Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Percival George Balfour, known as Percy, was born on 28 November 1893 at Christchurch, the elder surviving son of George James and Lillias Helen (née Austin) Balfour. Percy started at East Oxford School at the aged of five, leaving on 20 June 1901 for an unknown destination. It appears that he may have left even earlier, for he received a Class I award at South Orari School in January 1901. Thereafter, he featured frequently on the Orari School prize lists – a Class II prize in February 1904, Standard III in February 1905, Standard IV in February 1907, Standard V in December 1907, and Class 5 for Attendance in December 1908. After the prize distribution in 1908, the annual sports were held, Balfour and a mate competing in the very amusing three-legged race. Percy’s siblings attended various schools – Oxford, Philipstown, Invercargill. It may be that George and Lillias went their separate ways. Perhaps Percy grew up with his mother’s family at Orari.

Young Percy was still in South Canterbury in 1911, he and three others getting into a bit of bother when they were charged with overturning several water closets at Orari in the early morning of 31 December 1911. One witness said that Balfour was the only one to commit the act at one site. He was fined £2, the amount at which the damage was assessed. He was convicted and discharged in respect of other sites. The Magistrate hoped that the boys would take the convictions as a lesson. “Don’t play the fool again.”

Percival George Balfour first enlisted on the outbreak of war – on 26 August 1914 at Christchurch. He had served with the Senior Cadets until being discharged on account of varicose veins. A plumber in Christchurch, he named his father as next-of-kin – G. Balfour, Tauranga, Bay of Plenty. He was discharged from camp on 18 October 1914, his military file stating that he had to return home, owing to death of his mother. “He is chief support of the family.” There is no record of his mother’s death at this time. Percival G. Balfour, a motor driver at Methven, registered in Christchurch on 6 March 1916 for active service with the Army Service Corps. He was a motor driver for a taxi business residing in Sydenham, Christchurch, when he signed on for service on 31 July 1916. Attesting on 29 September 1916 at Christchurch, single and Anglican, he named his uncle as next-of-kin – Thomas Alfred Austin, Orari, South Canterbury. His varicose veins had disappeared.

Rifleman P. G. Balfour embarked with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, departing on 13 February 1917 per the “Mokoia” and disembarking at Plymouth, England on 2 June 1917. Soon after marching into Sling, he was away to France. The transport “Maunganui” was dued at Port Chalmers on 21 June 1919 with a batch of returning soldiers which included many Canterbury men, P. G. Balfour one of them. His aunt – Margaret Balfour - was then at the family residence, Jerrold Street, Christchurch. Percy’s younger brother, Thomas Austin Balfour, had died of influenza at that address on 23 November 1918, aged just 17. Percy was discharged on 21 July 1919, on the termination of his period of engagement, and was awarded the British War Medal and Victory Medal. He spent most of his post-war years as a patrolman with the Christchurch Drainage Board, after a few years as a taxi driver/chauffeur. In 1931, Mr Percy Balfour, of Christchurch, spent a holiday with Mr and Mrs A. Rysdale at Orari. Rosa Elizabeth Rysdale (née O’Neill) was a maternal cousin of Percy. Percival George Balfour married Christina Laura Mary Noye in 1943.

Percival George Balfour died at Christchurch on 4 July 1973, just three days after his wife, aged 79 years. Both were cremated, as stipulated in their respective Wills, at the Canterbury Crematorium. George James Balfour – loving father of Sadie Lynch (Newtown) and P. G. Balfour (Christchurch) – died on 1 January 1944 at Silverstream, Hutt, and was buried at Karori. George had married for a second time. Lillias Helen Balfour (“Aussie”) disappeared from electoral rolls after 1911. Was she perhaps incapacitated or institutionalised? She died on 7 May 1937 and was buried at Hastings Cemetery. Percy’s sister Lillias Dorothy died in 1943 and his Sadie Eulalie died in 1993, it is purported. In early June 1916, a Roll of Honour was unveiled at a concert in the Orari Hall. On the list were the names of 38 Orari men who were once residents of the district and had gone to the war, including P. Balfour. The Orari Patriotic Committee “thought it right to honour without distinction these men, each one of whom had faced his duty, not knowing what was before him.” At the close of the concert, supper was provided, after which the hall was cleared for dancing. P. Balfour and more than sixty others are remembered on the Orari Roll of Honour 1914-1918 which is displayed in the Orari Hall.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [14 November 2023]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [23 November 2023]; Temuka Leader, 27 January 1901, 2 February 1904, 7 February 1905, 2 March 1907, 17 December 1907, 17 December 1908, 1 February 1912, 3 October 1931, Timaru Herald, 31 December 1912, 7 June 1916, 16 June 1919, Press, 7 March 1916, 28 July 1949, 4 & 6 July 1973, Lyttelton Times, 12 June 1916, 1 August 1916, Sun, 23 November 1918, NZ Herald, 26 November 1918, Star, 13 June 1919, Evening Post, 3 January 1944 (Papers Past) [12 & 23 November 2023]; School Admission record (Canterbury Branch NZSG) [23 November 2023]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au – part search) [November 2023]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.