Profile

ARDLEY, Victor Herbert
(Service number 57453)

Aliases
First Rank	Private	Last Rank	Private

Birth

Date	8 August 1887	Place of Birth	Christchurch

Enlistment Information

Date	18 July 1917	Age	29 years 11 months
Address at Enlistment	9 Butler Street, Timaru
Occupation	Draper
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	Married
Next of Kin	Mrs V. Ardley (wife), 9 Butler Street, Timaru
Religion	Church of England
Medical Information	Height 5 feet 4 inches. Weight 110 lbs. Chest measurement 30½-33 inches. Complexion sallow. Eyes brown. Hair dark. Sight – both eyes 6/6. Hearing & colour vision both normal. Limbs & chest well formed. Full & perfect movement of all joints. Heart & lungs normal. No illnesses. Free from hernia, varicocele, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Vaccinated (left). Good bodily & mental health - No. Slight defects but not sufficient to cause rejection. No fits. Recommend C2 – flat feet. [18 July 1917, Timaru] Height 5 feet 4 inches. Weight 116 lbs. Chest measurement 30½-33 inches. Complexion dark. Eyes brown. Hair dark brown. Sight – both eyes 6/6. Hearing & colour vision both good. Limbs & chest well formed. Full & perfect movement of all joints. Heart & lungs normal. Free from hernia, varicocele, varicose veins, haemorrhoids, inveterate or contagious skin disease. Good bodily & mental health. Slight defects but not sufficient to cause rejection – physique, flat foot. No fits. No notification for consumption. Never in a sanatorium or mental institution. Never discharged from H M Service. Never absent from work through ill-health or accident. [28 May 1918, Timaru]

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation
Unit, Squadron, or Ship
Date
Transport
Embarked From		Destination

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
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		Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Draper; buyer of drapery

Death

Date	20 August 1952	Age	64 years
Place of Death	Christchurch
Cause
Notices	Press, 22 August 1952
Memorial or Cemetery	Crematorium, Linwood Avenue, Christchurch
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

Victor Herbert Ardley was born on 8 August 1887 at Christchurch, the fourth son of George and Elizabeth Ann (Annie, née Price) Ardley. He was educated at Phillipstown and Christchurch East schools, leaving the latter for work a few weeks before his fourteenth birthday. By 1914 he was plying his trade as a draper at Timaru. There at Timaru he married Jeannie Gilchrist (a sister of Walter Burton Gilchrist) on 7 December 1915. Victor Herbert Ardley enrolled for service in February 1917. Called up, he enlisted at Timaru on 18 July 1917. A draper for J. Ballantyne and Company, married and of Church of England affiliation, he named his wife as next-of-kin – Mrs V. Ardley, 9 Butler Street, Timaru. He was medically examined at Timaru on 18 July 1917. He stood at 5 feet 4 inches, weighed 110 pounds, and had a chest measurement of 30½-33 inches, a sallow complexion, brown eyes and dark hair. His sight, hearing, colour vision, heart and lungs were all normal, his limbs and chest well formed. He was free from diseases, was vaccinated and was in good bodily and mental health. He was recommended for C2 (unfit for active service but fit for service in New Zealand), however, on account of flat feet. When a second medical examination was conducted on 28 May 1918 at Timaru, there were no significant changes. There were slight defects but not sufficient to cause rejection – physique, flat foot.

Ardley was granted leave without pay to 30 June 1918, then departed from home for Camp on 1 July 1918. Private V. H. Ardley, 83766, D Company, was assessed by a Medical Board on 29 July 1918. His disability, which existed prior to enlistment and was heredity, was flat feet. He experienced pain on marching and the condition was getting worse. His disability being permanent, he was deemed not fit for Active Service. Discharge was recommended. Victor and Jeannie were still in Timaru in 1922, but by 1925 they were in Christchurch. In 1928 they were residing with Victor’s widowed mother and two of his unmarried sisters. Through the 1930s and 1940s they made several trips abroad and lived much of the time in London. In 1939 they were resident in Hampstead, Victor a buyer of drapery. They appear to have returned to New Zealand just before Victor’s death. He died on 20 August 1952 at Christchurch, aged 64 years. He was cremated at the Crematorium in Linwood Avenue, his ashes at the Canterbury Memorial Gardens. Jeannie moved back to Timaru where she died on 1 December 1962 at her residence which she shared with her only surviving sibling – her sister Victoria Ethel Gilchrist. Jeanie was buried at Timaru. Cecil Leonard Ardley, Victor’s brother, was killed in action on 7 June 1917 in France.

Sources

NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [05 August 2024]; School Admission records [05 August 2024]; England 1939 register (ancestry.com.au) [05 August 2024]; New Zealand & England Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [05 & 06 August 2024]; Timaru Herald, 4 July 1917, Press, 22 August 1952, 3 December 1962 (Papers Past) [05 August 2024]; Find A Grave records [05 August 2024]

External Links

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record

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Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

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