Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

John Thomas Sinclair, who was known as Jack, was born on 18 October 1898 at Waimate, the youngest son of James and Margaret McLaren (née Stewart) Sinclair. He was registered as John Thomas Meadows Sinclair at birth. He was educated at the local Waimate School, where he received at Standard IV attendance prize in 1909 and a Standard V industry prize in 1910. “Master Jack Sinclair succeeded in catching a 10½lb brown trout in the Waihae River, about a quarter of a mile above Wain’s crossing, on Saturday morning. Masters Willie Menzies and Yesberg assisted in netting the fish.” [Waimate Advertiser. 28 Nov 1910.] A clerk residing at home in Dunedin, Jack attended evening classes as a paying student at the Dunedin Technical College in 1915. Mr and Mrs Sinclair had moved to Dunedin between 1908 and 1911. In March 1911, their son Lees who was on the staff of the Waimate Post Office was transferred to Dunedin in March 1911.

Jack was a grain salesman for Wright Stevensons Company when he enlisted on 29 August 1916 at Featherston, putting his age up two years to enable him to do so. Single and Presbyterian, he named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs M. Sinclair, 279 Leith Street, Dunedin. Gunner John Thomas Sinclair embarked with the New Zealand Field Artillery, leaving for Plymouth, England by the “Waitemata” on 19 January 1917. When his brother J. Lees Sinclair Sinclair died in Belgium in June 1917, Jack was serving in France, while his brother Harry was attached to the permanent staff of the New Zealand Records Office, London.

J. T. Sinclair, 35321, of Dunedin, returned to New Zealand by the troopship “Corinthic” (Draft No. 236), which reached Lyttelton on the morning of 22 April 1919. The ship was placed in quarantine for 24 hours, there being 15 cases of mumps on board. The Corinthic had an uneventful trip, and there was very little sickness aboard. The passage was a smooth one until a week ago, when fairly heavy weather was encountered. Many of the men showed keen interest in the educational classes, particularly shorthand. The men speak most enthusiastically of the warm-heartedness of the residents of Colon. A small paper (the ‘Corinthic Mail’) was published five times during the voyage.” The Otago men arrived at Dunedin by special train at 4.30pm on 23 April. A large crowd gathered outside the railway station and gave the men a hearty welcome. All his service was in Europe, for which he received the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.

John returned to his grain saleman occupation for some time before turning to sheep farming. He married Margaret Mary Telford in 1923. Both John Thomas Sinclair and his son, John Stewart Sinclair, were farming at Pukeawa in the Clutha district when their names were drawn in World War II ballots. John Thomas Sinclair died on 28 June 1961 at Pukeawa, aged 62 years. He was buried in the Balclutha Lawn Cemetery, Mary Margaret with him in 1983.

His brother, James Lees Sinclair who was known as Lees, enlisted in May 1915 and left for the front with the Signal Corps in August 1915. Corporal J. Lees Sinclair died of wounds on 9 June 1917 in Belgium. In France he had been “entrusted with work requiring courage and endurance.” Another brother, Harry Wilkie Sinclair, gave over 5 years of service and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal. Three of the four sons of Mr and Mrs Sinclair served in the war, their eldest brother, William Alexander Sinclair, being a married man with a family. William lived for some years at Cricklewood and was listed on the Reserve Rolls. Harry died in 1969 at Oamaru and William in 1957 at Timaru, where he was buried; and Ada Jessie Alexandrina Sinclair, their only sister and the first-born of the family, died in January 1948 at Dunedin. She was buried at Andersons Bay with her parents, James dying in 1923 and Margaret in 1930. Less Sinclair is remembered on their headstone. The names of J. (“Jack”) Sinclair and Harry Sinclair appeared regularly on the Waimate Daily Advertiser Roll of Honour under the sub-title of Answered the Call, while that of Lees Sinclair appeared under the heading of The Supreme Sacrifice.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [28 June 2022]; Evening Star, 15 & 19 June 1917, Waimate Daily Advertiser, 30 May 1918, NZ Times, 10 April 1919, Evening Star, 22, 23 & 24 April 1919 (Papers Past) [18 September 2019; 29 & 30June 2022]; School Admission record (Dunedin Branch NZSG) [29 June 2022]; Balclutha Cemetery burial records (Clutha District Council) [29 June 2022]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, Teresa Scott, South Canterbury Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.