Profile

BRIGGS, William
(Service number 6/1249)

Aliases
First Rank Private Last Rank Sergeant

Birth

Date 7 February 1894 Place of Birth Rangiora

Enlistment Information

Date 6 October 1914 Age 20 years
Address at Enlistment Waihao Downs
Occupation Farm labourer
Previous Military Experience 2nd South Canterbury Regiment - serving
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin mrs John BRIGGS (mother), Waihao Downs, Canterbury
Religion Church of England
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation 2nd Reinforcements
Unit, Squadron, or Ship Canterbury Infantry Battalion
Date 14 December 1914
Transport Verdala or Willochra or Knight of the Garter
Embarked From Wellington Destination
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With 1 Battalion, Canterbury Infantry Regiment

Military Awards

Campaigns Balkan; Egyptian; Egyptian E.F.; Western European
Service Medals 1914-1915 Star; 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 13 April 1919 Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date 15 July 1976 Age 82 years
Place of Death Christchurch
Cause
Notices Press, 17 July 1976
Memorial or Cemetery Cremated
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

William Briggs was born on 7 February 1894 at Rangiora, the eldest of the eleven children of John and Mary Jane (née Scoon) Briggs. John Briggs, from Cumberland, England, married Mary Jane in 1893 at Rangiora, where he was a farmer. The family moved to Waihao Downs near Waimate in the late 1890s. William enlisted soon after the outbreak of war, doing so on 6 October 1914 at Timaru. He was a farm labourer for his father at Waihao Downs, single and of Church of England affiliation. He was serving with the 2nd South Canterbury Regiment. His nominated next-of-kin was his mother – Mrs John Briggs, Waihao Downs, Canterbury. He was in a group of young Waimate men who left for the Trentham reinforcements camp on 20 October.

Private W. Briggs embarked with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion of the 2nd Reinforcements, departing from Wellington on 14 December 1914. He was discharged on 13 April 1919, having given four years and 190 days of service. He served in all theatres of war – Balkans, Egyptian, Egyptian E.F., and Western European, and was awarded the 1914-1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. The name of W. Briggs appeared regularly on the Waimate Daily Advertiser Roll of Honour under the sub-title of "Answered the Call".

William Briggs died on 15 July 1976 at Christchurch, aged 82 years, and was privately cremated. He had lived at Amberley and was survived by is wife, Flo, a son and a daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He had married Florence Margaret Jane Hale in 1920. Flo died in 1984. His brother, Joseph Briggs, died of wounds at Brockenhurst Hospital in August 1918.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museumm Cenotaph Database [04 July 2022]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [06 July 2022]; Timaru Herald, 22 October 1914, Waimate Daily Advertiser, 30 May 1918, Press, 17 July 1976 (Papers Past) [18 September 2019; 09 & 26 July 2022]

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, Teresa Scott, South Canterbury Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

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