TONKIN, John Franklin
(Service number 6/2001)
| First Rank | Second Lieutenant | Last Rank | Major |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 5 May 1890 | Place of Birth | Waikari, Canterbury |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Cadogan, Sefton Road, Timaru | ||
| Occupation | Clerk | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | John Goodrick Shreddon TONKIN (father), Zetland Hotel, Christchurch | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | 4th Reinforcements | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | Canterbury Infantry Battalion | ||
| Date | 17 April 1915 | ||
| Transport | Willochra or Knight Templar or Waitomo | ||
| Embarked From | Wellington | Destination | |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | |||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | 1914-1915 Star; British War Medal; Victory Medal | ||
Award Circumstances and Date
Military Cross - for distinguished service in the field, Passchendael, 1918. Specially Mentioned in Despatchess - for distinguished service and devotion to duty while commanding the 2nd New Zealand Entrenching Battalion, at Meteren & Ypres, April-May 1918
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 |
Death
| Date | 11 February 1960 | Age | 69 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Timaru | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Timaru Cemetery | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
John Franklin Tonkin, known as Jack, was born on 5 May 1890 at Waikari, Canterbury, the son of John Goodrich Sheddon and Gertrude (née Sanderson) Tonkin. Jack was educated at Christ’s College, Christchurch. John Tonkin was a clerk for Dalgety and Company at Timaru when he enlisted, his address being Cadogan, Sefton Street, Timaru. He named his father, whose address was Zetland Hotel, Christchurch, as next-of-kin. His mother had died in 1909.
Second Lieutenant Tonkin embarked at Wellington on 17 April 1915 with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion of the 4th Reinforcements. He was wounded at the Somme and again at Passchendaele. He was specially mentioned in Despatches while commanding the 2nd New Zealand Entrenching Battalion in action during April and May 1918 at Meteren and Ypres. He was awarded the Military Cross for distinguished service in the Field and the Croix de Guerre for distinguished service during the course of the Campaign (1918).
Major J. F. Tonkin returned to New Zealand in June 1919 per the “Maunganui”, which came into Dunedin, the South Canterbury men coming north by train. Tonkin, however, continued to Christchurch by the train. He married Muriel Mary Graham in 1920. Sometime after, Jack and Muriel lived again in Timaru, where he died on 11 February 1960, aged 69 years. He is buried at Timaru, Muriel with him. When his uncle, Robert Edmund Tonkin died in 1935, John Franklin Tonkin, as his sole heir, inherited the lordship of the Manors of St Buryan and Alverton in Cornwall. On his death, the Manors passed to his daughter.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [15 April 2021]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [14 April 2021]; Timaru Cemetery headstone image (Timaru District Council) [15 April 2021]; Timaru Herald, 24 June 1919, Otago Daily Times, 26 July 1918 (Papers Past) [13 & 15 April 2021]
External Links
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG
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Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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