Profile

MULHOLLAND, George
(Service number 3/1623)

Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank

Birth

Date 20 June 1889 Place of Birth Queenstown

Enlistment Information

Date 11 October 1915 Age
Address at Enlistment Midhusrt
Occupation Railway employee
Previous Military Experience Queenstown Volunteers (12 months) - before leaving district
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin W. Mulholland (father), Henry Street, Queenstown
Religion Presbyterian
Medical Information 5 foot 7 inches tall, fair complexion, with blue eyes and brown hair.

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship 11th Reinforcements, New Zealand Medical Corps, New Zealand General Hospital
Date 1 April 1916
Transport HMNZT 49 Tahiti
Embarked From Wellington, New Zealand Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns Egyptian Expeditionary Force, 1916; Western European, 1916-1918
Service Medals British War Medal; Victory Medal
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 22 June 1919 Reason No longer physically fit for war service

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

19 August 1916 - admitted to No.50 Casualty Clearing Station (CCS); discharged same day. 24 August 1917 - injured wrist - admitted to No.2 NZ General Hospital, Walton-on-Thames, England; 30 August - transferred to NZ Convalescent Hospital, Hornchurch

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 24 April 1966 Age 96
Place of Death Timaru Public Hospital
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Timaru Cemetery
Memorial Reference Services block, row 117, plot 13
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

George, born in Queenstown, was the son of William Mulholland, a gold miner, and Mary Jane (nee Prior).

George enlisted for service in Ocotber 1915, joining the New Zealand Medical Corps. He shipped out of New Zealand in April 1916 on the HMNZT Tahiti for Suez, where he arrived in early May. At the end of the month he emarked for the Western Front from Alexandria, where he ultimately joined the NZ Field Ambulance NZFA) in France on 12 June. At the very start of August the NZFA was detached to join the NZ Rifle Brigade that was about to join the offensive at the Somme. On 19 August George was brifly admitte to No.50 Casualty Clearing Station (CCS) for less than a day, before returnign to his unit.

On 20 August 1917 George was detached to England on leave. The next day, while still in France on his way to England, George's wrist was injured. He reported that a passing train blew back a car door onto his wrist. As there was no military authority on the train he was taking, he only reported it on arrival in London. He was admitted to No.2 General Hospita; at Walton-on-Thames. Six days later he was transferred to the NZ Convalescent Hospital at Hornchurch. He was finally discharged for a period of leave on 12 October, before rejoining the NZFA in the fireld on 27 October 1917.

George's next recorded period of leave was from 24 September to 13 October 1918, his last before the war ended Isoon after). He embarked on 1 April 1919 for his return to New Zealand on the Paparoa, disembarking on the 24 May 1919 at Wellington.George was discharged in June 1919 - no longer fit for service. A medical Board, held just before his discharge, reveals that George suffered eczema from hands to wrist that had become infected, accounting for his time being hospitalised. It found that the pre-existing issue had been aggrivated by active service.

Soon after returning from the war George married Alice Maude Bryant in 1919 at Ashburton, when he was aged 30.

Funeral director's records, recieved by online SCRoll submission, note George's occupation (Engine driver), date and place of death, plus hi usual address - 54 Preston Street. It also listed his mother and father's name, his father's occupation, George's place of birth, and his marriage details. He left behind his wife, who died in 1978, and three sons, aged 45, 33, and 31.

Sources

SCRoll web submission by T Brosnahan, 27 May 2022; Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [30 May 2022]; Military Personnel file, Archives New Zealand R21378394 [30 May 2022]; Timaru Distrcit Council Cemetery records at https://www.timaru.govt.nz/services/community-and-culture/cemeteries/cemetery-search [30 May 2022]; BDM Historical Records at https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/ [30 May 2022]

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Tony Rippin, South Canterbury Museum

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Logo. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

Tell us more

Do you have information that could be added to this story? Or related images that you are happy to share? Submit them here!

Your Details
Veteran Details
- you may attach an image or document up to 10MB