Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Victor George Clarence Boyens was born on 18 March 1896 at Kaikoura, the older son of William Henry Boyens and his second wife Elizabeth née Dermott. The Boyens family moved to Pahiatua when Victor was nine years old and he was educated at the Pahiatua District High School. V. G. C. Boyens, a painter and single, of Temuka, registered at the Timaru Defence Office on 14 August 1916 and enltsed on 21 December at Ashburton. Three Temuka soldiers – V. G. C. Boyens one of them - left by the express on 7 February 1917, after being treated to afternoon tea and marching to the station, led by the Temuka Brass Band. Victor named his father as next-of-kin – William Henry Boyens, Sedcole Street, Pahiatua. Victo’s own address was care of W. Teesdale, Temuka. William Linwood Teesdale was the second husband of Victor’s half-sister, Wilhelmina Olive Boyens (Mina). Mina took ill during a visit to Christchurch in November 1918 and died of influenza. Rifleman V. G. C. Boyens embarked with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, leaving Wellington for Plymouth, England, on 26 April 1917 by the “Turakina”. After his return to New Zealand, Victor was a pastry cook at Temuka, that being the profession of William Teesdale. He married Annie Mary Lylian in 1918 at Methven. Victor and Annie divorced in 1929. Victor George Claremce Boyens died on 15 November 1941 at Pahiatua Publice Hospital, aged 45 years. He was buried in Mangatainoka Cemetery, Pahiatua, after a service at St Peter’s Anglican Church, Pahiatua. He was known familiarly as “Tadge”, which name is inscribed on his headstone. He was survived by two daughters and a son, and by his mother. An older half-brother, William Edward Boyens, also served in World War One. Later in 1919 Victor and Williams were both back at Pahiatua. Their eldest sister, Elizabeth Ann Boyens, married at Chalmers Church, Timaru, in 1914. Their youngest sister, Doris Mahora Boyens died after being thrown from a horse and kicked in the head in 1915 when she was just eight years old.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [25 March 2022]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [25 March 2022]; Mangatainoka Cemetery, Dannevirke, headstone transcription [26 March 2022]; Timaru Herald, 15 August 1916, 8 February 1917, Pahiatua Herald, 18 November 1941 [x 2] (Papers Past) [25 & 26 March 2022]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

• BOYENS Victor George Clarence - newspaper clippings (pdf, 239.3 KB updated 28-Mar-2022)

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.