Profile

McMURCHY, Donald Richard
(Service number 25/1178)

Aliases Birth registered as McMURCHIE
First Rank Rifleman Last Rank Lance Corporal

Birth

Date 25 November 1888 Place of Birth Timaru

Enlistment Information

Date Age
Address at Enlistment Wanstead, Hawke's Bay
Occupation Ploughman
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Married. One child
Next of Kin Mrs Barbara McMURCHY (wife), care of Mrs J. Ellery, Mayfield Post Office, Canterbury
Religion Presbyterian
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation New Zealand Rifle Brigade
Unit, Squadron, or Ship 3rd Battalion, C Company
Date 5 February 1916
Transport Ulimaroa or Mokoia or Navua
Embarked From Wellington Destination
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With New Zealand Rifle Brigade

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals 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 Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 13 April 1959 Age 70 years
Place of Death Christchurch
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Ruru Lawn Cemetery, Christchurch
Memorial Reference Area S 1B, Plot 144
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Donald Richard McMurchie was born on 25 November 1888 at Timaru, the only son of James and Mary (née Dawe). He was educated at Washdyke School (McMurchie), leaving at the age of fourteen to go out to work. He enlisted as McMurchy, lived as McMurchy and died as McMurchy. Donald married Barbara MacKay on 19 April 1911 at Ashburton, Their son, James Gordon McMurchy who was born in 1911 at Mayfield, lost his life in the Second World War. On 3rd January 1917 while Donald was at the Front in France, his father died accidentally, being kicked by a horse and found dead in a water race.

Lance-Corporal D. R. McMurchy returned to New Zealand per the “Corinthic” (Draft 236), arriving in May 1919.

Sources

New Zealand War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [27 January 2021]; NZ BDM Indexes (Departement of Internal Affairs) [27 January 2020]; School Admission record (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [27 January 2021]; Ruru Cemetery headstone transcription [27 January 2021]; Timaru Herald, 24 April 1919 (Papers Past) [07 May 2016]

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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