more children were born in New Zealand. Jane Spence had another son, James Joseph Spence, who was born in 1893 at Killinchy and died in 1897, and was buried in Ellesmere Cemetery alongside Spence relatives. In 1915 William was a farm hand for James Spence at Killinchy. Many Canterbury men were killed on 7/8 August 1915, seven of them with Timaru connections, one being William Spence, son of Mrs J. Taylor (formerly Spence), of Timaru, South Canterbury. Whether William's connection to the district was only through his mother is yet to be determined, but she married George Taylor in 1897, and they had two children (Isabella Grace and John Alexander). Jean Spence had been a dairy maid at Killinchy in 1893 and 1896. After her marriage in 1897, she and George, a shepherd, lived successively at Lake Pukaki, Elloughton Grange, Timaru, Lake Tekapo, Cannington, and at Regent Street, Timaru. Jean Taylor died on 24 November 1940, predeceased by George; they are buried in Timaru Cemetery.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [04 February 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [04 February 2020]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [05 February 2020]; Timaru Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [05 February 2020]
External Links
Related Documents
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, 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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