Rupert Williams, World War One service. New Zealand

World War One was not the only conflict that Rupert had been part of. When Rupert joined as a soldier for the Boar War he was only 19. His age has been disputed as he could really have been 14 or 15 when he left for South Africa if his age was 54 when he died in 1941.[1] He had been part of the 10^th Contingent in April 1902 when the ship, Drayton Grange left on the 19^th of the same month. Even though they arrived on the 27^th of May the war ended on the 31^st of May that same year. They sailed home in July 1902. They had not actually seen conflict, but they did get a medal regardless.[2]

By the time World War One arrived, Rupert was 28 years old and his occupation was that of Bushman where he lived in Hukerenui north of Whangarei. Rupert joined the military on the 13^th of February 1915 at Trentham and would be part of the Auckland Mounted Rifles. The records state he was inoculated for typhoid on the 13^th of March and again on the 21^st of March 1915. Rupert’s service records state he was 5 ft 8 inches and weight of 168 lb. The Next of kin was Lewis Williams, his father living in Parua Bay. He was on one of three ships that left for Europe and the Middle East. He arrived in Egypt on the 13^th of June 1915. Said he was on transport 25 arriving 12 June 1915[3]  Around the time Rupert Williams was arriving in Egypt the Auckland Mounted Rifles were fighting within the Gallipoli locality according to the unit diary. Places like Walker’s Ridge and Reserve Gully were mentioned in June 1915.[4]

On the 3^rd of October the unit diary mentions the arrival of officers and men from Egypt to be included within the unit. The number totalled 219 that had arrived at Sarpi Mudros camp. The camp was located on the island of Lemnos near Gallipoli.[5] In the days that followed there was mentioned training including with the rifles. It was written that they were inoculated. On the 7^th a Captain A.G Mahan was accidentally shot in the leg with a revolver while in his tent. A board of inquiry was held.[6] In November they proceeded to ANZAC on the 10^th of November with 10 officers and 286 other ranks. Hopefully I am following the diary correctly by concluding that Rupert could have set foot on Gallipoli.[7] They stayed at Gallipoli until the 12^th of December where they made their way back to Lemnos Island on board the HMTS Knight of the Garter.[8] The Gallipoli positions the AMR held until they left had been heavily shelled on their return to Lemnos Island.The day after they had left their positions it had been reported in the diary that they had been subject to heavy shelling from the enemy. Left on the 24th December on board the HMTS Hororata for Egypt. From Alexandra they went by train on the 27^th to NZMR base at Hemlich Camp in Egypt.

On the 23^rd of January 1916 the AMR left Zeitoun Camp in Egypt, which according to a map is near Cairo.[9] The unit diary entries are missing for the date Rupert was admitted to hospital in February that could have been Ismailia. A map is included with the footnote and has some of the areas mentioned within Egypt.[10] I don’t know if I even have the correct hospital, but the 2^nd Australian Stationary hospital was located in Ismailia around the time period. On the 18^th of February he had been admitted to what I could read to be the Ismailia A.E General hospital with Enteric fever otherwise known as typhoid. Rupert was initially diagnosed with Paratyphoid A where it was thought caught it Jan 28 in Ismailia and admitted to hospital Feb 18^th. Had a severe Typhoid fever for around 21 days. With no end in sight his cardiac condition was not good and listed as his complications was also bronchial pneumonia.

Enteric fever is a type of typhoid that is caused by salmonella spread by eating or drinking from contaminated from an infected person. Rupert being a cook for the Auckland Mounted Rifles while in Egypt could have come into contact with anything within the camps. Disease throughout World War One was rife especially when you consider life in the trenches and even within the Gallipoli campaign and then afterwards with the influenza pandemic.[11]

 On the 22^nd within the service record he had been reported as being seriously ill in Cairo. Through illness Rupert had been relinquished of his appointment as cook on the 11^th of February. Within his files it says Rupert became sick on the 18^th of Feb 1916 around Suez Canal. Rupert left Egypt from Suez on board the Ulimaroa around the 6^th of March. By the 17^th of March he was struck off strength and invalided. He would return to New Zealand around April 17, 1916 where his return was reported in the Auckland Star carrying 223 soldiers. The note in his record says he returned on the 21^st of April.[12] The hospitals mentioned in his file were the Isamalia Auct. General Hospital and Pont de Koubbah hospital. New Zealand did have several hospitals that were in their control. Pont de Koubbah was run by the No. 2 NZ stationary hospital. The other hospital might have been something else or I could have interpreted it incorrectly.[13]

When Rupert returned he was listed as being at both the K.G.V hospital and Auckland hospital signed off by a Lt Col T. Hope Lewis on the 27^th of May 1916. The K.G.V hospital in Rotorua was actually the King George V hospital that was used by recovering soldiers after it opened in January 1916.There was a memorandum to the director of military hospitals in Wellington where they discussed Rupert’s treatment and that he be sent to Rotorua convalescent hospital. He was examined in June 16^th at the Auckland hospital by a Lt Col T. Hope Lewis. Where he received further treatment. His lumbar pain was still present, but other girole pains had gone. The man who was T. Hope Lewis, which I have learnt was actually Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Hope Lewis a medical practitioner who was the director of New Zealand’s military hospitals who passed away in 1917.[14]

The medical board under Major Arthur. S. (A.S.) Herbert, 20 July 1916 found Rupert had Enteric fever causing painful spine and slow progress. The medical board speculated he got the disease from duties and would take at least a period of 12 months to recover. Recommendation was to discharge the soldier from service. The medical review was done in Rotorua and that he is considered for a pension. The explanation of medical board on Rotorua is answered as there was a convalescent hospital there as he was sent there for further treatment. The medical people mentioned within Rupert’s files like Major Herbert was part of the Rotorua Sanatorium and Military Hospital, which would be why he mentioned Rotorua for his recovery. Another name that I had seen mentioned within the service file was Col. J.R. Purdy.[15]

Rupert passed away in 1941 and according to the newspaper article in the New Zealand Herald he offered his services for World War 2 at age 54.[16]

Rupert Williams

Service Number 13/1112

Height 5 ft 8 inches

Weight 168 lb

Age 28

Lived in Hukernuei as his address with his father Lewis in Parua Bay

Occupation: Bushman

Was in New Zealand from 13/ 2 / 15 until 13/ 6/ 15 where he was overseas

Service 1 year and 146 days 16/ 2/ 1915 to 10/ 8 /1916

AMR – Auckland Mounted Rifles rank Trooper – 13/ 2 /16

Relinquishes app as cook and erases 15 draw working pay 11/2/16

ranks

13/2/15 private to AMR A squad

3/10/15 gained rank of trooper and assigned as cook on same day

11/2/16 relinquish appointment as cook

Service

3/10/15 AMR posted to unit at Moudros on Limnos island where there was a short trip to Gallipoli

27/12/15 Disembarked at from Dardanelles and landed at Alexandria 

23/1/16 left for camel tour?

12/2/16 Admitted to hospital, Somalia?

22/2/16 reported as seriously ill, Cairo

17/3/16 Invalidated to New Zealand and struck off strength

21/4/16 Ulimaroa return to New Zealand with Typoid Fever

27/5/16 treated in New Zealand at the Auckland hospital, K. G. V Hospital

Sources

Primary Sources

Anon, ‘Obituary’, New Zealand Herald, 30 April 1941, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19410430.2.136, accessed 24 October 2018.

Thomas Lewis Hope, Auckland Museum, http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/90816?p=2&ps=3&w=Territorial+Military+Service&from=%2Fwar-memorial%2Fonline-cenotaph%2Fbrowse%2Fwars&ordinal=21, accessed 24 October 2018;

Anon, ‘Doctor Suddenly Dies’, New Zealand Herald, 13 June 1917, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19170613.2.107, accessed 29 October 2018.

Anon, ‘Returning Invalids’, Auckland Star, 17 April 1916, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19160417.2.17, accessed 23/10/2018

Auckland Mounted Rifles (AMR) - War Diary, 1 - 31 January 1916, National Archives New Zealand, https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=23494192&digital=yes, accessed 24 October 2018.

‘Auckland Mounted Rifles (AMR) - War Diary, 1 - 30 June 1915’, New Zealand National Archives, https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=23494185&digital=yes, accessed 24 October 2018.

‘Auckland Mounted Rifles (AMR) - War Diary, 1 - 31 October 1915’, New Zealand National Archives, https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=23494189&digital=yes, accessed 24 October 2018.

Auckland Mounted Rifles (AMR) - War Diary, 1 - 30 November 1915’, New Zealand National Archives, https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=23494190&digital=yes, accessed 24 October 2018.

‘Auckland Mounted Rifles (AMR) - War Diary, 1 -31 December 1915’, New Zealand National Archives, https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=23494191&digital=yes, accessed 24 October 2018.

Williams, Rupert SA8765, WWI 13/1112 – Army, https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=20524259&digital=yes, accessed 24 October 2018.

Secondary Sources

Anon, ‘Enteric Fever’, Infectious diseases advisor, https://www.infectiousdiseaseadvisor.com/infectious-diseases/enteric-fever/article/609538/, accessed 24 October 2018.

Bowerbank, ‘New Zealand Hospitals in Egypt’, The War Effort of New Zealand, Auckland, Whitcombe and Tombs Limited, 1923, http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Effo-t1-body-d6-d2.html, accessed 24 October 2018.

Butler, Steve ‘Embarkations of Reinforcements from New Zealand 1914 – 1918’, http://www.nzmr.org/lists/reinforce.html, accessed 24 October 2018.

Carbery, A. D. The New Zealand Medical Service in the Great War 1914-1918, Auckland, Whitcombe and Tombs Limited, 1924, http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Medi-t1-g1-t1-body-d22.html, accessed 24 October 2018.

Stout, T. Duncan M. War Surgery and Medicine, Wellington, Historical Publications Branch, 1954, http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Surg-pt2-c2.html, accessed 24 October 2018.

Stowers, Richard Rough Riders at War, 7^th edition, 2013.

 ‘NZEF in Egypt 1914-16 map’, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/nzef-egypt-1914-16-map, accessed 24 October 2018.

‘Zeitoun Training Base Egypt’, Digger History:  an unofficial history of the Australian & New Zealand Armed Forces, http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/ww1/zeitoun.htm, accessed 24 October 2018.

Sarpi Camp on Lemnos, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/sarpi-camp-lemnos, accessed 24 October 2018.

‘NZ units in South Africa 1899-1902, The Contingents’, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/nz-units-south-africa/the-contingents#10th, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/soldier/rupert-williams, accessed 24 October 2018.

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[1]              Richard Stowers, Rough Riders at War, 7^th edition, 2013, p.277.

[2]              ‘NZ units in South Africa 1899-1902, The Contingents’, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/war/nz-units-south-africa/the-contingents#10th, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/soldier/rupert-williams, accessed 24 October 2018.

[3]              Steve Butler, ‘Embarkations of Reinforcements from New Zealand 1914 – 1918’, http://www.nzmr.org/lists/reinforce.html, accessed 24 October 2018.

[4]              ‘Auckland Mounted Rifles (AMR) - War Diary, 1 - 30 June 1915’, New Zealand National Archives, https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=23494185&digital=yes, accessed 24 October 2018.

[5]              Sarpi Camp on Lemnos, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/sarpi-camp-lemnos, accessed 24 October 2018.

[6]              ‘Auckland Mounted Rifles (AMR) - War Diary, 1 - 31 October 1915’, New Zealand National Archives, https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=23494189&digital=yes, accessed 24 October 2018.

[7]              Auckland Mounted Rifles (AMR) - War Diary, 1 - 30 November 1915’, New Zealand National Archives, https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=23494190&digital=yes, accessed 24 October 2018.

[8]              ‘Auckland Mounted Rifles (AMR) - War Diary, 1 -31 December 1915’, New Zealand National Archives, https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=23494191&digital=yes, accessed 24 October 2018.

[9]              ‘Zeitoun Training Base Egypt’, Digger History:  an unofficial history of the Australian & New Zealand Armed Forces, http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/ww1/zeitoun.htm, accessed 24 October 2018; Auckland Mounted Rifles (AMR) - War Diary, 1 - 31 January 1916, National Archives New Zealand, https://www.archway.archives.govt.nz/ViewFullItem.do?code=23494192&digital=yes, accessed 24 October 2018.

[10]             ‘NZEF in Egypt 1914-16 map’, https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/nzef-egypt-1914-16-map, accessed 24 October 2018.

[11]             ‘Enteric Fever’, Infectious diseases advisor, https://www.infectiousdiseaseadvisor.com/infectious-diseases/enteric-fever/article/609538/, accessed 24 October 2018; T. Duncan M. Stout, War Surgery and Medicine, Wellington, 1954, p. 493, http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH2Surg-pt2-c2.html, accessed 24 October 2018.

[12]             Returning Invalids’, Auckland Star, 17 April 1916, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19160417.2.17, accessed 23 October 2018.

[13]             Bowerbank, ‘New Zealand Hospitals in Egypt’, The War Effort of New Zealand, Auckland, 1923, http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Effo-t1-body-d6-d2.html, accessed 24 October 2018.

[14]             Thomas Lewis Hope, Auckland Museum, http://www.aucklandmuseum.com/war-memorial/online-cenotaph/record/90816?p=2&ps=3&w=Territorial+Military+Service&from=%2Fwar-memorial%2Fonline-cenotaph%2Fbrowse%2Fwars&ordinal=21, accessed 24 October 2018; Anon, ‘Doctor Suddenly Dies’, New Zealand Herald, 13 June 1917, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19170613.2.107, accessed 29 October 2018.

[15]             A. D. Carbery, The New Zealand Medical Service in the Great War 1914-1918, Auckland, 1924, http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Medi-t1-g1-t1-body-d22.html, accessed 24 October 2018.

[16]             Anon, ‘Obituary’, New Zealand Herald, 30 April 1941, https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19410430.2.136, accessed 24 October 2018.