Profile

BUDGE, James
(Service number 18391)

Aliases
First Rank Trooper Last Rank Trooper

Birth

Date 3 February 1885 Place of Birth Orkney Islands, Scotland

Enlistment Information

Date 28 July 1916 Age 31 years
Address at Enlistment P.O. Waituna, Waimate
Occupation Shepherd (Dominion Meat Co Waimate)
Previous Military Experience Orkney Volunteers - 2 years
Marital Status Single
Next of Kin J. BUDGE (father), Fish-curer, St Mary's Holme, Orkney Islands, Scotland; also J. Bitchener (friend), Te Puna Farm, Makikihi, South Canterbury
Religion Presbyterian
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 20th Reinforcements, (First Section) New Zealand Mounted Rifles
Date 5 December 1916
Transport Waihora
Embarked From Destination Suez, Egypt
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
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 20 January 1918 Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date Age
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

James Budge was born on 3 February 1885 (1884?) at Holm, Orkney Islands, Scotland, the elder son of James and Margaret (née Gaddie) Budge. James, senior, and Margaret had married at Holm in 1881 and over the next nineteen years they had nine children. Young James was at home at Holm with his family in 1891 and in 1901 when he was a cooper like his father. Mr Jas. Budge, 22 years, a farm servant. departed from England on 29 November 1908 by the “Rimutaka”, destined for Lyttelton, New Zealand. By 1911 he was a labourer at Waimate, South Canterbury.

J. Budge of Waimate, was one of the registrations at the Timaru Defence Office on 20 June 1916. The South Canterbury military district was congratulated on being able to send forward a full quota for the Nineteenth Reinforcements (July 1916). The Waimate men “were played down to the Railway station at noon” on 26 July and “farewelled upon their entrainment for Trentham as members of the 19th reinforcement”, J. Budge having volunteered for the Mounted Rifles. The deputy-mayor said “said they would show the enemy that the British race was not decadent, and that the Empire was knit together in a bond of loyalty and love and heart and soul in the cause of’ Liberty and Justice that the Allies were espousing. They were deserving of all honour for the part they were prepared to play and he wished them God-speed and a safe return to a warm welcome.”

James Budge enlisted on 28 July 1916 at Featherston. He was a shepherd for the Dominion meat Company, Waimate, single and Presbyterian. He had served for two years with the Orkney Volunteers. His address was P. O. Waituna, Waimate, and his nominated next-of-kin was his father – J. Budge, Fish-curer, St Mary’s Holme, Orkney Islands, Scotland. He also named a friend – J. Bitchener, Tepuni Farm, Makikihi, South Canterbury. Trooper J. Budge embarked with the New Zealand Mounted Rifles of the 20th Reinforcements, departing for Suez, Egypt, by the “Waihora” on 5 December 1916. A draft arrived in Wellington on 23 December 1917 – “Home for ‘Xmas”. “The men arrived in good fettle, many of them having been immensely benefited by the sea trip.”

Trooper James Budge was discharged on 20 January 1918 and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. At a welcome home social held at Hook in mid-April 1919, for one nurse and seven soldiers, Trooper J. Budge was, unfortunately, unable to be present. From July 1916, the name of J. Budge appeared regularly on the Waimate Daily Advertiser Roll of Honour under the sub-title of Answered the Call. James was still at Waimate by the 1928 electoral roll. Where did he go to afterwards? His younger brother, John Shearer Budge, of St Mary’s Holm, served in World War One with the Royal Garrison Artillery, and died on 13 September 1918 in Belgium or France, aged 26 years.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museumm Cenotaph Database [07 July 2022]; 1891 & 1901 census returns (ancestry.com.au) [10 July 2022]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [10 July 2022]; Shipping record (ancestry.com.au) [10 July 2022]; Timaru Herald, 21 June 1916, 25 July 1916, 15 April 1919, Waimate Daily Advertiser, 26 July 1916, 30 May 1918, 15 April 1919, Dominion, 24 December 1917 (Papers Past) [18 September 2019; 09 & 10 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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