Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Walter John Tanner who was born on 21 July 1895 in Victoria, Australia, was the elder son of Walter and Susan Rebecca Lavinia (née Cranwell) Tanner. Walter, senior, and Susan had three children born in Victoria, before crossing to New Zealand soon after the turn of the century. By 1902 they had settled at Fairlie, South Canterbury, where another daughter was born. Young Walter was educated at Fairlie School, entering in March 1902, a month after his sister Ivy.

W. Tanner recorded equal highest score at the Bluecliffs Rifle Club’s weekly shoot in the last week of November 1915. He scored well agin at a shoot after the annual meeting in April 1916.

Walter John Tanner was a teamster at Bluecliffs, St Andrews, when his name was drawn in the sixth ballot in April 1917. He had registered for compulsory military training at Fairlie and was serving with the 2nd South Canterbury Regiment. The South Canterbury quota of the 30th Reinforcement consisting of 58 men, left Timaru on 28 May 1917, but not before they had been given a very hearty send-off at the Drill Shed, and at the Strathallan Street crossing. “The men appeared in the best of spirits,” as they were put through some elementary drill movements. They were addressed by the Mayor and by the Rev. J. H. Rogers. No country in the world possessed such a free Constitution as New Zealand, and in a spirit of determination to uphold it and all that made life worth living, they were going forth to gain the mastery over the enemy, said the Mayor. On this noble mission he wished them luck and a safe return. In going away they would take with them the love, the care and affection of many who would watch anxiously for news of them, and who would ever be solicitous of their welfare, said the Rev. Rogers. Then, headed by the 2nd (S.C.) Regimental Band, they moved off to the station. The train steamed out followed by the cheers of the crowd, and the answering shouts of the departing soldiers. Among the recruits was W. J. Tanner.

Rifleman Walter John Tanner, who had nominated his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs Susan Tanner, Fairlie, embarked with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade on 15 August 1917, headed for Glasgow by the “Ruahine”. Walter John Tanner, of Fairlie, was with the Rifle Brigade, when he was wounded and admitted to hospital in May 1918. On 8 May he was transferred to the convalescent hospital at Hornchurch.

Some time after the war, he took on farming. His elder sister, Ivy (Mabel Ivy Violet) Tanner, married Donald Alfred Saunders at the Clandeboye Presbyterian Church in May 1924. In 1930 Walter married Agnes Mary Muir and they lived to the North Island.

Walter John Tanner died on 8 August 1969 at Auckland, aged 74 years. He was cremated at Waikumete Crematorium. Agnes had died in August 1957. Mr Walter Tanner, senior, who was initially a creamery manager at Fairlie, died 0n 26 February 1926 at Timaru and was buried at Fairlie. In May 1932, a fire destroyed the house and contents of Mrs Tanner at “Eversley”, Fairlie. Susan Tanner remarried in 1932. William Henry Tanner, Walter’s younger brother, was called up in 1918. His uncle, John Joseph Cranwell, married at Fairlie in 1911 and was living in Auckland when he was listed on the Reserve Rolls in 1917.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [06 October 2021]; Victoria, Australia birth registrations (ancestry.au.com) [07 October 2021]; School Admission records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [06 October 2021]; Timaru Herald, 27 November 1915, 2 May 1916, 29 May 1917, 25 May 1918, 12 March 1924, 25 February 1926, 19 May 1932, Sun, 17 April 1917, Waimate Daily Advertiser, 17 April 1917, Otago Witness, 22 May 1918 (Papers Past) [04, 07 & 08 October 2021]; Waikumete Crematorium record (Auckland Council) [07 October 2021]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [07 October 2021]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.