Profile

SMITH, John Scanes
(Service number 63065)

Aliases
First Rank	Private	Last Rank	Rifleman

Birth

Date	27 August 1894	Place of Birth	Newton St Cyres, Devon, England

Enlistment Information

Date		Age
Address at Enlistment	High Street, Waimate; Hills Station, Mairi via Fairlie
Occupation	Shepherd
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	Single, then married
Next of Kin	Mrs O. SMITH (wife), care of J. Hyde, High Street, Waimate
Religion
Medical Information

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	36th Reinforcements, A Company
Date	23 April 1918
Transport	Willochra
Embarked From	Wellington	Destination	Southampton, Hampshire, England

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With	NZ Rifle Brigade

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

Tram conductor; records clerk

Death

Date	12 July 1979	Age	84 years
Place of Death	Christchurch
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

John Scanes Smith was born on 27 August 1894 at Newton St Cyres, Devon, England, the son of William Midday and Caroline (Kate, née Scanes). In 1901 and 1911 John was at home in London with his parents, recorded as an apprentice dentist in 1911. He emigrated to New Zealand in about 1914, having been here three years when he enlisted at Timaru on 21 July 1917. He worked on his uncle Frederick George Scanes’ farm, “Howell Downs”, Dairlie, South Canterbury. He was listed on the Reserve Rolls in 1916 – farmer, 37 Matilda Street, Timaru. On enlistment he was single, his address High Street, Waimate. The address was later amended to Hills Station, Mairi via Fairlie. John Scanes Smith married Olga Esther King on 8 August 1917 at Waimate. His wife – Mrs O. Smith, care of Mr Hyde, High Street, Waimate – was his next-of-kin. The first of their three daughters was born in 1918 before John embarked.

Private J. S. Smith embarked with the 36th Reinforcements, leaving from Wellington for Southampton, England, by the “Willochra” on 23 April 1918. One of 968 men in Returning Draft No. 273, J. S. Smith, of Waimate, returned to New Zealand by the “Somerset” which was due at Lyttelton on or about 12 August 1919.

After the war both John and Olga were in the Waimate district, but by 1922 they had moved to Christchurch. From 8 May 1924 until 12 February 1939, he was a conductor for the tramways. In 1946 Olga petitioned for divorce. A decree nisi was granted but was rescinded in 1955 on John’s application. Olga remarried in 1956 and died in 1971. John Scanes Smith died on 12 July 1979 at Christchurch, aged 84 years. Two of his uncles were listed on the New Zealand Reserve Rolls for World War One – John Copplstone Scanes and Frederick George Scanes (also known as Saville).

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [09 August 2021]; 1901 & 1911 England census returns (ancestry.com.au) [12 August 2021]; Otago Daily Times, 6 August 1919, Press, 14 August 1946, 3 December 1955, 2 June 1956 (Papers Past) [08 August 2021; 02 June 2022]

External Links

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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

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