Profile

DRAKE, Martin
(Service number 43025)

Aliases
First Rank Gunner Last Rank

Birth

Date 12 December 1889 Place of Birth Purakanui, Otago

Enlistment Information

Date 17 November 1916 Age 26 years
Address at Enlistment Reynoldstownm Port Chalmers
Occupation Postal official
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Married. Two children
Next of Kin Mrs Theresa DRAKE (wife), Post Office, Port Chalmers; 123 Arthur Street, Timaru
Religion Church of England
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 24th Reinforcements, New Zealand Field Artillery
Date 26 April 1917
Transport Pakeha
Embarked From Destination Plymouth, Devon, England
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

Death

Date *1967 Age
Place of Death New South Wales, Australia
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Martin Drake was born on 12 December 1889 at Purakanui, the youngest son of Joseph and Elizabeth (née Boyle) Drake. In late March 1894, his father and two mates left Port Chalmers for a fishing expedition at the Nuggets. They left there for the return on 6 April and were not seen again. Martin was educated at Port Chalmers School, starting there a year after his father died and leaving at the age of fourteen to become a Post Office messenger. He married Theresa Connor in June 1911 at Dunedin. They had three children – Ellen Isabel born at Reynoldstown, Port Chalmers on 11 May 1913, John (Jack) born at Reymoldstown on 30 April 1915, and Martin Joseph born at Timaru on 5 August 1917, three months after his father had left with the 24th Reinforcements. Martin was a postal official at Port Chalmers when he enlisted on 17 November 1916 at Port Chalmers, naming his wife as next-of-kin. Theresa Drake’s address was amended to Arthur Street, Timaru. Ellen started at Timaru Main School in 1918 and was for a year at Sacred Heart School, Timaru before the family moved to Christchurch.

M. Drake returned to Timaru, South Canterbury per the ‘Awarua’ which was due at Auckland about 19 November 1919. His wife died in 1956 and was buried at Ruru Lawn Cemetery. Martin joined his son John in New South Wales, where he died in 1967.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [01 November 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [21 December 2020]; School Admission records (Dunedin Branch NZSG & South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [21 December 2020]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [22 December 2020]; Timaru Herald, 15 April 1895, 30 October 1919, Otago Daily Times, 15 & 16 April 1895 (Papers Past) [01 November 2020; 22 December 2020]

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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