| Commemorating the Centenary of the Battle of the Somme |
Updated: 15 March 2019
Website Owner: Dr. Kenneth M. Baker
info(at)ourhokianga.com
Website Owner: Dr. Kenneth M. Baker
info(at)ourhokianga.com
The Material below formed the basis of an article in the Northland
Age, of 21 July 2016 entitled: Honouring those who died so far
from home: Six Hokianga war fallen at rest in a foreign field.
On 1st July 2016 commenced the Battle of the Somme which
ended in stalemate in November 1916. The New Zealand Division
entered the battle on the 15th September 1916 at Flers and over
three days of fighting some 900 were killed of which 580 have no
known grave. 16 from the Hokianga Region died.
The Hokianga Historical Society has a project to commemorate
all the soldiers related to the Hokianga and who were killed in the
1914 – 1918 War: A project to visit the graves or memorials to
each of the men and laying a flax flower made by the ladies of the
Society and also making a photographic record.
To mark the centenary a project visit was made to all the
graves or memorials to Hokianga men including at the Caterpillar
Valley New Zealand Memorial and Cemetery at Longueval, France,
lying on the top of an exposed hill in the rolling countryside of the
Somme. The Memorial is to those New Zealand soldiers killed in
action and having no known grave including 5 from the Hokianga.
An additional one Hokianga serviceman is buried in his own grave
at the Cemetery .
The Caterpillar Valley New Zealand Memorial and Cemetery is
of particular significance as on the 6th of November 2004, the
remains of an unidentified New Zealand soldier were entrusted to
New Zealand at a ceremony held at the Memorial. The remains had
been exhumed by staff of the Commonwealth War Graves
Commission from the cemetery at Plot 14, Row A, Grave 27 and
were later laid to rest within the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at
the National War Memorial in Wellington.
Although his identity will never be known, is not impossible to
imagine that the Unknown Soldier now lying at Wellington was one
of the lost Hokianga men
The Caterpillar Valley New Zealand Memorial is one of seven
memorials in France and Belgium to those New Zealand soldiers
who died on the Western Front and whose graves are not known.
In line with New Zealand Government policy at the time and in
spite of opposition by the British Government, the New Zealand
Memorials are all located in cemeteries chosen as close as possible
to the areas of fighting in which the men died and close to their
mates who fought alongside them and who have graves.
Age, of 21 July 2016 entitled: Honouring those who died so far
from home: Six Hokianga war fallen at rest in a foreign field.
On 1st July 2016 commenced the Battle of the Somme which
ended in stalemate in November 1916. The New Zealand Division
entered the battle on the 15th September 1916 at Flers and over
three days of fighting some 900 were killed of which 580 have no
known grave. 16 from the Hokianga Region died.
The Hokianga Historical Society has a project to commemorate
all the soldiers related to the Hokianga and who were killed in the
1914 – 1918 War: A project to visit the graves or memorials to
each of the men and laying a flax flower made by the ladies of the
Society and also making a photographic record.
To mark the centenary a project visit was made to all the
graves or memorials to Hokianga men including at the Caterpillar
Valley New Zealand Memorial and Cemetery at Longueval, France,
lying on the top of an exposed hill in the rolling countryside of the
Somme. The Memorial is to those New Zealand soldiers killed in
action and having no known grave including 5 from the Hokianga.
An additional one Hokianga serviceman is buried in his own grave
at the Cemetery .
The Caterpillar Valley New Zealand Memorial and Cemetery is
of particular significance as on the 6th of November 2004, the
remains of an unidentified New Zealand soldier were entrusted to
New Zealand at a ceremony held at the Memorial. The remains had
been exhumed by staff of the Commonwealth War Graves
Commission from the cemetery at Plot 14, Row A, Grave 27 and
were later laid to rest within the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior at
the National War Memorial in Wellington.
Although his identity will never be known, is not impossible to
imagine that the Unknown Soldier now lying at Wellington was one
of the lost Hokianga men
The Caterpillar Valley New Zealand Memorial is one of seven
memorials in France and Belgium to those New Zealand soldiers
who died on the Western Front and whose graves are not known.
In line with New Zealand Government policy at the time and in
spite of opposition by the British Government, the New Zealand
Memorials are all located in cemeteries chosen as close as possible
to the areas of fighting in which the men died and close to their
mates who fought alongside them and who have graves.
| Hokianga History and Memorabilia |
| The New Zealand Memorial and Cemetery commemorates more than 1,200 officers and men of the New Zealand Division who died in the various Battles of the Somme in 1916 of whom 6 were associated with the Hokianga. |
| The Hokianga men commemorated at the Caterpillar Valley New Zealand Memorial and Cemetery are as follows (soldier photos courtesy of Auckland Museum Cenotaph unless otherwise stated): |
| Beattie, Robert Avon, Private, 11801, who was killed in action on the 14 September 1916. Beattie, a farmer from Waimamaku joined up aged 29 at Kohukohu in December 1915 and was the son of Mr. R. Beattie, also of Waimamaku. Beattie joined his battalion on the 8th September 1916 and was killed six days later. A court of enquiry was required to establish his death and Beattie is the only man who has a grave in the cemetery at the Memorial. |
| Ken Baker of the Hokianga Historical Society placing flax flowers at the Caterpillar Valley New Zealand Memorial at Longueval, France – 26 June 2016. In this picture the inscriptions are for H. A. Lane, A. Ridgers and T. Stancliffe. |
| Bourke, John Joseph, Rifleman, 22759 of the Maori Battalion who was killed in action on the 15th September 1916. Bourke who was born in County Kerry, Ireland and the brother of Mrs K. Flanagan of the Police Station at Rawene. On the 4th September 1916, Bourke was posted to the Pioneer Maori Battalion and seriously wounded in action twelve days later. He was recovered injured however a court of enquiry found that his body was destroyed by heavy shelling later that same day. Bourke is commemorated on the Memorial and has no known grave. |
| Lane, Horace Alfred, Private, 23/478 who was killed in action on the 15th September 1916. Lane, born at Waikare Bay Northland in 1888 was the son of Mr. D. G. Lane of Rawene and on enlistment in May 1915, was employed as a Labourer in the Wairarapa. Lane’s file report his being killed in action on the 15th September 1916 and his burial was reported by the Rev. E. E. Malden, Chaplain to the New Zealand forces. It is presumed his remains and grave were never later re-found. |
| Philips, Malcolm Innes, Private, 11105 who was killed in action on the 28th September 1916. Philips, son of Mr. H. Philips of the Schoolhouse in Kohukohu, was born at Whangarei in 1895 and enlisted in December 1915 while residing at Kohukohu and employed as a Labourer at the Rangiora Timber Company. He joined his battalion in the Field on the 23rd September 1916 and was reported missing on the 28th September 1916. A Court of Enquiry held on the 3rd of March 1917 found that he was killed in action on the 28th September 1916. . |
| Ridgers aka Ridges, Albert, Private, 12/621 who was killed in action on the 21st September 1916. Ridgers was born at Melton Mowbray, England in 1880 who had previously served in the Boer War, and at the time of his enlistment in August 1914, was a joiner and part owner of the Sash and Door Company at Rawene. He listed his next of kin as Mr. H. Cook at Rawene. After serving at Gallipoli, Ridgers was killed in action in the field on the 21st September 1916. . |
| Stancliffe, Thomas, Private, 12/636 who was killed in action on the 26th September 1916. Stancliffe, the son of Mr. John Richard Kagill Stancliffe of Rangiahua, was born in Auckland in 1896 and at the time of his enlistment in September 1914 was unemployed at Dargaville. After serving at Gallipoli, Stancliffe died of Wounds in the field on the 26th September 1916. It is assumed he was buried in the field and his grave and remains were never recovered. |
| Entrance to the Commonwealth War Graves New Zealand Memorial and Cemetery at Longueval, France |
| Headstone for Robert Avon Beattie at the Caterpillar Valley New Zealand Memorial and Cemetery with flax flower and commemorative card. |