CRAIG, James
(Service number 10186)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank | Private |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 15 May 1893 | Place of Birth | Colinton, Midlothian, Scotland |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 15 December 1915 | Age | 22 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Timaru | ||
| Occupation | Farm hand | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | John CRAIG (father), 12 Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh, Scotland. Also H. BENGES (friend), Springbank, North Canterbury | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Expeditionary Force | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 11th Reinforcements, K Company | ||
| Date | 1 April 1916 | ||
| Transport | Tahiti or Maunganui | ||
| Embarked From | Wellington | Destination | Suez, Egypt |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | Wellington Infantry Regiment, 2nd Battalion | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | Western European | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | British War Medal; Victory Medal | ||
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 |
Death
| Date | 30 September 1916 | Age | 23 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Somme, France | ||
| Cause | Killed in action | ||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial, Caterpillar Valley Cemetery, Longueval, Somme, France | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
James Craig was born on 15 May 1893 at Colinton, Midlothian, Scotland, the first-born of John and Agnes (née Noble) Craig. In 1901 James was a scholar at home in Edinburgh, with his parents and brother John and sister Marion. James Craig was one of the South Canterbury recruits for the eleventh reinforcements (Mounted Rifles), who left Timaru for Trentham on 15 December 1915. Like many in this large group, he enlisted on 15 December 1915 at Trentham. His address was Timaru. A farm hand, single, and Presbyterian, he named his father as next-of-kin – John Craig, 12 Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh, Scotland. He also named a friend for whom he had been working – H. Benges, Springbank, North Canterbury.
Private J. Craig embarked with the 11th Reinforcements, departing from Wellington for Suez, Egypt, on 1 April 1916. The 428th casualty list, issued on 13 October 1916, carried the name of 10186 James Craig, then with the Wellington Battalion. He was one of 156 ‘New Zealand’ servicemen killed at the Somme on 30 September 1916. His name is inscribed on the Caterpillar Valley (New Zealand) Memorial, Longueval, Somme, France. Private James Craig is lso remembered on a family headstone in the Colinton Parish Churchyard, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [01 August 2022]; Timaru Herald, 9 December 1915, 14 October 1916, NZ Herald, 14 October 1916 (Papers Past) [01 August 2022]; 1901 Scotland census return (ancestry.co.nz) [01 August 2022]; Colinton Churchyard headstone image (Find A Grave) [01 August 2022]
External Links
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society
Currently Assigned to
Not assigned.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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