Most decorated · 14 medals and honours, 1 for gallantry
Colonel Herbert Hurst
Herbert Hurst was a Christchurch company director and Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry officer who went to war with the Main Body in 1914 and won the DSO at Hill 60 after taking over his regiment under fire. He was mentioned in despatches five times, received the Order of the Nile, and later commanded the 3rd Mounted Rifles Brigade, earning a CBE in 1935. By the counting rule he has 10 verified medals and honours, one of them for gallantry.
14medals and honours
1of them for gallantry
His medals and honours
Won for gallantry
Order or honour
Distinguished Service Order (DSO)
21-27 August 1915 (Hill 60, Gallipoli); announced 3 June 1916 · Hill 60, Gallipoli · Major, Canterbury Mounted Rifles Regiment (1st Squadron)
Gazetted: London Gazette 3 June 1916 (King's Birthday Honours; I read the Edinburgh Gazette supplement of 5 June 1916 p.996 listing 'Maj. Herbert Clarence Hurst, Canterbury Mtd. Rif. R.'); no citation published in the Gazette
Hurst was a Christchurch company director and Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry officer who went away with the Main Body. At Hill 60 on 21 August 1915 the regiment charged and lost about sixty per cent of its men, its commanding officer among them. According to the regimental history as summarised on Wikipedia, Major Hurst, from 1st Squadron, took over and the regiment captured a Turkish trench within fifteen minutes, then dug in and held it until relieved on 23 August with the neighbouring Otago Mounted Rifles. The brief recommendation recorded in the NZEF honours database refers to 'work on Kaiajik Aghala' during the attack of 27 August, calling him a very reliable officer. He was reported wounded in the casualty list published on 3 September 1915. The DSO was announced in the 1916 Birthday Honours, with six other New Zealanders.
Date of the act differs between sources (21 August in the regimental account, 27 August in the recommendation note); both fall within the Hill 60 fighting. Cenotaph quotes the award as 'for distinguished service in the field'.
Counted in his gallantry totalSource: Wikipedia 'Canterbury Mounted Rifles Regiment'; nzef.adfa.edu.au (Hurst 7/349); Edinburgh Gazette 5 June 1916 p.996; Lyttelton Times 3 June 1916; Online Cenotaph C36345; Inangahua Times 3 September 1915
Every other medal and honour (13)
1914-1915 Star1914-1915 · Egypt and GallipoliQualified by Main Body service: embarked at Lyttelton on 16 October 1914, served in Egypt and then on Gallipoli in 1915.British War Medal 1914-201914-1919 · Egypt, Gallipoli, Sinai and PalestineQualified by overseas service with the Expeditionary Force between 1914 and January 1919.Victory Medal1914-1919 · Egypt, Gallipoli, Sinai and PalestineQualified by the same theatre service as the British War Medal.Order of the Nile, 4th Class (Egypt)Egyptian honours list, London Gazette 16 January 1920 · Egyptian campaignEgyptian Government order awarded to British Empire officers for services in the Egyptian campaign; he is named in the 4th Class list in the Gazette of 16 January 1920. His obituary says he received the Order of the…Colonial Auxiliary Forces Officers' Decoration (VD)Awarded before 1935 (exact date not found) · New ZealandDecoration for twenty years of commissioned part-time service in the colonial auxiliary forces; its letters (VD) follow his name in 1935 sources.King George V Silver Jubilee Medal 19356 May 1935 · ChristchurchCommemorative medal for the twenty-fifth anniversary of the King's accession; he appears on the New Zealand recipients list as 'Colonel H. C. Hurst, D.S.O., V.D., A.D.C., J.P., Christchurch'.Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)3 June 1935 (King's Birthday and Silver Jubilee Honours) · ChristchurchAppointed CBE in the 1935 honours as commander of the 3rd (Canterbury) Mounted Rifles Brigade, shortly before he passed to the reserve of officers; the honour recognised his long military service and command of the…New Zealand War Service Medal1939-1945 · New ZealandIssued for 28 days' full-time or six months' part-time home service between September 1939 and September 1945; he commanded a battalion of the National Military Reserve at Sumner and was briefly commandant of Burnham…War Medal 1939-1945 'with oak leaf' (Cenotaph entry)1939-1945 · New ZealandListed by the Online Cenotaph only.Listed on the Online Cenotaph, not yet confirmedNew Zealand Long and Efficient Service Medal (Cenotaph entry)Not known · New ZealandListed by the Online Cenotaph only.Listed on the Online Cenotaph, not yet confirmedNew Zealand Territorial Service Medal (Cenotaph entry)Not known · New ZealandListed by the Online Cenotaph only.Listed on the Online Cenotaph, not yet confirmedColonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal (Cenotaph entry)Not known · New ZealandListed by the Online Cenotaph only.Listed on the Online Cenotaph, not yet confirmedMentioned in Despatches28 January 1916 to 5 June 1919 · Gallipoli, Sinai and PalestineFive separate mentions: the first (January 1916) is for Gallipoli (the Cenotaph ties it to General Hamilton's despatch); the others, in 1916, 1917 and 1919, are for the Egyptian Expeditionary Force campaigns. His…
His story
Born in Opawa
Born at Opawa, Christchurch, and educated at Opawa School; later managing director of Hurst and Drake Ltd.
Source: Press obituary 21 June 1951; Online Cenotaph
Yeomanry commission
Commissioned in the Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry (1st Mounted Rifles). The Cenotaph says 1905; the 1951 Press obituary says May 1911.
Source: Online Cenotaph; Press obituary
Sails with the Main Body
Enlisted 5 August 1914 and embarked from Lyttelton with the Canterbury Mounted Rifles; Studholme records him as a captain although the nominal roll says trooper.
Source: nzef.adfa.edu.au; Online Cenotaph
Hill 60
Took over the regiment when its commanding officer fell in the attack of 21 August and held the captured trench; wounded in the August fighting. Promoted major on 8 August 1915.
Source: Wikipedia 'Canterbury Mounted Rifles Regiment'; Inangahua Times 3 Sep 1915; Online Cenotaph
DSO announced
Named in the King's Birthday Honours for Gallipoli.
Source: Lyttelton Times 3 June 1916; Edinburgh Gazette 5 June 1916
Wounded in Sinai
Appears in the casualty list of 21 August 1916 as wounded on 9 August, in the early-August fighting in the Sinai.
Source: Evening Star 21 August 1916
Palestine and return
Served with the Egyptian Expeditionary Force; further mentions in 1917 and 1919; acting regimental commander late in the war; returned to New Zealand in 1919.
Source: Press obituary; Online Cenotaph; London Gazette
Order of the Nile
Listed in the Egyptian honours list (4th Class).
Source: London Gazette supplement 31736
Brigade commander and CBE
Commanded the 3rd (Canterbury) Mounted Rifles Brigade 1928-34, ADC to the Governor-General from 1930, Silver Jubilee Medal on 6 May 1935 and CBE on 3 June 1935.
Source: Online Cenotaph; Press obituary; Evening Post 6 May 1935; Edinburgh Gazette 7 June 1935
Second World War and death
Commanded the 3rd Battalion of the National Military Reserve at Sumner, briefly commandant at Burnham Camp, colonel of the 3rd Armoured Regiment (CYC) briefly in 1949; died 20 June 1951.
Source: Press obituary 21 June 1951
Rank and insignia
The ranks he held, and the badge a soldier of that rank wore. These are simplified illustrations.
Second Lieutenant1905 (Cenotaph) or May 1911 (Press obituary) · Canterbury Yeomanry CavalryShoulder strap: one pipCaptain5 August 1914 (per Studholme) · Canterbury Mounted RiflesShoulder strap: three pipsMajor8 August 1915Shoulder strap: crownColonelby 1928-30 (commanded 3rd Mounted Rifles Brigade 1928-34); retired list 1948Shoulder strap: crown and two pips
His ships
HMNZT 4 Tahiti or HMNZT 11 AthenicMain Body transport from Lyttelton, 16 October 1914The nominal roll leaves it open which of the two ships carried him.
Afterwards
After the war Hurst stayed in the part-time army, commanding the 3rd (Canterbury) Mounted Rifles Brigade from 1928 to 1934, serving as ADC to the Governor-General from 1930 and receiving a CBE in June 1935 just as he passed to the reserve. He ran the paint and oil importing firm Hurst and Drake, was president of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce in 1946-47, and was active in Rotary and Freemasonry.
In the Second World War he commanded the 3rd Battalion of the National Military Reserve, which he had helped form, was briefly commandant at Burnham Camp, and was posted to the retired list in 1948. He returned briefly in 1949 as colonel of the 3rd Armoured Regiment (Canterbury Yeomanry Cavalry) and died in Christchurch on 20 June 1951. Sir Howard Kippenberger called him a very brave soldier and a good citizen.
Later awards, not counted here: New Zealand War Service Medal (home service; counted); War Medal 1939-1945 'with oak leaf' (Cenotaph entry only; not counted).
This is the Service Record sign as we would make it from his record: his rank, name, regiment, number and date of embarkation. The medals on the sign are worked out automatically, so the medals listed above are the ones to rely on.
The Service Record
Photograph
We haven’t hosted a photograph here
Rather than copy someone else’s image onto our own site, we’d rather send you to see it where it’s properly held: his full record at the Auckland War Memorial Museum’s Online Cenotaph.
WW1 service confirmed: Main Body, Canterbury Mounted Rifles, embarked 16 Oct 1914, Egypt, Gallipoli and Palestine to 1919. New Zealand-born, so nothing argues against listing him as a New Zealander of that war.
TOTAL: 10 items counted (DSO, CBE, Order of the Nile, MiD x5 as one, 1914-15 Star, BWM, Victory, VD, Jubilee Medal, NZ War Service Medal). The Online Cenotaph lists 14 entries; the four not counted are War Medal 1939-45 'with oak leaf', NZ Long and Efficient Service Medal, NZ Territorial Service Medal and Colonial Auxiliary Forces Long Service Medal. No source I could read confirms any of those four, so they are excluded; on face value the total would be 14.
Reconciled: 'Colonial Auxiliary Forces Decoration' (Cenotaph) = VD as styled in the 1935 Gazette, counted once.
Cenotaph calls the CBE 'Civil'; Wikipedia lists it under the additional Military Division. One item either way.
Cenotaph says 'wounded 4 times'; I verified only two woundings from casualty lists (Hill 60, late August 1915, and 9 August 1916).
Commission date disagrees: 1905 (Cenotaph) against May 1911 (Press obituary). Nominal roll gives rank on embarkation as trooper; Studholme and the obituary say captain. Obituary says age 67 at death; birth 22 Nov 1884 makes him 66.
DSO has no published Gazette citation; the Hill 60 date of the act varies (21 August in the regimental account, 27 August in the NZEF recommendation note).
Cenotaph says he returned on 22 October 1919; obituary says overseas service ended January 1919. Order of the Nile name taken from Cenotaph, nzef.adfa and obituary; Gazette page shows only '4th Class'.
Possible 1937 Coronation Medal not checked as a certainty (a Papers Past search found nothing); not counted.
