Referrals from readers of the MRNZ website and Facebook page are frequent and often result in assistance in finding descendant family connections. However, it is not often that a casual inquiry leads to a medal group being reunited with a family that completes the total compliment of memorabilia awarded to for two brothers who went to the First World War, and only one returning.
Jenifer Lemaire is a well-known military researcher and contributor to the AWMM Cenotaph website. Jenifer had posted a photograph of a Second World War soldier from Moutere (Nelson), 2472 Cpl. Edmund Kennard “Ted” Madigan MM*, on his AWMM profile page. Cpl. Madigan had been a member of 5 Field Park Company, a WW2 NZ Engineer unit and been awarded the Military Medal for the dangerous work of destroying more than 500 Thermos and other types of bombs. Ted’s only son is David Kennard MADIGAN, a sound engineer from Auckland had expressed to Jenifer he wanted to speak with me re a project he was pursuing concerning the WW2 New Zealand Engineer unit, 5 Field Park Company.
Mark C. of Lower Hutt had spotted Jenifer’s photograph of Cpl Madigan MM on the AWMM Cenotaph website as a result of his own interest and research of his grandfather, a member of 5 Field Park Company. Sadly he had died in Egypt from wounds received during the Battle of Alamein, 23 Oct–11 Nov 1942. An investigator by profession, Mark has spent many years researching the time period his grandfather and his colleagues served with 5 Field Park Company to establish what they had been involved with while overseas. His interest has bought him into contact with a number of these men over the years, many of whom had given him their personal photographs of the men and unit’s activities while in Africa. Time has taken its inevitable toll on these veterans and as of 2020 there remained only one 103 year old survivor of 5 Field Park Company. With his collection of photographs running into the hundreds, Mark had started a personal project … “to try and name as many of the men in the photographs as possible. It’s so satisfying to show the descendants of these men some really poignant images, taken during a really tough time.”
At Jenifer’s suggestion Mark had posted a number of his named photographs on the AWMM site however was still looking to name many more he has. Jenifer did not have any family contact information and being aware of MRNZ’s reputation for tracing families, referred Mark to us for assistance. Mark’s quest for information had drawn some assistance from articles that appeared in local newspapers:
After some research of my own I was able to point Mark in the right direction after locating a direct descendant of Cpl. Madigan living in Auckland.
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Neighbourly gift
During our correspondence regarding his grandfather and the 5 Field Park men, Mark happened to mention in passing he had been given a trio of World War One medals many years ago by an elderly neighbour in poor health. Mark’s neighbour, Fred Hislop and his wife Frances (who Mark knew by her nickname of “Widge”) did not have any children and had separated some years ago. Fred had told Mark the medals had originally been his wife’s but must have been left behind went she left. It was some years before Fred discovered the medals and now, being in poor health and looking to move on, Fred gave them to Mark. Since that time both Fred and his former wife Frances Hislop have both passed away. Mark’s guardianship of the medals ensured they remained in excellent condition with their original silk ribbons, and they had never been worn. Mark was keen to see if they could be returned to the family and asked if I would take up the case. Does a bear like honey?
Hertfordshire to NZ
My research of Robert Hargreaves and his family began with the family’s origins in Hertfordshire wher his grandfather Peter Hargreaves (1836-1913) was born. Peter was a Labourer who came from Baldock in North Hertfordshire. Peter’s first wife Ellen Moore from Burnley Lancashire, had died young and childless at just 25 years of age. With no particular ties to Hertfordshire, Peter decided to emigrate to New Zealand sometime prior to 1876.
Coincidently, another resident of Baldock, William Hide (1829-1919), an agricultural labourer, had lost his first wife Ann WALLIS (1832-1867) in 1867 after her the birth of their fifth child. The first two had died shortly after birth leaving William Hide Jnr (1853-1942), Sarah Elizabeth Hide (1855-1913) and Annie Hide (1866-1950) with their widower father. The children being still very young and in need of a mother, prompted William Hide to marry Sarah WESTWOOD (1845-1930). Like Peter Hargreaves, the Hides also emigrated to New Zealand as part of the New Zealand Company’s assisted immigration scheme to populate this developing country. Settling initially in Christchurch, the Hides later relocated to the Wairarapa. It is not known if peter and William Hide had known each other but a distinct possibility having both been born in the same town.
Peter Hargreaves had arrived at Lyttelton and whilst in Christchurch met (or perhaps had known beforehand?) William Hide’s eldest daughter Sarah Elizabeth who at that time had just turned twenty one. That same year Peter, 45, married Sarah after which they returned to her father William Hide’s home in Featherston. Here Sarah Hargreaves gave birth to hers and Peter’s first child, Annie Hargreaves (1878-1879) who unfortunately died after just three months of life. Sarah’s parents eventually moved to the South Island and settled in the Kaipaoi district at Ohoka. Here they raised seven more children whilst farming at Swannanoa and Eyreton.
Hawkes Bay
Sarah Hargreaves’ step-brother, Alfred Hide, was a Traction-engine Hand by trade who left Swannanoa to work in the Hawkes Bay around Dannevirke. By 1908 two of his spinster sisters, Priscilla and Mary Louisa Jane, had also moved to Dannevirke where they ran the Federal Café for many years. Peter and Sarah Hargreaves liked the idea of a seaside location and so also moved to the Hawkes Bay, settling in Napier. Their first home was a small rented dwelling next door to the children’s home in Burlington Road.
Peter and Sarah’s second child was Robert Hargreaves, a healthy specimen of lad who was born at Waipawa on 15 December 1879 (birth registered at Waipukurau). Additional children followed at roughly two year intervals – Ada (Hargreaves) WILLIAMS (1881-1960), William Henry “Bill” HARGREAVES (1883-1959), Frank HARGREAVES (1885-1912), Alice (Hargreaves) FORBES (1887-1958), Sarah Annie HARGREAVES (1887-1906), and lastly Arthur Edward HARGREAVES (1889-1961), all of whom were born in Napier.
It was in Napier that Peter’s wife became gravely ill and died suddenly on 19 April 1913 at the age of 58. Peter and his family left Napier before year’s end and relocated to Norsewood, about 20 kilometres north-east of Dannevirke. The move from Napier after Sarah’s death did little to ease Peter’s grief for he too died during a visit to Wellington in November 1913. He was 77.
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About Robert
Robert Hargreaves medals duly arrived at MRNZ and comprised the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal and Victory Medal. All appeared to be correctly impressed with the soldier’s inscription: 12/307 PTE. R. HARGREAVES N.Z.E.F. My first task was to find out exactly who this soldier was and then determine the structure of his family to hopefully find a descendant to return then to.
Robert “Bob” Hargraves grew up and was educated at Napier’s Hastings Street school. On leaving school he took labouring jobs in Napier and Waipawa, the second largest rural settlement in Central Hawkes Bay, about 62 kilometres SW of Napier. Between 1905 and 1911 Robert worked as a Driver while living with his younger brother Bill (a Labourer) at 122 Rutene Road, Kaiti, an area east of the city of Gisborne. At some point prior 1914, Robert relocated to Auckland taking accommodation at Point Chevalier whilst Labouring for a Mr Albert Baker, the owner of a clothing manufacturing company situated on the Great South Road at Manurewa.
Auckland Battalion
A perusal of Robert’s military file provided some context for his early army enlistment in 1914. While living in Napier as a young man Robert had joined Napier Guards, a territorial unit he spent about six months with prior to going to Gisborne. When recruiting began for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force’s (NZEF) Main Body in October, both Robert and Bill (both in their thirties) had been near the front of the Napier queue to sign up. No doubt Robert had drawn inspiration for the experience and travel Bill had talked about as he had briefly served with the NZ Mounted Rifles during the dying stages of the South African Boer War in 1902, for which he received a medal. Having had a taste of military life, Bill was probably keen to go again.
Enlisting at Auckland on 17 Sep 1914, 12/307 Private Robert Hargreaves undertook a medical at the recruiting centre and passed medically Fit. He was then Attested to serve in the NZEF for the duration of the war. Robert was described on his medical documents as 35 years of age, weighing 11 stone 10lbs (74kgs), 5 feet 5inches (165cms) in height with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and dark hair. With no impediments or treatment required, Robert was good to go.
The Auckland Battalion was formed in 1914, consisting of four rifle companies. Each company was raised from one of the territorial regiments of the Auckland military district, namely:
- 3rd (Auckland) Regiment (Countess of Ranfurly’s Own)
- 6th (Hauraki) Regiment
- 15th (North Auckland) Regiment
- 16th (Waikato) Regiment
Each company retained the name and cap badge of its parent territorial regiment, e. g. 6th (Hauraki) Company.
The battalion served as the Auckland Battalion at Gallipoli in 1915 before being divided into 1st Auckland Infantry Battalion (1 AIB) and 2nd Auckland Infantry Battalion (2 AIB) in March 1916. An additional battalion, the 3rd Auckland Infantry Battalion (3 AIB) existed between March 1917 and February 1918.
The ‘great adventure’ begins
With the imminent outbreak of the First World War and at the King’s request, the NZ government offered a Division of Infantry and Mounted troops to Britain to support the Empire. In the Auckland military district a composite battalion, the 1st Auckland Battalion, was raised from the 1st Battalion, the 3rd Auckland (Countess of Ranfurly’s Own) Regiment, and the 1st Battalion, 15th North Auckland Regiment from a merger of various Northland volunteer rifle companies.
Like their predecessors, the soldiers assembled in the Auckland Domain. Their destination was unknown, although widely believed to be England, preparatory to their deployment to France. In fact they were to sail to a training camp in Egypt, and from there to a place few had ever heard of – Gallipoli. For many of the soldiers, the lower Domain in Auckland would be almost their last contact with New Zealand soil.
Alexandra Park
At Alexandra Park the men shed their civilian clothes and received what was considered a somewhat weird and wonderful collection of odds and ends that were so essential for the making of soldiers. They learned the structure of the Auckland Battalion and that it was commanded by a Colonel who was supported by a Headquarters staff – an Adjutant, Doctor, administrative and quartermaster staff. Each company consisted of four Platoons of around 120 men in each, while each Platoon was subdivided into four Sections of 8-10 men in each.
Training began almost at once with ‘square bashing’ (drill), bayonet fighting and exercises to raise the overall fitness level which quickly weeded out the liabilities. The most exciting experience was the march to Manurewa—some 15 miles (24kms). The distance was accomplished in good style, and the Battalion then bivouacked for the night in an open paddock. It was a wet night, and cold. The majority walked about, shivering and miserable, but heroically stuck it out. The food was excellent. Training not too hard. There was a reasonable amount of leave, and all things were going well, except for the fact that the war was had already started and unless the “Heads” hurried up, the Auckland Battalion would arrive too late for the fun!
Departure
In September, the four contingents of willing volunteers from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin who comprised the bulk of the NZEF’s Main Body, were farewelled at civic events ahead of their panned departure date of 13 October, 1914.
On the evening of September 22, the men of the Auckland Battalion carrying the greater part of their baggage, marched to the wharf wher HMNZT 12 Waimana awaited their embarkation before the men were allotted to their quarters. Ships carrying the Canterbury and Otago troops made their way to Wellington Harbour, expecting to depart with the local contingent and rendezvous with the Auckland troop transports in the Tasman Sea. Then, suddenly, the plan changed.
Military authorities had expressed concerns over the apparent weakness of the convoy’s naval escort ships – the obsolete light cruisers HMS Philomel and HMS Psyche – given that the whereabouts of the warships of Germany’s East Asia Squadron was unknown. Pending the arrival of more powerful Allied warships, the Waimana was recalled to port, while the Canterbury and Otago contingents (and their horses) disembarked in Wellington. Training resumed. In the evenings the men were entertained with concerts and other activities organised by local communities. On 10 October the Waimana with the Auckland contingent aboard left once more and sailed to Wellington to join the remainder of the assembled Expeditionary Force convoy, arriving four days later.
With the arrival of the armoured cruiser HMS Minotaur and the Imperial Japanese Navy’s battlecruiser Ibuki, the convoy was finally ready to depart. On 14-15 October the troops and horses were re-loaded onto the ships which had been anchored out in the harbour; early on the morning of the 16th, the 10 ship convoy set sail.
Forty-eight days later – after stopovers in Hobart; Albany in Western Australia, where they joined a convoy of 28 Australian troopships; and Colombo – the New Zealanders landed in Suez, Egypt. When they had set sail Expeditionary Force assumed they were bound for Europe to fight the Germans. Now, the plan changed again. Their initial role would be to help protect the Suez Canal against attack by the forces of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire, which had entered the war while the convoy was on the high seas.
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The convoy reached the Port of Suez on 04 December 1914, slowly making its through the canal to the Port of Alexandria. Here men, horses and material was off-loaded onto the beach before being entrained south to what would become the NZEF base camp at Zeitoun, approximately 9 kilometres north of Cairo.
Here the NZEF would prepare and train but first, the camp had to be erected. Predominantly, a tented camp with the Mounted Rifles units dominating the area, after three days the basics of a camp were erected. After three months of hard graft and sweat the camp was fully established and routines entrenched. Training soon commenced with route marches in the desert heat ordered to acclimatise the men as quickly as possible. It did not take long for the desert conditions, the presence of malarial mosquitos and the less than sanitary conditions that surrounded them, to take its toll on these, the newest of desert dwellers. The troops had to contend with heat stroke, heat exhaustion and dehydration and learn to manage if they were to survive in the environment let alone facing anything the Ottoman and German forces wanted to throw at them.
Canal defence
Forewarned of an Ottoman force advancing on the Canal, on 26th January 1915 the Infantry units were entrained and dispatched from Zeitoun to the Canal to reinforce the British and Australians who had established defensive posts along the Canal. The Ottoman attack began on 3 February – uncoordinated and largely ineffective, still many lives were lost – predominantly Ottoman. Sadly, New Zealand’s first combat fatality of the war occurred when Private Ham of Nelson, succumbed to his wounds. After three weeks of sporadic attempts to cross the canal, the Ottomans withdrew and the New Zealanders returned to Zeitoun on 26 February.
At Zeitoun the men were fit and champing at the bit to get into action as the rumour mill went into overdrive with suggestions of impending operations, particularly when allowed leave into Cairo. They day before receiving orders for their departure from Egypt, a huge riot by Anzac soldiers in Cairo’s Wazzir brothel district resulted in the destruction of a large part of the area and several soldiers killed as the riot was put down by mounted troops. All leave was stopped. Next day, 3 April, the New Zealand & Australian Division (later ANZAC) received orders to prepare for the invasion of Gallipoli. The NZ Mounted Rifles (including the Auckland MR) and the two Australian Light Horse brigades would remain in Egypt to continue training and to defend the Suez Canal against the Ottomans.
Gallipoli
Departure from Alexandria’s port was planned for 12 April 1915. The Auckland Battalion was embarked on the Lutzow, a captured German liner, and sailed for the island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea. Mudros Harbour was a deep port on the western side of Lemnos that had been selected as a forward base from which to launch the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force (MEF).
The Lutzow arrived at Mudros Harbour on 15 April amid a vast assembly of shipping. There were battleships, cruisers, destroyers and submarines of the British Navy; auxiliary cruisers, Channel picket boats, tugs, river boats, oil tanks, water tanks, colliers, store ships, quaint French men-of-war of peculiar construction, the Russian “Packet-of-Woodbines” (a name British sailors gave the Askold whose profile showed five slim funnels, likened to the cigarettes) and then row after row of troop transports crowded with soldiers. Atlantic liners, battered tramps, boats of the Cunard line and the Castle Company were moored with the vessels of the Nord-Deutscher Lloyd, with Hamburg and Bremen boats, and with Turkish and Egyptian vessels, which in former times plied the Straits and the Sea of Marmora. The Ark Royal sent up her seaplanes and sometimes a captive balloon (a small hot air balloon tethered to the ship, to carry aloft an observer to gather enemy intelligence of their disposition and activity on shore). The Queen Elizabeth, the super dreadnought, was at anchor surrounded by ships of lesser name. Day by day the ship concentration grew larger and larger. A very large transport steamed in with 5000 French soldiers aboard. Battalions of the British 29th Division, battalions of English Territorial soldiers, Indian troops, Australians and New Zealanders swelled the MEF’s size.
The Landings
After a week at anchor on the Lutzow, the Aucklanders, like most troops confined on to the armada of anchored transports in Mudros harbour, were anxious to get on with the job. At last, on the 23 April, ships started moving to their stations. The invasion of the Gallipoli Peninsula, 120 kms to the east of Lemnos, was set for 25 April 1915. The Auckland Battalion would be one of the first of the 3100 New Zealand troops to land at the beach that would be forever named Anzac Cove.
As the 25th dawned, the British (and later French) forces began the main landing at Cape Helles on the southern tip of Gallipoli, while the ANZACs landed midway up the peninsula. The 1st Australian Division spearheaded the attack, with the first wave of troops landing before dawn. As their transports rapidly disembarked men onto barges, warships were firing broadside after broadside, while picket boats towed the barges to the shore. Once on the beach, the soldiers were at once dispatched to the front where they were hotly engaged. Withering shrapnel sprayed the foremost troops, the Ottoman’s counter-attacked strongly, and much valuable ground gained in the first advance had to be given up.
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The Lutzow with the New Zealanders aboard departed Mudros in darkness to preposition at a safe distance off the Gallipoli western coastline. The New Zealand Division, led by the Auckland and Canterbury battalions, would begin landing around 1100 hours (11a.m.). Regrettably a navigational error resulted in the 1st Australian Division going ashore about 2 kilometres north of their intended landing site on “Z” Beach (known as Brighton Beach), most going ashore in a narrow bay only several hundred meters long south of the Ari Burnu headland. Anzac Cove as it became known, was one of the worst places on that part of the coast to make a landing. The surrounding landscape was steep and broken by deep gullies and spurs. The resistance from the well prepared Ottomans hammered away at the landing troops (and their barges and row boats) with rifle, machine-gun and artillery fire. The sea was red with blood and bodies, and carnage on shore an understatement. As the troops tried to get off the beach, units got hopelessly lost amidst the rugged terrain. Only a few small, uncoordinated parties managed to reach their initial objective.
Out on the Lutzow, the sounds of gunfire and battle noise could be heard, growing louder as the dawn brightened to daylight and the New Zealanders waited in nervous anticipation for their landing. The Auckland Battalion came in first, through a curtain of Ottoman shrapnel, then two companies of the Canterbury Battalion, and then the Otago Battalion.
Source: The National Library NZETC – The New Zealand Division 1916 – 1919.
The Auckland Battalion began landing at 1100 hours. As they approached the beach in large row boats, bullets and shrapnel landed in and around their barges, some splintering the woodwork whilst some soldiers were wounded. As the Aucklanders landed, first impressions were of an overwhelming number of dead and wounded. All along the beach, under the scanty shelter of a cliff, the wounded lay—some on stretchers, some on blankets, others on the shingle. The surgeons worked furiously as wounded poured down from the hills incessantly. The tugs and picket boats towed their barges, crammed with troops, to the beach, and taking away almost as many wounded. The New Zealanders quickly joined the desperate and confused fighting on the hills and ridgelines above Anzac Cove.
Walker’s Ridge
The Auckland Battalion’s landing was complete by 12 noon. The battalion’s objective: a northern spur named Walker’s Ridge (after Brigadier Harold Bridgwood Walker, commander of the New Zealand Infantry Brigade) as it allowed critical access to Russell’s Top and to Chunuk Bair where the Ottoman’s infantry and artillery were entrenched in strength. By 12.30 p.m., two companies of the Canterbury Battalion were ashore, and were directed to support the Auckland Battalion. At 1300 hours (1 p.m.), the Auckland Battalion was recalled from Walker’s Ridge to occupy Plugge’s Plateau, a feature further to their right.
Within just 60 minutes of clambering ashore, sometime between 1100 and 1200 hours, Pte. Robert Hargreaves (35) lay fatally wounded on Walker’s Ridge. Robert died of his wounds, one of the 19 officers and 410 NCOs and men of the Auckland Battalion to perish on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Pte. Hargreaves was buried in the Walker’s Ridge Cemetery at Gallipoli. 
~ Lest We Forget ~
Unravelling the medals trail
Apparent from his file that Pte. Robert Hargreaves had not survived the war, the front page detailed Robert’s Next of Kin (NOK). Both his sister and brother were noted – Mrs S. Williams, Hunter St, Dannevirke, and Wm. Hargreaves c/o S. Williams, Hunter St, Dannevirke. Mrs William’s was Robert’s sister Ada whose husband’s name was Sidney, hence “Mrs S. Williams.” William Hargreaves was understood but what it also told me was that some of the family had concentrated in the Dannevirke region. But that wasn’t all. Glued to the front cover was of Robert’s file was a Discharge form commonly used at the time for a deceased soldier. It detailed NOK per the cover information but in addition included the name and address of a ‘Legatee’ – a person who receives a legacy which is personal property from a Will. The Legatee was named as Miss E. Goldsworthy of 25 Jefferson St, Brooklyn Wellington.
I was intrigued how Miss E. Goldsworthy had become part of this picture? Not part of the family I had studied to date, who was she? Could I assume Robert and Miss E. Goldsworthy had some sort of friendship, or even a relationship, which had resulted in her being appointed his Legatee? I began the search for answers with the obvious – who was Miss E. Goldsworthy was. Goldsworthy was a reasonably uncommon name so not to hard to trace in the 1910s. Soon I had a name – Edith Mable May Goldsworthy was born at Mahurangi in the Franklin District on 14 October 1884 to parents Richard and Elizabeth Ruth Goldsworthy, Farmers from Mullet Point in Auckland. Edith was the 9th of 12 Goldsworthy siblings – Richard Henry (1866), William John (1868), Laura (1870), Elizabeth Mary (1872), Reginald Charles Keith (1872), Clara Annie (1876), Hilda Louise (1878), Eveline (1880), EMM (1884), Elizabeth May (1884), Elsie Lillian (1887) and Gladys Ivy (1891).
Edith Goldsworthy only appeared in three electoral rolls. The first had Edith a spinster living in Stokes St, Parnell Auckland in 1911. The next in 1919 reflected the Wellington address on Robert Hargreaves file. Edith still a spinster was living at 25 Jefferson St, Brooklyn. The last entry was for 1922. Spinster Edith’s address was the Empire Hotel, Wellington. A search for other Goldsworthys living in Wellington produced the name of Frances Goldsworthy Hobson which began to appear in the electoral rolls from 1935 onwards. A check with BDM records for this and similar combinations with Goldsworthy in the name, produced an Annabella Frances Goldsworthy who had been born in Wellington on 14 Sep 1911, the daughter of Edith Mabel May Goldsworthy! Annabella’s father was “Not Recorded”.
I called Mark for more details of the neighbour who had given him Robert Hargreaves’ medals. Frederick William HISLOP had been a retired Accountant and in poor health when Mark knew him. Fred told him the medals had actually belonged to his wife Frances Hislop whom Fred had referred to as “Widge”. Mark recalled Mrs Hislop once told him that “Widge” was a child-speak nickname because she had been pigeon-toed as a child (“Pidge/Widge”). Fred had only ever referred to his wife in Mark’s presence as Widge, and as a consequence it became the only name Mark had ever known.
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So what of Annabella?
After Edith Goldsworthy had gone to Wellington in 1911 to give birth to her daughter Annabella, her first appearance in the electoral rolls was 1919 residing at 25 Jefferson St, Brooklyn – the address recorded on Robert’s file for Legatee Edith! By 1922 Edith had gone from Jefferson St and showed up as residing at the Empire Hotel in Wellington – that was the last entry. Death records showed Edith Mabel May Goldsworthy, age 39, died two years later on 13 July 1924 and was buried in Karoro Cemetery.
Fortunately for me Annabella remained at the Jefferson Street address so was traceable from 1935 when she was over 21, but with one significant alteration. It seems she had ceased to use her first name and was known as Frances Goldsworthy and her surname had change to HOBSON. A search of Hobsons in the rolls revealed there had been two other Hobsons living at No 25. Alexander HOBSON (1888-1964), a Storeman who had married widowed Winifred Annie ELLISTON (nee Satherley) in 1913. Since that time the couple had lived at 25 Jefferson Street. This told me that since 1919, Edith and Frances Goldsworthy must have been living at Jefferson Street and when Edith died in 1924, Frances being only 12 years of age, must have remained with the Hobsons. Whether that was pre-araged by her mother or resulted because of her death, we are unlikely to know but whatever the case Frances became known as a Hobson from that time on. This was born out by Frances Goldsworthy Hobson listed in the rolls as only ever living at 25 Jeffersen Street with Alexander and Winnie until the Second World War.
Whether or not this name change had been the result of a legal adoption by the Hobson’s or ‘assumed’ adoption status for societal convenience (schooling and the like) to avoid scandalous comment is not known. This was becoming quite confusing. The question was, as the former owner of Robert’s medals, how did Edith Goldsworthy become involved to precipitate this turn of events?
On 20 December 1939 Frances Hobson married Frederick William HISLOP, an accountancy clerk (later an accountant). At this point my research of Fred Hislop had very nearly been derailed when I began to confuse two Frederick William Hislops, both living in central Wellington, both accountant’s clerks who later becoming Accountants, and both mobilised for war service!
Once I had sorted one from the other, my Frederick Hislop had been born in 1909 at Levin. Most surprising was the fact that Fred before his marriage had been a neighbour of the Hobsons, living just four doors away at 32 Jefferson Street! Despite his being wounded while overseas, Fred survived and returned safely at the end of the war. Frances, who had remained at No.25 during the war, moved to Fred’s property at No.32 once he returned. The Hislops had two sons, William Frederick, a Meteorological Observer, and Keith John Hislop, an Aircraft Engineer who had begun to appear in the electoral rolls from 1972. Fred and Frances remained at 32 Jefferson Street (Island Bay as the area became known) for the rest of their lives. Fred Hislop died in 1996, age 87 and Frances’s at Te Hopai Hospital on 10 June 2005, aged 93.
Note: ** Ironically, Mark C’s request re the 5 Field Park Company men surfaced during the research of this case. Coincidentally, Fred Hislop had been 2459 Sapper (later Sergeant) Frederick William HISLOP, NZ Engineers, a member of 5 Field Park Company, NZE.
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Robert’s Will & Probate
Robert Hargreaves Will offers more clarification to these already muddied waters. In the Probate documents Edith Goldsworthy, the nominated Legatee of his estate, states she knew Robert and offered proof in the form of several letters she had received from him, one dated 10 October and 21 November, 1914 while he was on the troopship Waimana. Shehad also received four more letters – one each on the 4th and 27 January, the 14th of March and the last on 22 April 1915, all sent from the Zeitoun camp. Robert’s brother William Henry Hargreaves also features in the documents, not because of any intended legacy but because he had officially renounced his claim to Probate on 2 August 1915, two weeks before he was due to depart for the Egypt with the 6th (Manawatu) Mounted Rifles. After Edith’s death in 1924, the Public Trust took over the Probate as no Letters of Administration had been submitted by any other party.
Conclusion
When Robert had gone into camp in 1914 he was living at Point Chevalier. While Edith Mabel May Goldsworthy had left Auckland by September 1911, I believe Robert and Edith (rom Rodney, Auckland), and being of a similar age, had at some point known each other, possibly forming a friendship/relationship from which Annabella’s birth resulted. If so, perhaps Robert had not been prepared for fatherhood at the time, had been considering other ventures with his brother William, or promised Edith to do something about the situation after he returned from the war. Either way, Edith was pregnant and I think that in order to conceal her unmarried mother status and potential for shame if discovered, she went to Wellington to where nobody knew her whilst she had the baby, whether or not one could surmise Edith had been Robert’s fiance may be a step to far?
All things considered, I would like to believe that Robert was the biological father of Edith’s daughter (Annabella) Frances Goldsworthy Hislop. If that was the case, whomever decided that Edith Goldsworthy should become Robert’s Legatee (assuming it was not himself) did so with forethought and best of intentions. It would seem logical that this person may have been either his brother William or sister Ada. That Robert’s medals finished up in the hands of Edith’s daughter Frances, was fortuitous being an only child and therefore hereditarily entitled if indeed she had been Robert’s daughter, as opposed to the inherited consequence of her mother’s. Readers may draw their own conclusions.
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The Hargreaves legacy
Bill Hargreaves returned to Dannevirke after the war and to his old job at The Gasworks. In due course he began a rural carrying business with one old Thorneycroft truck. As the business grew in Dannevirke, he married Ivy Margaret NIELSEN (1894-1978), an Ormondville, Hawkes Bay born lady of Norwegian descent who produced their only son and heir, William Albert Hargreaves (aka “Bill”) born in Dannevirke on Guy Fawkes day 1927.
In order to locate living Hargreaves descendants I decided to follow Bill’s post war life as he had remained in the one place, Dannevirke, for the rest of his life. One other compelling reason to follow Bill was that he and Ivy had only one child – William Albert Hargreaves – who had a long life and a family of three children.
Being an only child it was assumed William Albert (aka Bill – must have been confusing when his father was alive) would eventually take over the business his father started however Bill Jnr had other ideas. He was keen to be a teacher and so went to Christchurch to study for a BA. During his last two years at Canterbury University, he worked for the licensing section of the Transport Department. Also known to be a good rugby player, he played for University and later captained Hawkes Bay. Unfortunately a knee injury ended his playing career but he continued to coach local teams.
In 1951 Bill returned home to Dannevirke as the family business had grown to a fleet of four trucks plus a service station, and his father needed him. While working for his father, Bill purchased his first truck and started his own lime-spreading business. Due to his father’s ill health, Bill took over the family business and further developed the company. His father, William Henry Haregraves, sadly passed away in Dannevirke in November 1959 at the age of 76. Bill then purchased Lindsay Drummond’s company and then Dannevirke Transport. In 1965, he bought Transport Wairarapa in Masterton. With his wife Bernice Ethel ROBERTS (1934-1987), and a young son, the Hargreaves family moved to Masterton which then became the head office for the growing company, Transport Wairarapa .
Bill Hargreaves continued to expand the business, acquiring more companies including Keith Shackleton’s R. Robinsons, the Eketahuna Carrying Company, Manawatu Transport assets, and P & O Roadways, Petone. At its peak, Transport Wairarapa owned more than 300 road vehicles and employed 150 staff, making it one of the largest privately-owned transport companies in the Southern Hemisphere at the time.
Bill was an executive of the No.10 District of the National Roads Board, a member of the Wairarapa RTA and served on The Wairarapa Regional Development Council. Bill also represented the NZRTA on the National Advisory Committee on Meat Hygiene and he was chairman of the NZRTA’s Industrial Committee. He was chairman of the NZRTA’s Industrial Committee and in addition, was President of the Masterton Rotary Club and a Freemason of the Rawhiti Lodge, Dannevirke.
Bill’s wife Bernice played a large role in the business as a Company Director and was a huge loss to both the business and the family when she died in 1987. In 1990 William Albert Hargreaves retired and a manager was appointed to run the company. Bill died in 2004.
Source: Bill Hargreaves Truck Archive (https://truckarchive.co.nz/bill-hargreaves/)
Note: **SA-8961 Trooper William Henry “Bill” HARGREAVES – went to South Africa in April 1902 with D Squadron of the 10th Contingent (and last) NZ Mounted Rifles unit. The 10th saw no field service in South Africa as the conditions of the surrender at Vereeniging took effect on 31 May, just a few days after their arrival on the SS Drayton Grange and Norfolk. On 4 June the contingent was informed they would not be remaining in South Africa and would depart for NZ on the SS Montrose on 18 July 1902. Bill was awarded the Queen’s South Africa medal for his service.
When World War 1 became imminent, 11/1322 Trooper Bill Hargreaves re-enlisted on 15 April 1915 with the 6th Reinforcements of the Wellington Mounted Rifles. He served with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in both Egypt and Palestine, was promoted to L/Cpl in April 1917 and to Sergeant [Transport] in October. At his own request he reverted to Trooper in March 1918. Bill returned to NZ on the steamer Kaikoura after 3 years 249 days overseas and was discharge from the NZEF on 17 May, 1919. For his service he was awarded the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal 1914/18 and Victory Medal.
Reunited, last but not least …
With plenty of Hargreaves history to draw upon a few phone calls was all it took to locate Megan (Hargreaves) Flynn, Bill Hargreaves daughter who at the time was the leasing agent for Hargreaves Yards in Masterton. I had hit the jackpot with Megan! She turned out to be the Hargreaves family’s historian and custodian of most of their existing war memorabilia. She quickly cleared up the questions I had for her and indicated had all of her great-uncle William Henry’s Boer War and World War 1 medals, certificates and other keepsakes, plus great-uncle Robert’s documents – Certificate of Service, Condolence Card, Grave Card and Memorial Plaque and scroll. With the exception of Robert’s missing medals, Megan’s collection of her ancestor’s war memorabilia would be complete (so she thought). Megan was a mine of genealogical information and photographs of all the generations of her family but was short on the detail of what had happened to Robert in the years from when he had been working with brother Bill in Gisborne, until his death.
I explained to Megan that I wasn’t calling just to discuss her family history and that she would shortly be the recipient of Robert’s medals and the backstory I had uncovered – Megan was floored! Noting that Robert’s file showed the Memorial Plaque and Scroll that commemorated his death were sent to his brother William, c/o The Gasworks, Dannevirke in January 1922, did she have any idea where these were? These were sent out a year or so after the medals had been distributed so could account for them not being sent to Edith Goldsworthy and therefore her daughter. “I have them both” she confirmed. What a transformation moment it had been for the Hargreaves family collection. Thrilled to have Robert’s medals returned, I had one more surprise for Megan.
The 50th anniversary of the Landings at Gallipoli was commemorated in 1967 with the Australian and NZ government jointly producing an Anzac (Gallipoli) Commemorative medallion which living Gallipoli veterans and the NOK of deceased veterans, were entitled to claim. Given Edith Goldsworthy had died in 1924, it was highly unlikely daughter Frances would have known of the medallion’s availability or if she did, Likely would have not have had any interest if she had no reason to believe Robert Hargreaves might have been her father?
I noted when reading Robert’s military file that a claim stamp for the Anzac Medallion appeared on the front page which indicated it had been claimed in 2007 – but by whom? The details of issue however were incomplete in that there was no obligatory signature of the issuing authority. In addition, the existence of any other record that could identify who the receipient had been could not be found. Had the medallion been issued or not? Megan certainly had not seen or even heard of the medallion so whoever did possess it (assuming it was issued) was not known to the Megan or her wider Hargreaves family.
I discussed the matter with NZDF medals staff who agreed there had been anomalies with the information which on the face of it appeared to result in an unknown person being issued the medallion. I was pleased to advise Megan that the Team Leader of NZDF’s Research & Medal Entitlements at Personnel Archives & Medals had agreed there was insufficient proof either way and therefore, had authorised the issue of an official replacement. Megan is now the proud owner or Robert Hargreaves’ Gallipoli veteran’s medallion. Together with his medals (which MRNZ was pleased to mount for her), Megan’s collection of the Hargreaves family’s war service memorabilia is now complete.
Some days just get better by the hour :-))
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Grateful thanks to Mark C. for his caring custody of the Robert Hargreaves’ medals and for bringing them to MRNZ’s attention for return. Photos are the property of Megan Flynn – many thanks. [Published Post medal total is 521]
Reunited medal tally is now 807