NZ POLICE Case ~ Wellington District: 5/859 ~ THOMAS PRESTON
A mixed bag of medals, some named and some not, were recovered during a recent police operation in Lower Hutt. These were posted on the Wellington District Police website in the hope an owner would come forward to claim them. In the absence of an owner, I undertook to look for descendants of two of the First World War medals, both British War Medals, 1914/18 (the two without ribbons in the front row of medals), that were named to New Zealand Expeditionary Force soldiers, Thomas PRESTON and Keith Gordon THOMSON.
MRNZ is pleased to report the descendant family of 5/859 DVR. Thomas PRESTON has been found; the research for a descendant of Keith Gordon Thomson is underway and expected to be concluded shortly.
Thomas “Tom” Preston (Jnr) was born at a Blake Street address in central Ponsonby, Auckland on 5 November 1875. Tom was the youngest son and last born of Thomas Preston Snr (1833-1909) and his wife Maria, nee FRISBY (1842-1881). Thomas Snr was a Tailor from Mill Lane in the city of Leicester St Mary), Leicestershire whose first wife Rebecca Mary SMITH he married in 1860. Sadly Rebecca died the same year shortly after giving birth to their only child, Charles Preston. Five years later Thomas re-married Maria FRISBY in 1865 and three more children were produced. On 11 October 1874, the Prestons having decided to take up the New Zealand Company’s encouraging offer to boost immigration to the developing country, emigrated to New Zealand aboard the SS Warwick, a three masted barquentine, reaching landfall at Auckland after the 102 day voyage with their four children: William (“Willie” – also a Tailor), John Frisby, Frank James (a Stonemason), and Mary Ann “Polly” (Preston) McNAMARA.
From 1875, sons Alfred, Charles, Harry and Thomas “Tom” (Jnr) were born in Auckland. Following Maria’s death in 1881, it was almost twenty years before Thomas re-married, this for the third time in Nov 1898. Thomas would become the fifth husband of Frances Marianne KELLY’s (1834-1924). Frances, whose first marriage (Cutler) produced 11 children, had no further children while her last husband, John Scott McNamara, had died in 1875. Frances had been born in Kingston Ontario, Canada. Her father James was the son of an Irish soldier from Tipperary, who himself had been born in the Fortress of Gibraltar. Frances was 63 years of age when she married Thomas in 1898, the couple having not quite 10 years of marriage together before Thomas died in November 1909 at age 75.
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As the family grew, Thomas Preston moved the family to a larger house that was able to accommodated both the family and his tailoring business. A premises at 59 Macaulay Street, Newton overlooking what is now Basque Park was selected which became the Preston family home until well after Thomas Snr died in 1909. Thomas (jnr) by this time was operating his own business as a Carter (carrier) together with Tom’s eldest brother Willie.
5/859 DVR T. Preston – Army Service Corps
At the time of his enlistment** on 16 Nov 1915, Tom Preston listed his occupation as a (kauri) Gum Sorter however immediately prior to his enlistment he had been working as a Brickmaker’s Labourer for a Mr Prentice in Palmerston North. Given his years as a carter and ability to handle horses, Tom who was almost 40 years of age, was enlisted into the NZ Army Service Corps (NZASC) as a Driver. Dvr. Preston embarked with the 10th NZASC Reinforcements aboard HMNZT 46 Aparima on 29 Feb 1916 and sailed for Suez. Aparima’s passengers and cargo on this voyage consisted mainly NZ Mounted Rifles personnel and their horses.
After couple of months in Alexandria training, Dvr. Preston re-embarked on 16 April and sailed for Etaples, France where he would undergo more training before joining his unit in the field. He was posted to the NZ Infantry & General Base Depot to which all NZ soldiers were posted on arrival in France, located in the huge Etaples Base Depot which provided accommodation, training and medical facilities for up to 100,000 men. In June, Dvr. Preston experienced the full force of military law when a bout of being Drunk on Active Service netted him a sentence of 14 days of Field Punishment No.1, the harshest of punishments that could be awarded in the field.
Field Punishment No. 1
Field Punishment was introduced in 1881 following the abolition of flogging, and was a common punishment during World War I. A commanding officer could award field punishment for up to 28 days, while a court martial could award it for up to 90 days, either as Field Punishment Number One or Field Punishment Number Two.
Often abbreviated to “FP No. 1” or even just “No. 1”, the punishment consisted of the convicted man being placed in fetters and handcuffs or similar restraints and attached to a fixed object, such as a gun wheel or a fence post, for up to two hours per day. During the early part of World War I, the punishment was often applied with the arms stretched out and the legs tied together, giving rise to the nickname “crucifixion”. This was applied for up to three days out of four, up to 21 days total. It was usually applied in field punishment camps set up for this purpose a few miles behind the front line, but when the unit was on the move it would be carried out by the unit itself. It has been alleged that this punishment was sometimes applied within range of enemy fire. The British Army is known to have issued FP No.1 on 60,210 occasions during WW1.
Into the Field
In late Nov 1916, Dvr. Preston went into the field and joined with No.1 Company of the NZ Brigade’s Logistics Train driving supply wagons. After 18 months with only a few minor stomach illnesses and scabies, it was during the battle around Bapaume in September 1918 as the NZ Brigade took their part in the ‘Advance to Victory’ phase of the war, that Preston was severely wounded with a Gunshot Wound (GSW) to the head on 13 September. The GSW had also fractured his skull. He was immediately evacuated by No.1 NZ Field Ambulance to No.56 British Casualty Clearing Station at Grévillers for wound cleansing and stabilisation. On 15 Sep Pte. Preston was transferred to No.4 General Hospital at Camiers for further care and to await ship transport back to England.
After five days at Camiers, his evacuation from France ended once he was admitted to No.2 NZ General Hospital at Walton-on-Thames, sometimes referred to as Mt Felix. Here his disability was assessed at 100%. This was important as it would have a direct affect on the amount of pension money he would receive for the rest of his life, once discharged from the NZEF. After three weeks in hospital, a medical board assessed him as ‘No Longer Fit for War Service on account of Wounds Received in Action.’ This meant that once he returned to New Zealand, Tom would not be called upon for any further war service. Discharged from the hospital three weeks later, Tom was sent to the Discharge Depot at Torquay where he was demobilised (handed in his issued equipment, rifle and completed repatriation administration) and permitted leave while waiting for the next four weeks for ship transport home. On 8 November 1918, three days before the Armistice was declared officially ending World War 1, Tom was embarked onto HMNZT 201 Tofua for Auckland. Three days out from Plymouth, the war was officially ended on 11 November 1918 when the Armistice came into effect. Tofua arrived at Auckland on 22 December 1918. Tom’s service was not yet entirely finished.
Note: ** Tom Preston’s older brother 48565 Pte. Harry Albert PRESTON also served in France with the 2nd Battalion, Wellington Regiment, and safely returned home. Tom and Harry’s nephew, 14478 L/Cpl. Willian Edward Preston also served and was decorated for gallantry. The son of their eldest brother Willie Preston, L/Cpl Bill Preston was awarded the Military Medal for the action he and one other NCO took during the last battle the NZ Brigade fought in WW1. Braving intense rifle and machine-gun fire at Le Quesnoy on 4 November 1918, the two NCOs forced the surrender and capture of a German officer, eight soldiers and three machine-guns, thereby undoubtedly saving many NZ soldier’s lives.
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The scars of war
He still required monitoring by medical staff to ensure the wound was healing as it should. Two weeks of home leave was granted period on arrival but until Tom was medically cleared by military medical board, he could not be formally discharged from the NZEF. Tom’s sister Mary Ann and her husband, his brother-in-law Bill McNamara, a Boot Maker, had moved at the end of the war from the Preston’s previous dwelling above the business in Macaulay Street, to a stand alone villa at 58 Albany Road in Ponsonby. This became the Preston/McNamara family home, with Mary Ann, being the only Preston female, becoming the defacto Preston family matriarch to her unwed brothers. Number 58 Albany Road would remain the Preston centre of family activities for many years until it was eventually sold after Mary Ann and Bill McNamara had both passed.
Tom Preston was officially discharged from the NZEF on 19 January 1919. Able to undertake light duties, Tom took odd jobs since returning to his former occupation as a Carter was out of the question.
Before the war Tom lived a fairly trouble free life however the war had definitely left lasting impressions on him, as could be said for many returned men. Tom’s head wounding and exposure to the various horrors he encountered overseas, ensured he was never quite the same again. Before the war, apart from the odd misdemeanour such as being fined for driving his horse and cart up the wrong side of Quay Street, or failing to register his dog, he had lived a relatively trouble free life. On his return, a healthy pension for his wounding did not compensate for that which he found could be better treated with alcohol.
Unfortunately, this was something that bought him into conflict with the Magistrate’s Court on a number of occasions. Nothing too serious, but enough to cause him and his family members un-necessary embarrassment. Petty theft and drunkeness were the worst of his post-war crimes which had featured in the local newspapers. Tom Preston’s last appearance before a Magistrate came in October 1921 when he was arrested for “being a nuisance“, specifically, being “disorderly while drunk” by “interfering with women passing along Queen Street while blocking the pedestrian traffic with his foolish antics”, as the Herald reported the prosecuting policeman had said. The Magistrate took into account that Tom was a returned soldier however, because he had “previously lapsed from grace on more than one occasion“, the Magistrate decided he should be sent, as he put it, “to the Place of Penitence up on the Hill” for 14 days – Tom was off to Mt Eden Gaol in other words. Clearly this had an impact on Tom and it is assumed he must have had a conscience issue from his incarceration because the day following his release from completing the 14 days of penal servitude, a notice appeared in the NZ Herald which read:
Sad end for war veteran …
Tom Preston never again featured in the newspapers. As time ticked along Tom sought independent living and moved from place to place in the Ponsonby-Mt Eden area, sometimes staying for short periods with family, or in boarding houses when he was in work. He never married and developed a leg ailment that required him to walk with the aid of a stick. Whether or not tat was war related is unknown. For a few years in the mid 1920s, Tom was living at 23 Wynyard Street, working as a general labourer on the nearby wharves and associated goods warehouses along Quay Street. In April 1929, Tom was boarding with a relative at his grocery shop in Dominion Road, Newton in the vicinity of what is now ‘Spaghetti Junction’. Tom at that time was engaged with painting a house in Ponsonby near Greys Road (now Greys Avenue). He had been working on the house for a few weeks when without a word he disappeared. It is presumed some sort of alarm was raised over his disappearance when could not be found? On the 11th of May, a Mr Ben Scott was carrying out a routine security check (presumably for the owner) of a house at 139 Greys Road when he discovered Tom. The NZ Herald newspaper report recounts the discovery:
Once officials had formally determined his identity, Thomas Preston’s naked body was removed from the bathroom directly to Waikumete Cemetery in Henderson where he was buried in a soldier’s grave. The Coroner determined that Thomas Preston aged 49 years, had died from natural causes, in that his death on or about 27th of April had resulted from “probable heart failure following a fit” as he was about to enter the bath.
Medals: British War Medal 1914/18 and Victory Medal + Silver War Badge (Wounds).
Service Overseas: 2 years 298 days
Total NZEF Service: 3 years 65 days
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Note: Thomas Preston’s older brother 48565 Private Harry Albert Preston, 2nd Battalion, Wellington Infantry Regiment – 25th Reinforcements was 43 years of age when he was called up to serve on 6 March 1917. Harry embarked on 26 April and other than problems associated with having boils on his knees in the field, Harry returned safely to NZ at the end of the war having served 2 years 149 days overseas and qualified for the award of both the British War Medal 1914/18 and the Victory Medal.
Harry had been a single man living and working at Te Kopuru on the Poutu Peninsula, 10kms south of Dargaville in Northland when his life was terminally shortened as a result of stomach cancer from which he died on 6th February 1933, aged 43. Harry Preston was buried in the Old Mount Wesley Cemetery, Dargaville.
Facebook provides the answer
The trail to find a descendant was relatively straight forward. The Preston family had grown particularly large in the earlier part of the 19th century and were concentrated in the central city suburbs of Ponsonby, Mt Eden and Grey Lynn so there was no shortage of family trees to draw upon. Finding the correct one was the biggest challenge since the names of the present generation’s are not usually visible unless deceased. After working through the brothers of Thomas, I settled on his second eldest, John Frisby Preston and his wife Margaret Lena BURNS (1867-1946), whose lineage I could see was unbroken down to an only child, the daughter of Colin Clifford and Emily (Hewison) Preston, Colleen Patricia Preston.
John Frisby Preston was named in honour of his mother Maria’s maiden name and like his father Thomas Snr, had also been a Tailor who had worked with him until eventually establishing his own business after his father died in 1909. Colleen’s marriage to Alan George FARAC provided the last link in the chain, their two sons Chris and Simon who are both great-grand nephews of Thomas Preston. Chris’s name appeared in a number of postings on the internet, both in a St John Ambulance website where he was a Paramedic, and also on the New Zealand Police website (not as a ‘client’) confusingly as a Fire Fighter! I messaged Chris and was soon able to relate the story of his grand-uncle Thomas’s war medal. Chris also cleared up the confusion re his employment – in Dec 2020 after 11 years as a St John Ambulance Paramedic, he decided it was time for a change and so transferred his not inconsiderable paramedic skills and experience to the NZ Fire Service, becoming a Fire Fighter at the Puhoi Station as of January 2021.
Chris will be making contact the Wellington District Police shortly to claim his grand-uncle Thomas Preston’s British War Medal, 1914-1918.
The reunited medal tally is now 413.