Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Charles Marshall Fyfe was born on 17 November 1883 at Timaru, the son of Thomas Webster and Jane (Jean, née Craigie) Fyfe. Charles was educated Gleniti (Wai-iti) and Waimataitai schools. He married Alice Cairns Montgomery, of Timaru, in 1909. Charles and Alice had a daughter, and a son was born to Alice a few years later. But Charles had problems. A chemist, he was charged in April 1913 with two counts of theft. Charles Marshall Fyfe enlisted with the Australian Imperial Force on 16 November 1914 at Castlemaine, Victoria. He was 30 years old, a pharmaceutical chemist, having served a five-year apprenticeship with J. C. Oddie, Chemist, Timaru. He recorded his status as single and named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs Jane Fyfe, 78 Wilson Street, Timaru. He had served 2 years as Volunteer with City Rifles Timaru, until he left the country. He served with the Field Ambulance from 16 September 1914 till 15 January 1915. Charles re-enlisted on 24 February 1915 at Maryborough. From Military Camp at Enoggera, Queensland, on 16 March 1915, he applied for his discharge, “being undesirous under the prevailing circumstances, of staying in the expeditionary forces”. He was discharged on 22 March 1915, medically unfit. On 23 August 1916, Charles Marshall Fyfe was admitted to the Lara Asylum at Geelong, Victoria. It appears that Charles Fyfe returned to New Zealand. He was listed on the New Zealand Division 2 Reserve Roll, as a cook at Te Wairoa, Rotorua, with two children. His name was recorded on the 1919 electoral roll at Onehunga with his brother William and sister-in-law. His name also appeared in the Police Gazette again in October 1919- for escaping from Rotorua Inebriates’ Home on 22 October, labourer and chemist, native of New Zealand, . . . He had been committed to the institution for one year on 10 October at Auckland. He was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment in October 1923 for being idle and disorderly (insufficient means). In November 1926 he was again charged with escaping from an inebriates’ institution and was returned to the institutuion. He faced another charge of escaping in May 1927. Some time after he returned to Australia where he died in May 1945 at Ryde, New South Wales. He was buried in the Field of Mars Cemetery, Ryde, New South Wales, and is remembered on his parents’ headstone in the Timaru Cemetery.

Sources

NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [13 April 2020]; School Admission records [13 April 2020]; Timaru Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [13 April 2020]; Victoria, Australia, Asylum records (ancestry.com.au) [25 April 2020]; Find A Grave [25 April 2020]; NZ WWI Reserve Rolls [25 April 2020]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [25 April 2020]; NZ Police Gazettes [25 April 2020]; Australia Death Index (NSW Registry online) [25 April 2020]

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Related Documents

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Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

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