Profile

BURMESTER, Frederick Charles
(Service number 34591)

Aliases	Civil records have Frederick Henry BURMESTER. Surname also BURMEISTER. Known as Fred
First Rank	Corporal	Last Rank

Birth

Date	21 February 1894	Place of Birth	Timaru

Enlistment Information

Date	23 August 1916	Age	22 years
Address at Enlistment	Victoria Street, Timaru
Occupation	Mercer
Previous Military Experience	2nd South Canterbury Regiment -serving
Marital Status
Next of Kin	A. J. BURMESTER (brother), care of Guinness and LeCren, Timaru. (Also Mrs M. BURMESTER, C/o Mrs Vallance, 28 Lower High Street, Christchurch - crossed out)
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 Rifle Brigade
Unit, Squadron, or Ship	20th Reinforcements
Date	30 December 1916
Transport	Athenic
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

Commercial traveller

Death

Date	7 April 1950	Age	56 years
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery	Karori Crematorium, Wellington
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Frederick Charles Burmester (or Burmeister), who was known as Fred, was the elder son of Charles Frederick and Minnie Margaret (née Stott) Burmester. He was, in fact, born Henry Frederick Burmester on 21 February 1894 at Timaru and baptised thus on 8 April 1894 at St Mary’s Anglican Church, Timaru. While he enlisted as Frederick Charles and used those names on electoral rolls, his marriage and burial are recorded as Frederick Henry. Probate was indexed under both Frederick Charles and Frederick Henry. Fred was educated at Timaru Main School, where he received a Second Class Certificate of Merit for Standard III in 1904, a First Class Certificate of Merit for Standard IV in 1905, and a Proficiency Certificate in 1907. In 1908 at the Timaru Technical School he achieved first class in English, Junior Division. Young Fred also featured in awards at St Mary’s Sunday School, and he participated in both rowing and cricket.

When he enlisted on 23 August 1916 he was a mercer and was residing at home in Victoria Street, Timaru. He named his younger brother as next-of-kin – Arthur John Burmester. Their father had died in 1913. Corporal F. C. Burmester embarked with the Rifle Brigade of the 20th Reinforcements on 30 December 1916, headed for Plymouth, England, per the “Athenic”. Private Burmester returned to New Zealand by the “Weimar”, arriving at Auckland and reaching Timaru on 23 June 1919. Frederick Henry Burmester married Elizabeth Scanlon in 1920. He died on 7 April 1950, aged 50 years and was cremated at Karori, Wellington. Two Burmester cousins also served in World War One and a third enlisted.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [17 April 2021]; School Admission record (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [17 April 2021]; Karori Crematorium record (Wellington City Council) [17 April 2021]; Timaru Herald, 16 December 1904, 15 December 1905, 20 December 1907, 20 October 1908, 2 July 1919 (Papers Past) [17 & 18 April 2021]

External Links

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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