Profile

THATCHER, Gerald
(Service number 7/1790)

Aliases
First Rank Trooper Last Rank

Birth

Date 10 September 1895 Place of Birth Woodbury

Enlistment Information

Date 25 August 1915 Age 19 years 11 months
Address at Enlistment Woodbury
Occupation Carpenter
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mrs Julia THATCHER (mother), Woodbury, Canterbury
Religion Anglican
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation 7th Reinforcements
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Canterbury Mounted Rifles
Date 9 October 1915
Transport Aparima or Navua or Warrimoo
Embarked From Destination Suez, Egypt
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

Builder

Death

Date 15 November 1956 Age 61 years
Place of Death Timaru
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Gerald Thatcher was born on 18 March 1894 at Woodbury, the third son of John Thatcher and his second wife, Julia Elizabeth née Saville. He was educated at Orari Gorge (Tripp) School and Woodbury School, moving several times from one to the other. His father had . . . been employed on Tripp’s Staton, before acquiring his own farm. John Thatcher, a strong healthy looking man, died on 17 September 1901 during an influenza epidemic, when the youngest was only 17 months old. Several members of the Thatcher family are buried in the Woodbury Cemetery.

Lance-Corporal G. Thatcher, 7/1790, of Geraldine, returned to New Zealand from Egypt, in a draft of 1095, per the “Ulimaroa”, which was due at Auckland on 6 August 1919. He married Eliza Ann Herron in 1923. His brother, Henry Lane Thatcher, was killed in action in August 1917 in France. In October 1917, his oldest brother, Frederick John Thatcher, appealed, saying that he was the only one keeping the farm going. He had one brother at the front (Gerald) and one had been killed there (Henry). Another was only 17 years old (Arthur). His appeal was adjourned sine die.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [29 October 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [30 October 2020]; School Admission records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [31 October 2020]; Temuka Leader, 19 September 1901, Timaru Herald, 17 October 1917, NZ Times, 31 July 1919 (Papers Past) [29 October 2020; 30 November 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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