Profile

TANNER, William Henry
(Service number 88214)

Aliases
First Rank Last Rank

Birth

Date 24 July 1898 Place of Birth Victoria, Australia

Enlistment Information

Date 27 July 1918 Age 20 years
Address at Enlistment Box 153, Fairlie
Occupation Labourer
Previous Military Experience 2nd South Canterbury Regiment Territorials - still serving
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin Mrs Susan TANNER (mother), Box 153, Fairlie, Canterbury
Religion Presbyterian
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation
Unit, Squadron, or Ship
Date
Transport
Embarked From Destination
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

Wool-classer; motor driver

Death

Date 23 August 1987 Age 89 years
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Cremated; ashes interred Hamilton Park Cemetery, Hamilton
Memorial Reference Plot – GOM-M-066
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

William Henry Tanner who was born on 24 July 1898 in Victoria, Australia, was the younger 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. William was educated at Fairlie School and, in 1909, spent two months at Cricklewood School where his guardian was J. Cranwell. 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.

William Henry Tanner enlisted on 27 July 1918 at Timaru, just a few days after his twentieth birthday. He was a labourer, single and residing at Fairlie. He was serving with the 2nd South Canterbury Territorials. Like his brother Walter, he nominated his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs Susan Tanner, Box 153, Fairlie.

In 1928, William was a wool-classer at Fairlie, and by 1935 a motor driver at Hamilton. His elder sister, Ivy (Mabel Ivy Violet) Tanner, married Donald Alfred Saunders at the Clandeboye Presbyterian Church in May 1924. His father, Mr Walter Tanner, 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. The engagement between William Henry Tanner, of Hamilton, and Marjorie Hamilton was announced at the beginning of October 1935. They married in 1937.

William Henry Tanner died on 23 August 1987, aged 89 years. He was cremated at Hamilton and his ashes interred at Hamilton Park Cemetery. Marjorie died in 1995. His brother, Walter John Tanner, saw service in World War One.

Sources

Victoria, Australia birth registrations (ancestry.au.com) [07 October 2021]; School Admission records (South Canterbury Branch NZSG) [07 October 2021]; Timaru Herald, 12 March 1924, 25 February 1926, 19 May 1932, NZ Herald, 2 October 1935 (Papers Past) [07 October 2021]; Hamilton Park Cemetery records (Hamilton City Council & Find A Grave) [07 October 2021]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [07 October 2021]

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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